Take a moment to look at the image above of the runner crossing the finish line. According to recent research, this simple act could meaningfully improve your performance over the next several hours.

A fascinating series of field experiments has demonstrated that exposure to achievement-focused imagery – like someone winning a race – had a

Two gentlemen stand back-to-back in the morning mist, pistols at their sides. A dispute over honor has brought them here. But contrary to popular imagination, they’re not actually here to shoot each other. They’re participating in what might be history’s most elaborate conflict resolution system.

The age of dueling, particularly in the 18th and early

As a litigator for over 20 years, I can’t stand the thought that I might have been biased in assessing my client’s positions all that time.  As a mediator perpetually studying the art of mediation, however, I have to wonder. 

I recently reviewed an article in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies entitled Can you

In my quest to understand the effect of the human psyche on negotiations, one of the most influential books I encountered was Thinking Fast & Slow by Nobel Prize winner Professor Daniel Kahneman.  Many different and important psychological effects are described in his book – priming among them. 

As the name suggests, priming is the

To stay up on every aspect of mediation, I recently read an article published in the Pace Law Review entitled – Mediation and Millennials:  A Generational Shift in Dispute System Preferences, 39 Pace L. Rev 645 (2019).   

Written by two highly academic and educated Millennial JD’s that probably haven’t practiced in the real world

Prepare a draft settlement agreement that suits the case before mediation.  Take it with you and use it to make a full and final settlement agreement at the end of mediation.   

In my early mediations as a young litigator, I used the mediator’s short form to conclude a settlement at the end of a