Journal Archives

Vol. 15 – 2022

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDIATION
Editorial Board Introduction

The Editorial Board is pleased to publish Volume 15 of the American Journal of Mediation for 2022. Once again, the Journal sponsored its American Journal of Mediation National Dispute Resolution Writing Competition for law students across the country

Thanks as always to Lawrence M. Watson, Jr., Richard B. Lord, Allen Schreiber, Charles Crumpton, and Jay Sandek, my fellow judges from the American College of Civil Trial Mediators, for sharing their valuable time to read and rank all the articles submitted. I know that our judges share my continued optimism for the future of our profession as demonstrated by the innovativeness and quality of ideas presented by these future ADR inspired lawyers. Much gratitude as well to our contest committee for their exceptional effort this year: Lawrence M. Watson, Jr., Lela P. Love, and Josh Stulberg.

For me, who mediates hundreds of litigated cases per year, the range of topics that these students see for ADR never ceases to inspire. We received articles dealing with how ADR can be utilized in investment arbitration disputes, police/citizen violence conflict strategies, religious disagreements, restorative justice, and eldercare disputes plus mediator credentialing. Not surprisingly, several articles dealt with how artificial intelligence and predictive analysis will impact how we mediate in the future.

This year’s winning article is One Nation, Under Contract: The Religious Arbitration Allegiance by Sarah Mader of the Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University. Her detailed review examines how our court system deals with the interrelationship between the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and an arbitration clause in an employment contract.

The second-place article is by Linda Foit from Fordham University School of Law entitled Your Artificial Mediator is Ready for You Now: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Conflict Resolution. Linda’s article examines the variety of benefits that AI can bring to the traditional mediation table whether in person or virtual. For this recovering luddite seemingly well on his way to achieving functioning technological prowess, her article was truly eye opening.

This year multiple articles were submitted dealing with ways to design more efficient (and potentially effective) dispute resolution systems. This should be a trend that all of us wholeheartedly endorse.

The Editorial Board has also selected an article from Michael Russell, a College Fellow from Nashville, Tennessee. Michael reexamines the Cuban Missile Crisis from the viewpoint of an experienced mediator. His interdisciplinary analysis of those historic thirteen days is a fascinating read. The Board welcomes other scholarly assessments of past or future events from the perspective of an ADR professional to be considered for publication.

As in previous years, I want to offer my personal thanks to our Editorial Board, Lawrence M.  Watson, Jr., Editor Emeritus, J. Joaqin “Jay” Fraxedas, Richard B. Lord, Donald R. Philbin, Jr.,  Allen Schreiber, Rev. Wendy Trachte-Huber, Steven Sawicki and to Sarah Evans, our Journal Administrator for their continued dedication to our Journal. This year we bid a fond farewell to Wendy who is stepping down from the Board after many years of invaluable service to the Journal. In my prior forwards, I have concluded with the words below from Volume 1 of this Journal. I see no reason not to do so again.

“Our editorial philosophy will reflect the goal of professional service. Each issue of the American Journal of Mediation will feature carefully selected articles researched and written by members of the nation’s ADR academic community – scholarly articles dealing with important concepts of ADR one generally expects to see in publications of this nature. In each issue, however, we will also be publishing pragmatic and practical contributions from leading ADR practitioners – features having an immediate application to a dispute resolution professional practice. As opportunities arise, we will highlight and discuss the latest developments in ADR theory and practice; we will weigh in on where our profession is going and the challenges it meets along the way.”

We welcome your submissions that further this philosophy.
John W. Salmon
Editor in Chief

 

RUSSELL, Michael

Michael Russell is widely regarded as one of the leading employment law and class action mediators in the United States. In addition, Michael frequently mediates complex business disputes and matters involving high profile litigants. With a practice that is national in scope, he has successfully mediated cases from coast to coast.

Michael has a diverse legal background. He has tried jury trials for both plaintiffs and defendants, and he has appeared in courtrooms from New York to California. Prior to having a full-time ADR practice, Michael was a partner in a small labor and employment firm that grew to a state-wide litigation boutique. He then became a partner in one of the oldest and largest firms in Tennessee, where he engaged in a nation-wide employment litigation practice. He now devotes his entire practice to being a neutral.

MADER, Sarah

Sarah Mader is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. Her deep interest in ADR began as a dispute resolution extern at the Supreme Court of Ohio where she assisted with developing an online dispute resolution pilot program for Ohio courts. She has participated in the Moritz College of Law’s Mediation Clinic and co-authored an article about mediator training programs for ODR platforms published in the International Journal of Online Dispute Resolution. She looks forward to using her ADR training as an incoming Assistant Attorney General at the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

FOIT, Linda

Linda Foit, PhD, is a fourth-year law school student in Fordham University School of Law’s evening program in New York City. She received a PhD in Physical Chemistry and a Master’s degree in Biotechnology from the University of Munster, Germany. Linda also conducted post-doctoral research in biophysics, cancer immunology, and nanotechnology at University of Michigan and Northwestern University. Linda works as a Patent Agent for Fox Rothschild LLP.

CATANZARO, Trey

Trey Catanzaro graduated from the Ohio State Moritz College of Law in the Spring of 2022. He received a bachelor’s degree from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. While at Moritz, he took multiple courses where he participated in the Law School’s mediation clinic. This paper is developed from his interest in Artificial Intelligence during the clinic. Trey is from Georgia.

DEKENS, Cameron

Cameron Dekens is a 3rd year Law Student at University of California Irvine School of Law. He took a class on mediation from Professor Menkle-Meadow, a preeminent scholar in the field, who encouraged him to submit his paper to this competition. Cameron’s focus is landlord-tenant law. For the future, he imagines a different system for resolving landlord-tenant disputes using mediation to correct power imbalances.

ENGEL, Natalie

Natalie Engle graduated from the Ohio State Moritz College of Law in the Spring of 2022. She is currently living in Ohio.

WOOD, Anna
Anna Wood
 is a 3rd year law student at the University of California, Irvine School of Law. She intends to pursue a career in education law, with a focus on student discipline and special education. Prior to law school, Anna was a middle school chorus and general music teacher. Her experiences from that time inspired this paper.