I’ve been in the conflict and resolution field for over 25 years. In a nutshell, I’ve resolved disputes, consulted to organizations, and taught negotiation and conflict resolution skills to thousands of people around the world.

Here are some of the details:

Working in the field, I’ve practiced as an attorney, negotiator, and mediator in any number of cases and very diverse circumstances. The life of a conflict professional is nothing if not varied. I could be helping a couple work through their divorce one day, two corporations resolve a dispute over construction of a mall the next, and on the third, help a landlord and a dozen angry tenants in her building work out issues of faulty plumbing.

I’ve taught at universities in the U.S, Israel, Turkey, and Costa Rica. My 15-year tenure as a professor in Creighton University’s School of Law and College of Business included designing, teaching in, and chairing the Negotiation & Conflict Resolution Program’s online masters degree program. I currently teach guest courses as a visiting professor, most recently at the University of Oregon, American University, and the University of Florida.

Beyond university students, I train professionals all over the world in negotiation and conflict management. Some of these people seek to improve at the negotiation and conflict management parts of their jobs, as when I train leaders, managers, attorneys, teachers, or HR experts. Others seek to become conflict and negotiation practitioners themselves: professional negotiators, court-system or private-practice mediators, diplomats, and consultants. I’ve trained for companies, organizations, governmental agencies, school systems, courts, universities, and non-profits.

Originally, I trained to be a lawyer, earning a couple of degrees in law. And sure, law is an important conflict context and arena--but it still doesn’t explain what makes people tick in negotiation and conflict, which is what I’ve always been curious about. So, I next added a postgraduate diploma in social science research, which provides the methodologies for exploring why we do the things we do. Since then, I’ve worked with research partners across dozens of fields to understand the mechanisms that drive us apart or bring us to agreement. Along the way, I’ve authors and edited six books and over one hundred articles, book chapters, and teaching simulations. Much of my writing focuses on conflict; negotiation; trust; Online Dispute Resolution and negotiation via technology; negotiation and conflict resolution pedagogy; and the future of the negotiation, mediation, and legal fields. Recently, I've been developing a series linking conflict resolution and pop culture, which the first two books on Star Wars and Conflict Resolution already out.

To give you a better sense of my interests and specialties, the slideshow below shows some of my favorite projects and activities in the fields of negotiation and conflict.