The Skills of Civil Discourse: What Mediators Have to Share This Thanksgiving
by Andrew Flake
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of joining colleagues at Atlanta's Carter Center to moderate a program on "Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution." Sponsored by our Atlanta International Arbitration Society, it featured a discussion by scholar Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D., who has...
Notes from Berlin: U.S. Hospitality in International Arbitration
by Andrew Flake
I had the opportunity to join colleagues last week at the excellent Berlin Dispute Resolution Days, an annual week of dispute-resolution programming put on by the German Ministry of Justice and the German Arbitration Institute (DIS).
I was...
Georgia Court of Appeals Takes a Pass on “Functus Officio” as State Common Law
by Andrew Flake
A neighbor of mine, who loves to cook, recently showed me what looked like a small handheld blowtorch. He clicked a trigger, firing up a flame like a tiny jet engine, and proudly sharing that he could now melt and caramelize sugar, in order...
Safely Navigating Blind Spots in Litigation: Using Powerful Questions
by Andrew Flake
Over the past few weeks, I've been giving up a large measure of control, embracing the process of change in a fluid, highly-unpredictable, and high-stakes environment: Yes, I've been teaching my teenager to drive. And one of the first scenarios we went through was...
Mediation Math — The Power of Combinations
by Andrew Flake
As mediators, we often find ourselves at the intersection of complex disputes and seemingly irreconcilable positions. But what if I told you that one of the keys to unlocking creative settlements lies in a simple middle school math concept – combinations? Both of my...
More Than One Way to Loosen the Knot: The Power of Options in Mediation
by Andrew Flake
I have blinds on my office window and one morning not long ago, I noticed a knot, really a tangle, that seemed much larger than I remembered. I decided to untie it, and after a painstaking length of...
The Lawyer’s Creed and Successful Mediation: Some Holiday Reflections
by Andrew Flake
It's 11:50 p.m. You're preparing to hit send on an email to opposing counsel, a lengthy and powerful epistle that will surely send them scrambling. Suddenly, you feel a chill. A wind whistles through your office. Was...
Management and Process in the Mass Arbitration: From Concepcion and Beyond
by Andrew Flake
It was this very week, in November 2020, that counsel argued AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, a case that, when decided the following year, would end up refashioning the management and resolution of collective disputes in...
The View from Overhead: Garage Doors, Trademark, and Crafting Our Settlements, Part II
by Andrew Flake
An expensive piece of business litigation, particularly in the IP world and with companies interacting on an ongoing basis, always provides us some useful reflection. In our last post, we looked at a protracted piece of...
The View from Overhead: Garage Doors, Trademark, and Crafting Our Settlements, Part I
by Andrew Flake
What's in a name? In the world of garage doors, apparently quite a bit. For this week's blog, we examine a protracted piece of litigation between two national garage-door companies that itself spawned further litigation. The case is interesting...