Extending the deadline for submissions: We are extending the deadline for submissions. Deadline for paper proposals is now 14 September 2026. The ADR Research Network is extending their call for papers to Monday, 14 September 2026, and adding the opportunity for you to submit your work in progress as a PowerPoint presentation. We know it can be a challenge to complete a full paper for the roundtable, and we therefore encourage you to consider a PowerPoint presentation.

Call for Paper Proposals: This is a reminder that the 14th Annual Research Roundtable is accepting submissions for papers proposals. Deadline for paper proposals is 17 August 2026. The 14th Roundtable will be held from 18-19 November 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. The Roundtable will hosted by the College of Business and Law and the School of Law, RMIT University at the RMIT Melbourne City Campus.

Call for Paper Proposals The Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network (ADRRN) is pleased to announce a call for papers for its 14th Annual Research Roundtable to be held from 18-19 November 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. The Roundtable will hosted by the College of Business and Law and the School of Law, RMIT University at the RMIT Melbourne City Campus. ADRRN roundtables provide a collaborative and supportive research environment for work-shopping papers-in-progress.

By Peta Spyrou and Matthew Atkinson The authors thank the many colleagues, practitioners, former students and friends who contributed reflections and photos about Margaret Castles for this piece. For over three decades, Margaret Castles, or simply ‘Marg’ as she is affectionately known, has helped shape how dispute resolution is practised, taught, and understood in South Australia and beyond. Anyone who knows Marg also knows she is deeply uncomfortable with too much fuss being made about her, let alone her recent retirement.

By Claire Holland and Peter Condliffe We are delighted to share with our colleagues and friends at the Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network that the 7th edition of Conflict Management: Theory and Practice has been published by LexisNexis. This milestone marks not only a significant revision of the text, but a new chapter in the book's own story, one that now carries two names on the cover for the first time.

John LandeThis article has been republished with permission. The original publication can be located within Indisputably. Marc Galanter, a giant in the field of dispute resolution scholarship, passed away on April 14 at the age of 95. Here is an excerpt from the announcement by University of Wisconsin Law School Dean Daniel P. Tokaji (reprinted with permission): As many of you know, Marc was the John and Rylla Bosshard Professor of Law and South Asian Studies, the author of many books and articles, and a treasured member of the Law School community. 

I am pleased to announce the details of the 14th Australian Dispute Resolution Research Network roundtable. It will be held at RMIT University on the 18th and 19th November 2026 at our city campus. Thanks again for the hard work of the organizers for the 13th roundtable which was a big success! RMIT last hosted our community of ADR scholars in 2014, and after many years, I am so pleased to have the opportunity to again host ADR researchers.

By Rory Gowers, Transformation Architect and Principal of The Constructive Solution This article is 1 of 3 within the series and is re-published with permission. The original publication can be found at www.myrespectability.com Preface The question of mediator neutrality has been one of the most contested and generative conversations in our field for the better part of two decades. It began seriously with Bernie Mayer’s landmark 2004 work and has since been deepened by the behavioural turn literature, by scholars of genuine distinction, and by the honest frustrations of practitioners who have felt the gap between the ideal and the reality grow uncomfortably wide.

By Susan L. Brooks Toward the end of November 2025, I had the great honor and pleasure of facilitating the opening session of the ADR Research Forum. The theme I chose was Transforming Conflict from the Inside Out: Exploring the Inner Work that Supports Our Outer Work. I introduced several approaches emphasizing the need for researchers and practitioners in the field of alternative dispute resolution, which I prefer to think of as…

Alvedi Sabani and Kathy Douglas Negotiation has always been a practical skill best learned by doing. For decades, negotiation education across law, business, and the social sciences has relied on roleplays and debriefing as its signature pedagogy. These activities remain powerful because they immerse learners in conflict scenarios, expose them to different perspectives, and create space for reflection, a point long recognised in…

This post summarises and reflects on ideas first developed in the co-authored article, “The ‘Behavioral Turn’ in Dispute Resolution: Implications for Mediation Theory and Practice”, originally published in the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 41(2) (2025). Across many disciplines, behavioural insights have transformed how we understand human decision-making. Psychology, behavioural economics, and social neuroscience increasingly reveal the extent to which human choices are shaped by cognitive biases, stress, fatigue, emotional load, social norms, and the framing of options.

