Common Ground

What happens when a self-described non-entrepreneur sets out to build an AI mediator? Host Morgan "Mo" Tregenza talks with Renee Jackson, founder of Dyspute.ai and creator of the AI mediator Adri, about her path from litigation to legal tech and why she flipped traditional mediation on its head. They cover her AI-versus-human mediator experiment, the guardrails behind responsible legal AI, and the...

In this episode, we welcome Morgan Tregenza of Levelheaded as the show's new host. Morgan sits down with Colin Rule to talk about where mediation is headed: what modernizing the practice really looks like, where technology helps (and where it gets in the way), and how the field can resolve more disputes before they ever reach a courtroom. It's part introduction, part conversation about the future...

In this episode Colin speaks with  Jurie Groenewald , a South African commercial attorney and mediator with 25+ years experience, about his new RAMUS tool for pre-mediation case assessment. RAMUS is a self-service engine that takes your mediation brief and delivers a complete 9-section Assessment Pack in minutes — Readiness Score, ZOPA mapping, Creative Pivot™ strategy, caucus plans, prepared ques...

In this episode Colin interviews Brad Porteus, founder of BridgeGrades.org , a report card for Congress that grades politicians on how collaboratively or divisively they govern by compiling objective 3rd-party data. Bridge Grades offers citizen voters an alternative lens to evaluate and assess the performance of our United States legislators beyond ideology or party affiliation. Brad was motivated...

In this episode we speak with Julie M. Walker, an experienced arbitrator and mediator from Denver, Colorado, about a recent scam attempt she experienced and thwarted.  We discuss how to recognize such scams, the best steps to take in response, and the growing prevalence of such schemes. Learn more about Julie here: https://irelandstapleton.com/people/julie-m-walker/  

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Nelson Timken, founder of http://www.resolveourdispute.com, about mediating court referred cases and the specific challenges involved with handling litigated cases. This conversation builds on many of the points Nelson made in his mediate.com article Mastering Mediation Advocacy: Essential Skills for the Modern Litigator, co-authored with John Siffert. About...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Susan Hansen , Casey Holtz , and Michael Dwyer about their chapter in the book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. Their chapter (chapter four) is titled "A Mediation Model for Self-Represented Parties" and it covers the development of (and lessons learned from) the Family Mediation Center in Wisconsin, including the essential rule changes that o...

In this episode Colin interviews Anne-Marie Cade, an award winning Lawyer, Mediator, Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner, Conflict Resolution Specialist, Parenting Coordinator, Speaker, and Trainer. They speak about Anne-Marie's experience as a mayor, her work as a divorce coach, and her takeaways from her international study on Parenting Coordination. After practicing law for over 15 years, An...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews David Mandel, MA, LPC, the creator of the Safe & Together Model, a transformational approach to changing how systems and practitioners respond to domestic abuse when children are involved. With more than 35 years of experience in the domestic violence and child welfare fields, he has identified how a perpetrator pattern–based approach can improve the abil...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Morgan Duffy Tregenza (Mo), Founder and CEO of Levelheaded , about her path into the field and her vision for https://www.belevelheaded.com/ , a startup mediation service provider in Colorado. Mo is working hard to turn Levelheaded into the world’s most easy-to-use and prolific mediation platform. Levelheaded's mission is to make the world a less litigious pl...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Professor Kelly Browe Olson about her chapter in the new book (that she also co-edited) entitled Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. Kelly's chapter is titled "Intimate Partner Violence and Family Dispute Resolution: Coercion, Capacity, and Control" and it covers the dialogue between victim advocates and family mediators over the past few decades...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Emeritus Professor from the University of Missouri School of Law John Lande about his experience creating an AI (PrivateGPT) trained on all of his writing over the past forty years. Starting from the beginning, when John didn't know much about AI, he narrates the experience of training an LLM (Large Language Model) on his collected writings and evolving the A...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews dispute resolution giants Bernard Mayer and Peter Salem about the chapter they co-wrote in the new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. Peter and Bernie's chapter is titled "Family Mediation" and it covers the evolution of the practice of family mediation over the past few decades and makes some predictions about its future evolution as well....

