Dispute Resolution

Courses

EXT-1005: Externship: Alternative Dispute Resolution

Credits 3

The ADR Externship gives students the opportunity to observe and participate in the work of lawyers who act as problem solvers with nonprofit community mediation programs. Community mediation programs assign trained volunteer mediators from local communities to facilitate for individuals and groups to resolve differences. Placements are available in MN Community Dispute Resolution Programs as defined in Minn. Stat. § 494. After enrolling, students will be asked about their interests and availability for placement with a Center, and they may also need to interview with potential placement sites.

Students will have opportunities to learn about community mediation, observe mediations and provide valuable support for the Centers. Having taken a Civil or Family Mediation Skills course is a prerequisite for students to mediate as a part of their externship. Students may bring their own placement to this course.

LAW-2010: Negotiation

Credits 3
This course will focus on developing skills through simulated negotiations, case studies, exercises and class discussion, with readings that emphasize practical application. The goals of the negotiation course include the following: 1) providing students with hands-on experience and practice in negotiating deals and resolving disputes; 2) sharing with students proven models and frameworks for effective negotiations; 3) exposing students to a variety of negotiation contexts and approaches; 4) acquainting students with the ethical and legal issues surrounding negotiation practice and implementation; and 5) giving students a broader perspective on a lawyer's role beyond the adversarial method to resolving conflict.

LAW-2020: Transactions & Settlements: Drafting Agreements and Making Deals

Credits 3
This skills course teaches negotiation, drafting, and client counseling in both the transactional and litigation contexts. The course focuses on how lawyers represent clients in negotiating and drafting contracts and settlement agreements. The course also covers ethical issues arising in deal-making. Examples are drawn from actual cases and deals from a variety of contexts, including business, civil rights, employment law, the entertainment industry, public affairs, and general litigation, and applied through simulations, short case studies, exercises, and class discussion.

LAW-3035: Arbitration Law

Credits 2
Although you may not realize it, you already are a party to numerous arbitration agreements. It is likely, for example, that contracts for your cell phone, internet service provider, apartment, favorite online seller, or employment include an arbitration clause. Are these clauses enforceable? Are any defenses available? Should we permit merchants, financial institutions, and employers to use binding mandatory arbitration clauses that contain class action waivers? Arbitration Law will answer these questions and more. The course will analyze relevant statutes such as the Federal Arbitration Act, proposed legislation like the Arbitration Fairness Act, and case law that defines arbitration. Students are encouraged to register for this course at the same time as Arbitration Skills. Students cannot earn credit in both Arbitration Law and Introduction to U.S. Arbitration Law: Domestic and International Aspects.

LAW-3145: Decision Making in a Chaotic Reality

Credits 1 2
Professionals in today's chaotic world must develop the skills necessary to handle those inevitable situations in which external events intrude upon, and interfere with, the professionals' abilities to make clear and appropriate decisions. These situations of uncertainty can easily deteriorate into crises. If not handled correctly, they also can cause irreversible damage to relationships. In order to be effective in such situations, conflict professionals must possess the capacity to collect, assess and adapt new and changing information. They must also develop their creative capacities and vision to take into account and address the consequences for the future (”the day after”). Using the most contemporary tools and methodologies for creative problem solving, students will develop the skills needed for making good decisions in a chaotic reality.

LAW-3150: Dispute Systems Design

Credits 2
Systems thinking and design thinking are critical skill sets for leaders and changemakers. Dispute systems design applies these skills to the study of conflict, dissecting and reconstructing the processes by which we prevent, manage, and resolve disputes. In this course, we will analyze at least five distinct dispute systems from a variety of contexts and disciplines. Through readings, exercises, case studies, and discussions, we will assess how they were designed and whether they were designed effectively. We will examine design principles including: procedural fairness; stakeholder identification, communication, and assessment; clear and well-articulated purpose(s); checks and balances; and feedback loops. While legal dispute systems will be addressed, students will also examine systems that are alternative to, and in many cases categorically and intentionally separate from, legal procedures. At the conclusion of the course, students will have the opportunity to propose changes to a dispute system of their choosing.

LAW-3430: Mediation

Credits 3

Through discussion, simulations, and role-play, this course focuses on the structure and goals of the mediation process and the skills and techniques mediators use to aid parties in overcoming barriers to dispute resolution. The course also examines the underlying negotiation orientations and strategies that mediators may confront and employ, the roles of attorneys and clients, dealing with difficult people and power imbalances, cultural considerations, and ethical issues for lawyers and mediators. In addition, special attention is devoted to the art of successful representation of clients in mediation. Students cannot earn credit in both LAW-3220 Family Mediation and LAW-3430 Mediation.

LAW-3520: Theories of Conflict

Credits 2
This interdisciplinary course introduces students to important theoretical perspectives on our understanding of conflict and conflict response. Specifically, students explore the biological/physiological, psychodynamic, social psychological, communication, and sociological/political perspectives on conflict by reading and discussing major theoretical works within each perspective. Emphasis is on comparing and distinguishing key dimensions of these theories, such as the nature and sources of conflict, conflict escalation, conflict response, and the nature of the third party role. Classes follow an interactive format. Using case studies, exercises, and group discussion to draw upon personal experiences, including those involving race and social identity, the course explores the usefulness of each perspective to understand the experience of conflict. Online asynchronous course. Students may take up to 41 credits under the 83-credit requirement (43 under the 86-credit requirement) toward their J.D. degree through courses that are designated "distance education courses." A distance education course is one in which students are separated from all faculty members for more than one-third of the instruction and the instruction involves the use of technology to support regular and substantive interaction between the students and all faculty members, either synchronously or asynchronously. Source: ABA Standards Definition (7) and 306.