By Elenne Ford When people find themselves locked in conflict, the usual advice is to stand firm and assert their position, interests and rights. Self-assertion dominates our cultural playbook. The titles of popular conflict resolution books give the flavour succinctly: Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In;1 I Wanted Fries with That: How to Ask for What You Want and…

Sitong Li PhD Student (Chinese University of Hong Kong) International dispute settlement mechanisms have significantly proliferated in recent decades, playing a central role in global governance. The volume of litigation before these international courts and tribunals is also on the rise. Among the various international dispute settlement mechanisms, investor-State arbitration plays a significant role. Investor-State arbitration can take place under various rules, one of which is…

By Dr Tina Popa, (Senior Lecturer in Law), Dr Christina Platz (Senior Lecturer in Law), Dr Kayleigh Young (Clinical Psychologist) and Dr Kate Jackowski (Forensic Psychologist) Introduction Personal injury (PI) disputes are emotionally charged legal processes, as they often involve physical injuries, trauma and psychological distress (Akkermans, 2020). This means that injured claimants can frequently have a desire to have their non-legal needs addressed through acknowledgement and or a desire for an apology (

Peter Condliffe PhD and Claire Holland PhDThis blog is a summary of a more substantive paper currently in preparation and is based on that paper: See Condliffe, P and Holland C, What Do we Call Ourselves: Conflict Manager or Dispute Resolver, in preparation. Introduction This blog has come about as a result of the author’s collaboration on a new and seventh edition of Conflict Management: Theory and Practice (previously titled ‘Conflict Management: A Practical Guide’ Lexis Nexis, 2019).

By Akshat Garg This article has been republished with permission. The original publication can be found at Kluwer Mediation Blog. On 30 May 2025, the global dispute resolution landscape quietly shifted. In Hong Kong SAR, 33 countries signed the Convention on the Establishment of the International Organization for Mediation (“IOMed”), the world’s first intergovernmental body dedicated solely to mediation.

There's still time to get your abstract in! Please submit your abstract by 3 November 2025. The Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network is pleased to be hosting its 13th research roundtable on 27-28 November 2025 at Monash University Clayton campus, Melbourne. The roundtable is supported by the Faculty of Law at Monash University and the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation…

John Lande This article has been republished with permission. The original publication can be located within Indisputably. The quality of AI outputs depends on users’ skill in inputting good prompts. That’s the premise of my new article: The Art of AI Prompting in Law and Dispute Resolution Practice. It provides practical guidance about how to use AI tools responsibly, ethically, and effectively.

By Dr Samantha Hardy and Dr Judith Rafferty This article has been republished (with minor amendments) with permission. The original publication can be found at The Conflict Management Academy. Apologies can be transformative. A genuine “I’m sorry” has the potential to mend trust, restore dignity, and signal a willingness to move forward. Yet in practice, many mediators have sat through sessions where one party waits, sometimes desperately, for an apology that never arrives.

The Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network is pleased to be hosting its 13th research roundtable on 27-28 November 2025 at Monash University Clayton campus, Melbourne. The roundtable is supported by the Faculty of Law at Monash University and the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation. We are accepting paper proposal's for the Roundtable. We welcome proposals that consider dispute resolution from a scholarly, critical and/or empirical perspective.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly part of daily life in legal and mediation practice. Mediators and lawyers (“practitioners”) may wonder how they can use it to provide good client service and remain competitive in the marketplace. Indeed, some practitioners may wonder whether they’ll be able to do so in the future without using AI. Recent data show that lawyers’ use of AI in the US is growing rapidly – and many practitioners will need to learn how to use it effectively to succeed in a changing market. 

Samantha HardyThis article has been republished with permission. The original publication can be found at The Conflict Management Academy. The Conflict Management Academy has been running “The Mediator’s Dilemma Series” events this year, in which mediators explore a challenging hypothetical and discuss how they would deal with the dilemmas at various stages of the process. These events have been well attended and the discussions enlightening (and sometimes heated!) but what struck me after having reviewed the sessions so far is that the ethical decision making process used by participants was, well to be frank, rather ad hoc.

John LandeThis article has been republished and adapted with permission. The original publication can be located within Indisputably. Imagine you’re a mediator and someone tells you what’s troubling them. They’re deeply upset about a product they believe poses serious risks. They cite past harms, question whether it should ever have been introduced, and urge that it be removed from the market or tightly restricted.

Dr Claire Holland Why Mediator Dilemmas Matter Mediation is often described as structured and principled. An approach that empowers parties to find their own way through conflict with the support of a neutral third party. At its best, mediation provides a space where voice, dignity, and autonomy are protected. Yet, despite this aspirational framing, the reality of practice is rarely straightforward.

