Dispute resolution or dispute settlement is the process of resolving disputes between parties. The term dispute resolution is sometimes used interchangeably with conflict resolution.
Mediation is a negotiation facilitated by a third-party neutral. It is a structured, interactive process where an impartial third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties in resolving conflict through the use of specialized communication and negotiation techniques. All participants in mediation are encouraged to actively participate in the process. Mediation is a "party-centered" process in that it is focused primarily upon the needs, rights, and interests of the parties. The mediator uses a wide variety of techniques to guide the process in a constructive direction and to help the parties find their optimal solution. A mediator is facilitative in that they manage the interaction between parties and facilitates open communication. Mediation is also evaluative in that the mediator analyzes issues and relevant norms ("reality-testing"), while refraining from providing prescriptive advice to the parties. Due to its voluntary nature, a person cannot be compelled to use mediation to resolve their dispute. However, a suggestion from the Court may be difficult to resist.
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of conflict and retribution. Committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest of group and by engaging in collective negotiation. Dimensions of resolution typically parallel the dimensions of conflict in the way the conflict is processed. Cognitive resolution is the way disputants understand and view the conflict, with beliefs, perspectives, understandings and attitudes. Emotional resolution is in the way disputants feel about a conflict, the emotional energy. Behavioral resolution is reflective of how the disputants act, their behavior. Ultimately a wide range of methods and procedures for addressing conflict exist, including negotiation, mediation, mediation-arbitration, diplomacy, and creative peacebuilding.
The School of International Service (SIS) is American University's school of advanced international study, covering areas such as international politics, international communication, international development, international economics, peace and conflict resolution, international law and human rights, global environmental politics, and U.S. foreign policy.
The Program on Negotiation (PON) is a university consortium dedicated to developing the theory and practice of negotiation and dispute resolution. As a community of scholars and practitioners, PON serves a unique role in the world negotiation community. Founded in 1983 as a special research project at Harvard Law School, PON includes faculty, students, and staff from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, and Brandeis University.
The Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law is the law school of Pepperdine University, a private research university in Los Angeles County, California. The school offers the Juris Doctor (JD), and various Masters of Laws (LLM) options in Dispute Resolution, International Commercial Arbitration, United States Law, and Entertainment, Media, and Sports Law. The school also offers joint degrees with its JD and Master of Dispute Resolution (MDR) in partnership with other Pepperdine University graduate schools. The school now offers an online Master of Legal Studies program and an online Master of Dispute Resolution program.
Alternative dispute resolution (ADR), or external dispute resolution (EDR), typically denotes a wide range of dispute resolution processes and techniques that parties can use to settle disputes with the help of a third party. They are used for disagreeing parties who cannot come to an agreement short of litigation. However, ADR is also increasingly being adopted as a tool to help settle disputes within the court system.
Institution Quraysh for Law & Policy, also known as iQ, is a transnational law think-tank with offices in London and with a focus on promoting the rule of law globally. The institution's history goes back to the Arab World, in particular the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It advised regional, and international corporations operating in the region, in addition to policy work with national governments, sovereign entities, and international non-governmental organisations.
Gilead Sher is an Israeli attorney who served as Chief of Staff and Policy Coordinator to Israel's former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak. In that capacity he acted as one of Israel's senior peace negotiator in 1999–2001, at the Camp David summit in 2000 and the Taba talks in 2001, as well as in extensive rounds of covert negotiations with the Palestinians.
Alma Abdul-Hadi Jadallah, is a social scientist, internationally recognized mediator, facilitator and trainer, as well as a scholar-practitioner and educator with close to twenty years of experience in the field of conflict analysis and resolution, research and applied practice, peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and transformation. Since 2005, she has been the President and Managing Director of Kommon Denominator Inc., a private consulting firm.
Lawrence E. Susskind is a teacher, trainer, mediator, and urban planner. He is one of the founders of the field of public dispute mediation and is a practicing international mediator through the Consensus Building institute. He has taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1971.
William Ury is an American author, academic, anthropologist, and negotiation expert. He co-founded the Harvard Program on Negotiation. Additionally, he helped found the International Negotiation Network with former President Jimmy Carter. Ury is the co-author of Getting to Yes with Roger Fisher, which set out the method of principled negotiation and established the idea of the best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA) within negotiation theory.
Robert Harris Mnookin is an American lawyer, author, and the Samuel Williston Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He focuses largely on dispute resolution, negotiation, and arbitration and was one of the primary co-arbitrators that resolved a 7-year software rights dispute between IBM and Fujitsu in the 1980s. Mnookin has been the Chair of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School since 1994.
Mohamed Manjee Keshavjee is an international cross-cultural specialist on mediation, with a focus on Islamic Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR).
Carrie Menkel-Meadow is an American lawyer and scholar of dispute resolution. In 2018, she was the recipient of the Outstanding Scholar Award by the American Bar Foundation. The University of Chicago Law Review listed Menkel-Meadow as one of the most cited scholars of Critical Race Theory and Feminist Jurisprudence.
Krista Eileen Wiegand is an American political scientist. She is a full professor of Political Science and Director of the Global Security Program at the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee. She also was the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal International Studies Quarterly until the end of 2023.
Alexandra Beth Carter is an American academic, mediator, media personality, negotiation trainer and author. She is a clinical professor of law at Columbia Law School (CLS), where she directs and teaches the Mediation Clinic.
Katherine Clerides, also Keti Clerides is an activist for the peaceful reunification of Cyprus. She is Honorary President of the Board of the Glafcos Clerides Institute in Cyprus and a former MP in the House of Representatives, Cyprus. She was the first woman to be elected as vice-president of the Democratic Rally party (2003–2007) and the first Secretary of the Women's Organization of her party. She has been a member of the Cyprus Conflict Resolution Trainers Group which is thought to have helped to start the peace movement in Cyprus. She is known for her decades of work on the rights of women and girls in Cyprus and for her inter-community and reconciliation work on the divided island. She is a barrister-at-law and a citizen peace-builder. In 2016 she became a JAMS Weinstein Senior Fellow in recognition of her contribution to the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), having participated in conflict resolution workshops, organized by the Fulbright Commission, for Greek and Turkish Cypriots working for the reconciliation and reunification of the island. She is married to Costas Shammas, an accountant and peace activist.
David Alan Hoffman is an American attorney, mediator, arbitrator, author, and academic. He is the John H. Watson, Jr. Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. He is also the founder of Boston Law Collaborative. His TEDx talk on Lawyers as Peacemakers describes his decision to discontinue courtroom advocacy and focus exclusively on mediation, arbitration, and Collaborative law.
Paul J. Zwier is a lawyer, author, and academic. He is a former Professor of Law, Director of the Advocacy Skills Program, and Director of the Program for International Advocacy and Dispute Resolution at Emory University, and has been serving as an Of Counsel at Guttman, Buschner & Brooks (GBB).