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Jennifer Shack , Director of Research at RSI, about the chapter she co-wrote with Donna Shestowsky in the new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. Jen and Donna's chapter is titled "Implementing ODR in Family Court: Insights from the First Neutral Program Evaluation in the United States" and it shares conclusions from the first neutral evalua...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Forrest (Woody) Mosten about his chapter in the new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. Woody's chapter is titled "Limited Scope Representation: An Important Tool and Peacemaking Catalyst for Family Dispute Resolution" and it examines unbundling and limited scope representation models for family cases. This podcast is part of a continuing se...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Professor John Lande about his chapter in the new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. John's chapter is titled "Early Negotiation Processes" and it examines techniques like collaborative law, cooperative law, and settlement counsel. This podcast is part of a continuing series interviewing authors from Family Dispute Resolution: Process and P...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews dispute resolution legends Ben Davis and Charles Crumpton on proposed revisions of the legal education standard 206 dealing with diversity in law schools. For more information on this proposed revision, see mediate.com/standard-206 About Ben: https://www.utoledo.edu/law/faculty/emeriti/davis-ben.html About Chuck: https://crumptoncollaborativesolutions.com/abo...

In this episode, Colin Rule interviews Peter Salem and Kelly Browe Olson about their new book Family Dispute Resolution: Process and Practice. This is the kickoff interview for a full series of interviews with the more than 30 authors who wrote chapters for the book.   About the book: "Over the last 50 years family justice systems in the United States and elsewhere have evolved from a predominant...

In this episode, Colin Rule (CEO of Mediate.com) speaks with Bridget McCormick, the CEO of the American Arbitration Association/International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA/ICDR), about the path that led her from being a public defender in NYC, to a law professor in Michigan, to the Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, and now CEO of AAA/ICDR. They discuss her work in mediation and dis...

In this episode, Veronica speaks with John Sturrock KC, founder and senior mediator at  Core Solutions .  Listen to this episode to learn about the following: The connection between food, hospitality, meeting together, and mediation How excellence in mediation is similar to excellence in sports What it means to mediate "minimally" and why you should consider using this approach The role mediators...

"Part of community mediation is...we don't want people co-existing, we want people co-creating." In this episode, Veronica speaks with D.G. Mawn, President of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM).  Listen to this episode to learn more about the following: About NAFCM NAFCM's partnership with Living Room Conversations Testing the School Board Community Toolkit About the Toolkit...

In celebration of the publication of Mediate.com's 1000th newsletter, Mediate.com CEO Colin Rule sits down with Mediate.com co-founder John Helie to talk about the early days of the Mediate.com (and ConflictNet), the newsletter, top authors and editors, and how artificial intelligence and social networking has changed and will change the ADR field over the coming decades (discussion interrupted on...

If you've ever been curious about the attorney perspective on what makes for an effective mediation, then this episode is for you!  In this episode, Veronica chats with Margeaux Thomas, an experienced attorney, about what makes for an effective mediation within the context of mediating a business divorce.  Questions answered include: What is a "business divorce"? What makes a skilled mediator for...

Did you know that the average length of a lawsuit in Brazil is about 10 years? Good thing there's mediation!  In this episode, Veronica chats with guest, Mariana F. Souza--a mediator, lawyer, and arbitrator based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil--about the following topics: The difference between mediation and conciliation in Brazil What mediation looks like in Brazil How party/lawyer interest in mediati...

As a mediator, are you aware of the key characteristics of communication in Latin American culture? Are you curious about whether AI will replace human dispute resolvers? Listen to this episode as Veronica chats with guest, Luis Gómez, who is both a Colombian mediator and a research lecturer who teaches negotiation strategy and artificial intelligence applied to dispute system design--about these...