Samantha HardyThis article has been republished with permission. The original publication can be found at The Conflict Management Academy. In my work with clients in conflict, I constantly find that they have missed many opportunities to manage conflict more effectively. In particular, they often fail to set appropriate boundaries (or ANY boundaries) to allow themselves to be at their best in conflict situations.

Massimiliano Ferrari's creation of Medianos, a board game designed to help parties align with "interests and needs" rather than "positions", demonstrates measurable success in Western mediation training contexts (Tambù Creative Team, 2023). The board game is designed to effectively teach collaborative problem-solving skills and transform adversarial thinking patterns. Ferrari's intent to democratize mediation knowledge through accessible gameplay merits recognition (Gowers, 2025).

Pauline Collins and David Spencer This article has been republished and adapted with permission. The original publication can be located within the Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal. Despite people negotiating disputes since time immemorial, the formalisation of dispute resolution in Australia dates back only around half a century. Prior to this there was litigation, compromise offers and informal settlement negotiations. Dispute resolution also referred to as alternative, assisted, additional dispute resolution or just dispute management now entails a growing range of approaches to assist parties in resolving or managing their dispute.

For several decades, the Australian family dispute resolution literature has examined the operation of family mediation and other family dispute resolution procedures. Much of this data comes from funded evaluations and projects following the Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibilities) Act 2006. However, the English and Welsh literature on contemporary family mediation is limited in comparison. Much of our research has remained focused on the court system, even though many, if not most, people involved in child arrangements or post-separation financial matters deal with their disputes outside of it.

Samantha HardyThis article has been republished with permission. The original publication can be found at The Conflict Management Academy. Inspired by Jennifer L. Schulz (2023). Mediator Liability 23 Years Later: The “Three C’s” of Case Law, Codes, & Custom. Ottawa Law Review / Revue de droit d’Ottawa, 55(1):151–186. Available at:  A Quiet Assumption For many of us working in the mediation field, there’s a quiet assumption we rarely question: that we’re not likely to be sued for what happens in a mediation room.

27-28 November 2025 Monash University Call for Paper Proposals The Australasian Dispute Resolution Research Network is pleased to be hosting its 13th research roundtable on 27-28 November 2025 at Monash University Clayton campus, Melbourne. The roundtable is supported by the Faculty of Law at Monash University and the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation. The roundtables are designed to encourage a collaborative and supportive research environment in which papers are work-shopped and discussed in detail.

Responding to @Massimiliano Ferrari's recent post sharing @Dr. Anna Maria Bernard's powerful insights about digital conflicts in Basilicata. Here's what we're seeing as Medianos spreads globally... Massimiliano Ferrari's sharing of Dr. Anna Maria Bernard's insights from Basilicata Region perfectly captures what those who understand transformation are witnessing worldwide - the emerging need for approaches that naturally dissolve digital-age conflicts. Dr. Bernard's experience with Medianos confirms what you may already be sensing as this remarkable method continues spreading across continents.

John LandeThis article has been republished and adapted with permission. The original publication can be located within Indisputably. Imagine doing your work without word processing, spell checkers, email, the internet, search engines, voicemail, cell phones, or Zoom. That’s how you’ll probably feel in the not-too-distant future about working without artificial intelligence (AI). Innovations often seem radical at first. In time, people just take them for granted.

By Eunice Chua (CEO, FIDReC) and Rachel Lim (Intern, FIDReC) The context of consumer financial disputes Tom went on an overseas holiday with his friends, and they went out to a pub on their last night. They drank till the early hours of the morning. Tom was in a celebratory mood and paid for everyone’s drinks with his credit card. He and his friends left for their hotel at 3am.

Dan Berstein & Robert Bergman This article has been republished with permission and the original publication can be located at Mediate.com. It can be difficult to get on the same page when you are caught in the middle of an adversarial dispute. Each party has their own biases – they want to win! Amidst a deluge of seemingly endless “facts” to pick from, sometimes it can feel like the parties are living in entirely different universes.

John LandeThis article has been republished and adapted with permission. The original publication can be located within Indisputably. We all know that it’s bad to be biased, right? Wrong. That assumption is its own bad bias. Biases are inevitable – in humans and bots alike. Some biases are harmful. Others are helpful. Many are neutral. But bias itself is unavoidable.

