The Practice of Mediation: A Video-Integrated Text (Aspen Coursebook)

First published in 2008,The Practice of Mediation: A Video-Integrated Text was the first book to combine in-depth textual analysis of the mediation process with videos illustrating the stages of the mediation process and the many constituent skills of effective mediators. Written in a highly accessible and conversational style, the text provides students a sophisticated understanding of the negotiation process and the barriers to conflict resolution. Accompanied by video of three unscripted mediated disputes, based on actual cases, the presentation allows students to see what they are reading about, preparing them for all major approaches to mediation.

The Second Edition of this widely adopted text contains new and expanded coverage of on-line mediation, cross-cultural mediation and co-mediation, as well as new, non-legal examples of the use of mediation. It includes a revised and expanded discussion of effective persuasion and problem solving, based on cutting edge social science research findings. And it expands the video content from 6 to 7 hours, by including a new, full-length video of the text s high-conflict child custody study, illustrating the stages of the process in sequence.

Features of The Practice of Mediation:

• Accessible, conversational style.
• Provides students with a sophisticated conceptual understanding of the negotiation process and the cognitive, psychological and strategic barriers to conflict resolution.
• Teaches about the mediation process from the inside out, breaking down the skills of effective mediation into their component parts.
• Offers close analysis of major ethical and role issues that mediators encounter.
• Prepares students for all of the major approaches to mediation.
• Includes a self-contained chapter with video extracts on representing clients in mediation
Includes seven hours of online video, depicting nine professional mediators, with different backgrounds and orientations, mediating three different cases, often with very different results.
• The video extracts are fully integrated with the text, enabling students to see what they are reading about as they read it.
• The online video saves precious classroom time, allowing viewing and analysis outside of class.
• The three cases depicted in the video are based on real, mediated disputes:
• A child custody case.
• A small-claims consumer dispute between a homeowner and a kitchen contractor.
• A complex negligence suit filed by a tenant against his former landlord after an intruder robbed him at knifepoint.
• The video includes an extended comparative example of facilitative and evaluative mediation of the same matter.
• Mediators and lawyers perform as they would in the actual case. Professional actors portray the role of the disputants in an extremely realistic fashion.