Professor John Lande

Business/Org University of Missouri School of Law
Website http://www.law.missouri.edu/lande

John Lande is Director of the LLM Program in Dispute Resolution and Associate Professor at the University of Missouri School of Law. He teaches courses on lawyering practice, non-binding methods of dispute resolution, and dispute system design.

He began mediating professionally in 1982 in California. He received his J.D. from Hastings College of Law and Ph.D in sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a fellow in residence at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Before coming to MU, he was on the faculty in the Dispute Resolution Department at Nova Southeastern University and he was Director of the Mediation Program and Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law, where he supervised a child protection mediation clinic.

His scholarship focuses on various aspects of dispute systems design, including publications analyzing how lawyering and mediation practices will transform each other, business lawyers’ and executives’ opinions about litigation and ADR, designing court-connected mediation programs, improving the quality of mediation practice, the “vanishing trial,” and Cooperative and Collaborative law.

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution gave him its award for best professional article for “Principles for Policymaking about Collaborative Law and Other ADR Processes,” 22 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 619 (2007) and honorable mention for “Using Dispute System Design Methods to Promote Good-Faith Participation in Court-Connected Mediation Programs,” 50 UCLA Law Review 69 (2002).

For more about his background, read Gini Nelson’s interview of John from her "Engaging Conflicts" blog.

My Articles

Improving Mediation Quality: You, Too, Can Do This in Your Area

29 May 2008
Professor John Lande

When parties and lawyers are in a difficult dispute, sometimes the only way they can get out of that jam is through skillful mediation.

Practical Insights From an Empirical Study of Cooperative Lawyers in Wisconsin (A Summary of the Study)

31 May 2008
Professor John Lande

What can you do if, as a lawyer, you want to negotiate cooperatively from the outset of a legal dispute? One option would be to contact the other side, suggest exchanging information informally, and then try to work out a mutually satisfactory agreement.

Developing Better Lawyers and Lawyering Practices: Introduction to the Symposium on Innovative Models of Lawyering

29 May 2008
Professor John Lande

Most people probably think of lawyers as advocates in court, perhaps the most common image of lawyers in popular culture. In law schools, students not only focus on lawyers’ courtroom roles, but the vast majority of their education is based on reading reports of the work of appellate courts. Although law schools pride themselves on teaching students to “think like a lawyer,” a recent report of the Carnegie Endowment for the Advancement of Teaching suggests that legal education is more about teaching them to “think like a judge.”

Common Misconceptions About Cooperative Legal Practice

08 Jun 2008
Professor John Lande

Cooperative Practice generally involves an agreement by lawyers and parties setting out a negotiation process to reach an agreement satisfying the interests of both parties. The participation agreements vary and may include terms committing to negotiate in good faith, act respectfully toward each other, disclose all relevant information, use jointly retained ....

Frequently Asked Questions About Cooperative Practice, including Why Should You Care?

08 Jun 2008
Professor John Lande

This addresses frequently asked questions (and some misconceptions) about Cooperative Practice.

Lessons for Collaborative Lawyers and Other Dispute Resolution Professionals from Colorado Bar Association Ethics Opinion 115

21 Aug 2008
Professor John Lande

Abstract: In February 2007, a Colorado Bar Association ethics opinion found that four-way Collaborative Law agreements between lawyers and clients constitute per se violations of ethical rules prohibiting conflict of interest but that similar Cooperative Law agreements do not violate the ethical rules. Although the opinion’s reasoning and conclusion are problematic, it does highlight the importance of ethical issues in Collaborative Law. It also gives recognition to Cooperative Law, which is similar to Collaborative Law but does not involve a disqualification agreement.

Judging Judges and Dispute Resolution Processes

21 Aug 2008
Professor John Lande

"I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in [this casino]!" says Captain Louis Renault, just before the croupier hands him his winnings in the classic movie Casablanca. [FN1] Would disputants [FN2] be similarly shocked to discover that judges make psychological errors that Professor Chris Guthrie describes in Misjudging, [FN3] the provocative lead article in this symposium? That article is the latest work in his important project of analyzing conventional wisdom in the dispute resolution field.