John LandeThis article has been republished and adapted with permission. The original publication can be located within the University of Missouri School of Law Journal. How Can You Turn Adversarial Attorneys into Quasi-Mediators?, my Theory Meets Practice column in CPR’s Alternatives magazine, summarizes a discussion with members of the Association of Attorney-Mediators. It builds on Creating Educational Value by Teaching Law Students to be Quasi-Mediators…

Although the legal profession prides itself on rigorous training and high standards, recent research reveals a gap between education and practice. On 9 April 2025, the New South Wales Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) released a research report conducted by Urbis that examined Practical Legal Training (PLT) in NSW (the report). This report offers crucial insights for legal educators, practitioners, and the profession as a whole as it provides a view of the current landscape of legal education.

By Imogen Stephenson This post is part of a series of the best blog posts written by undergraduate law students enrolled in 2024 in Non-Adversarial Justice at Monash Law. The establishment of the Yoorrook Justice Commission in 2021 as Australia’s first formal truth-telling process into historical and ongoing injustices experienced by First Nations people marked a significant milestone in the nation’s journey towards reconciliation.

John LandeThis article has been republished and adapted with permission. The original publication can be located within Indisputably. Until January 27, I hadn’t planned to develop an AI tool for dispute resolution. That changed when I Zoomed into a program where Susan Guthrie showed how AI could be used in mediation. A brief conversation at the end shifted from mediating disputes to improving writing – and that’s when a light bulb lit up in my head.

Presented by Dr Mary Tumelty, visiting scholar to the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation, Monash Lawwith guest commentator, Mr Nick Mann, Polaris Lawyers Date: Monday, 31 March 2025Time: 12:00pm - 1:30pmLunch provided with seminar commencing at 12:30pmVenue: Monash Law Staff Library Clayton Campus, or Zoom (link to be provided on the day)   Please register via this…

Rory Gowers & Milan NitopiThis article is Part 3 of 3 in our series ‘Informed, Involved, Inclusive’. Rory and Milan (left to right) presenting at the 12th Conference World Mediation Forum – Foro Mundial de Mediación in Brazil in November 2024. The story of fisherman Mark and how mediators are not so different… Mark Schenk recently shared a fishing story to illustrate when 90% isn’t enough.

John Lande This article has been republished and adapted with permission. The original publication can be located within Indisputably. Posting my short article, The Important Role of Attorneys in Promoting Parties’ Self-Determination in Mediation, on the NYC-DR listserv prompted several reactions. This post highlights and elaborates some points in my article. Why Law School Faculty Should Increase Instruction in Mediation Representation…

By Lavanya de Mel This post is part of a series of the best blog posts written by undergraduate law students enrolled in 2024 in Non-Adversarial Justice at Monash Law. The criminal justice system often leaves victim-survivors feeling that they themselves are on trial, paving the way for Restorative Justice (‘RJ’) to emerge as a compelling alternative. However, is RJ suitable for responding to sexual violence?

By Amy Li This post is part of a series of the best posts written by undergraduate law students enrolled in 2024 in Non-adversarial Justice at Monash University. Victims of abusive relationships are at a higher risk of being financially disadvantaged and at poverty after separation. They are more likely to accept unfair property settlements and are three times more likely to…

Samantha HardyThis article has been republished and adapted with permission. The original publication can be located within The Conflict Management Academy. When setting up your practice, it’s important to have all your documents in order. Many people don’t prepare in advance and then are in a last-minute panic when the first client turns up and they need paperwork! …

Rory Gowers & Milan NitopiThis article is Part 2 of 3 in our series ‘Informed, Involved, Inclusive’. Rory and Milan (left to right) presenting at the 12th Conference World Mediation Forum – Foro Mundial de Mediación in Brazil in November 2024. Disclaimer: ​​This introductory story is a work of fiction and does not intend to resemble any person or their lived experiences.

By Shanza Shafeek        This is the first blog post in a series written by undergraduate law students enrolled in Monash University's Non-Adversarial Justice unit in 2024. The very best posts have been published here. Family disputes are inherently stressful, but for those who have experienced trauma—especially from domestic and family violence—the process can be even more overwhelming. While the Family Law Act 1975…

John, taking a break from writing at the University of Newcastle in March 2020 It is with sadness that our community honours the passing of Dr John Woodward on 5 February. John was a trusted colleague, a dedicated member of this Network, a solicitor who spent almost 30 years in litigation practice, a mediator, an arbitrator, and a member of the Law Society of NSW ADR Committee.