April 24, 2015
There was much to celebrate at the Carey Center’s annual reception: The inaugural Mangano Dispute Resolution Advancement Award; the successful launch of the intersession Lawyering course for 1Ls; and the successes of the student-focused Dispute Resolution Society.
Dean Michael A. Simons opened the evening by recognizing two pillars of the dispute resolution program at St. John’s Law, Hon. Guy J. Mangano '55, '83HON and the late Hon. Hugh L. Carey '42C, '51L, '67HON, for their generous support of the Carey Center over the years. Dean Simons remarked that the dispute resolution skills St. John’s Law students learn through a range of curricular and co-curricular offerings at the Law School—and go on to use in practice—help to make them more effective lawyers.
Welcoming the attendees, Elayne E. Greenberg, assistant dean for dispute resolution programs, professor of legal practice, and director of the Carey Center, explained how this annual celebration is an opportunity to connect the dots. “Connecting the dots is actually about perspective taking, an essential skill for dispute resolution professionals,” she said. “Tonight, we have the luxury of looking back at seemingly isolated events and appreciating their enhanced value and meaning in this broader context.” Professor Greenberg then recapped the events, seminars, and intra-school competitions DRS held at St. John's this year, as well as the local, national, and international external competitions its student members participated in.
She also noted the connecting points between former governor Carey and Judge Mangano. As the 51st governor of New York, Carey is known for helping to save New York City from bankruptcy during the fiscal crisis of the 1970s.Judge Mangano has dedicated his 40-year career to promoting dispute resolution, first as presiding justice of the New York State Appellate Division, Second Department, then as a state legislator, and now as an arbitrator and mediator. “Each of these great men held a number of important political and legal positions,” Professor Greenberg shared. “But it’s only from the perspective of looking back and connecting all the dots that we can appreciate their lifelong commitment to dispute resolution.” Professor Greenberg thanked the members of the Carey and Mangano families who were present for their generosity. She also thanked the graduating DRS members, welcomed the incoming members, and noted the growing contributions of alumni to the life of the center and to DRS.
Professor Jeff Sovern then offered another example of connecting the dots, using an article—“’Whimsy Little Contracts' with Unexpected Consequences: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Understanding of Arbitration Agreements”—that he co-authored with Professors Greenberg and Kirgis and Yuxiang Liu of St. John’s University. Professor Sovern discussed how their research for the article has helped to shape a national conversation on consumer awareness of the existence and effect of arbitration clauses in contracts. The research was funded, in part, by a Mangano grant.
A highlight of the evening was the presentation of the inaugural Mangano Dispute Resolution Advancement Award to John Lande, the Isidor Loeb Professor at the University of Missouri School of Law, former director of its LLM Program in Dispute Resolution, and nationally-respected dispute resolution scholar. Established through the generosity of Judge Mangano, the $5000 annual award honors researchers whose published empirical research has furthered the advancement and understanding of the values and skills of dispute resolution.
Professor Lande’s work spans over 30 years and focuses on dispute systems design, designing court-connected mediation programs, improving the quality of mediation practice, the “vanishing trial,” planned early negotiation, and improving legal education. In selecting him as the first-ever Mangano award recipient, the committee focused on the research and findings that Professor Lande shares in his article, “A Framework for Advancing Negotiation Theory: Implications from a Study of How Lawyers Reach Agreement in Pretrial Litigation,”16 Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution 1 (2014).
This study finds that the two traditional theories of negotiating—adversarial and cooperative—do not adequately reflect the negotiating reality of lawyers. It then proposes a fundamental re-conceptualization of traditional negotiation theory that can accommodate virtually all legal negotiations. Instead of focusing only on bundles of characteristics that are assumed to be highly correlated with each other, the framework unbundles variables from the theoretical models, which permits more accurate description of negotiations. As put forth by Professor Lande under his suggested framework, negotiating characteristics such as concern for the other party’s interests, creation of value, and tone of negotiation should be more realistically considered as part of a continuum, rather than as absolutes. The article suggests ways that scholars, practitioners, and instructors can use these ideas in their work.
Building on Professor Lande’s book, Lawyering with Planned Early Negotiation: How You Can Get Good Results for Clients and Make Money (soon to be released in its second edition), the article draws from his interviews with respected lawyers about their real-life pretrial negotiations. “This is a very unusual approach given that most negotiation research is based on hypothetical scenarios and the responses of non-lawyers, which do not reflect the complex dynamics of real life,” Professor Lande said.
“Professor John Lande is in the vanguard of dispute resolution education,” said Professor Greenberg. “So it’s very fitting that he has been selected as the first Mangano Dispute Resolution Advancement Award Recipient. At St. John’s, the Carey Center is devoted to teaching the values and skills of dispute resolution, and the Mangano Dispute Resolution Advancement Award recognizes the scholar whose empirical research advances those values and skills. I believe that Professor Lande’s article contributes to the way we conceptualize, teach, and practice negotiations.“
The event also provided an occasion for bidding farewell to Professor Paul F. Kirgis, the Carey Center’s faculty chair and founder, who is leaving St. John’s Law at the end of the semester to become dean of the University of Montana School of Law. The DRS students paid tribute to Professor Kirgis via a moving video retrospective of his involvement in developing the center and DRS. In the piece, which was produced by DRS executive member Katrina Dibbini ’15, Peter J. Ryan ’09 recalls the early days of the Law School’s dispute resolution program and Professor Kirgis’ tireless commitment to him and his fellow students interested in the field. “I can say without a doubt that, if not for his dedication from the very beginning, the Carey Center would not have taken off like it did,” Ryan said, wishing Professor Kirgis all the best in his new endeavor.