I Knew What Would Happen

I Knew What Would Happen

Catherine Conner and Katherine Miller We all come into a conflict with our own stories, whether we are the parties, a mediator, or another professional. The parties each have their own story about themselves, each other and the conflict. And as they begin, the...
Intimate Partner Violence and Consensual Dispute Resolution

Intimate Partner Violence and Consensual Dispute Resolution

By Antoinette Delruelle, attorney and mediator with the New York Legal Assistance Group. Before becoming a mediator, I represented victims of domestic violence (DV) and intimate partner violence (IPV[1]) in family cases and divorces for nearly two decades for the New...
Looping—Listening to Understand

Looping—Listening to Understand

By Katherine Miller and Melanie Rowen When parties are in conflict, often one of the biggest hurdles for the mediator is to help parties understand the other’s perspective. This includes understanding the matters of importance to each person in their conflict....
Anti-Racism Work is Conflict Work

Anti-Racism Work is Conflict Work

By Catherine Conner, Natalia Lopez-Whitaker, Lacey Wilson While the lenses of race, equity, and culture have opened widely this last year, we do not live in a post-racist society and as conflict resolution professionals, we all exist in spaces that intersect with...
A Reflection on the Derek Chauvin Guilty Verdict

A Reflection on the Derek Chauvin Guilty Verdict

We at the Center for Understanding in Conflict (CUC) soberly acknowledge that the guilty verdict cannot heal or restore the harm that generations of white supremacy, held up by our law and legal system, have inflicted on Black people and all people of color, as well...
Working with Lawyers in the Room

Working with Lawyers in the Room

By Catherine Conner, Gary Friedman, and Katherine Miller Lawyers learn to see conflict as a battle between two sets of adversaries – “opposing clients” and “opposing lawyers.” Often, they are driven, even if subconsciously, to both guard and aggress for...
Stop AAPI Hate

Stop AAPI Hate

Statement from the Center for Understanding in Conflict We stand in solidarity with Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and individuals. At the Center for Understanding in Conflict, we recognize that our AAPI members, colleagues, friends, and...
Book Review >> High Conflict

Book Review >> High Conflict

How Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out by Amanda Ripley Review by Jennifer Sullivan It was only because I was midway through Amanda Ripley’s awareness-sharpening new book High Conflict that I winced when I heard President Biden’s quip about Neanderthal...