Author Archives: abfifer

Detroit Bankruptcy Using Mediation

April 28, 2014 – 2:43 pm

The bankruptcy proceedings for the City of Detroit are making good use of mediation. Judge Steven Rhodes, who is overseeing the bankruptcy, appointed U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen as lead mediator last August, and Judge Rosen assembled a team of mediators, comprised of four federal judges as well as Attorney Gene Driker, an esteemed Michigan […]

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Conflict Free Diamonds

February 14, 2014 – 2:35 pm

Many girls—and no doubt some guys–will receive the gift of a diamond today. Will it be a “conflict free diamond”? “Conflict diamond” is a term used to describe diamonds tainted by the conflicts associated with diamond production in Africa, where diamonds are mined under conditions akin to slavery, and are used to finance violent rebel […]

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Guns and Mediation, Again

December 11, 2013 – 10:13 am

It happened again last week: a shooting after a mediation. As a divorcing couple was leaving the attorney-mediator’s office in Manchester, Tennessee, last Wednesday, the wife pulled out a handgun and shot her estranged husband. The husband, Dr. Henry Bartee, is recovering in hospital, and the wife, Brenda Bartee, has been charged with attempted murder. […]

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Christians Take Another Dispute to Court

November 8, 2013 – 9:56 am

Josh Eckel and Tyler Mileger, Christian founders of a small clothing company based in Dallas, Texas, called “Play Hard Pray Harder”, filed a lawsuit against Josh Hamilton, also a professing Christian, after discovering that Hamilton had been promoting the same “Play Hard Pray Harder” slogan on clothing sold by Scripture Art, a company that Hamilton […]

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Peacemaking Court

November 5, 2013 – 4:14 pm

Michigan is going to have a “Peacemaking Court.” Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Timothy Connors has received a grant from the Michigan Supreme Court to establish a Peacemaking Court in Ann Arbor. I’m especially heartened that my colleague Susan Butterwick will be leading this innovative project—she has the right experience and perspective to make it work […]

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