Michael Moffitt
Philip H. Knight Chair, Professor
About
Biography:Michael Moffitt has been a member of the Oregon Law faculty since 2001. He served as Dean of the Law School from 2011 through 2017. Professor Moffitt has published more than two dozen scholarly articles on mediation, negotiation, and civil procedure. He co-edited The Handbook of Dispute Resolution, an award-winning compilation of 31 original chapters by leading scholars and practitioners in the field. He also co-authored the innovative, student-focused book, Dispute Resolution: Examples & Explanations. His most recent article, Settlement Malpractice, published in the University of Chicago Law Review, won the prize for best article of the year by both the Association of American Law Schools Section on Professional Responsibility and the AALS Section on Dispute Resolution. He also received the Dispute Resolution Advancement Award from the Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution at St. John’s University.
Professor Moffitt has won teaching awards from the law school and from the University of Oregon. Before coming to Oregon Law, he served as the clinical supervisor for the mediation program at Harvard Law School and taught negotiation at Harvard and Ohio State. Following a federal judicial clerkship, he spent several years with Conflict Management Group, consulting on negotiation and dispute resolution projects in about twenty countries around the world. He recently served as the Roger D. Fisher Visiting Professor in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at Harvard Law School, where he led the Negotiation Workshops for two years. He is a devoted but mediocre snowboarder, an aggressive tennis player, and a slow-but-persistent hiker.
Previous Positions:Selected Public Presentations
Quinnipiac – Yale ADR Speaker Series, Settlement Malpractice, October 2019, Hamden, CT.
University of Nevada-Las Vegas, Lawyers, Settlement, and the (tiny) Risk of Legal Malpractice, September 2018, Las Vegas, NV.
New England Association for Conflict Resolution, Mediator Quality Control, April 2018, Cambridge, MA.
Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, Negotiating Your Next (or current) Job, Providence, RI, April 2018.
Harvard Mediation Program, Mediator Transparency, April 2018, Cambridge, MA.
TechStars Chicago, Where Value Hides in Negotiations, July 2017, Chicago, IL.
Novancia Business School, 6ème Biennale Internationale de la Négociation, The Market(s)for Mediators, November 2016, Paris, France
Harvard Law School, The Future of Mediation, April 2016, Cambridge MA.
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Legal Educators Colloquium: Integrating Dispute Resolution into the Curriculum, April 2015, Seattle, WA.
Silicon Flatirons Center, The Future of Law School Innovation, panelist Change Management: How Can Law Schools, Law Students, and Employers Develop a New Model, Boulder, CO April 2014.
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Legal Educators Colloquium: Approaches to Scholarship in ADR, April 2012, Washington, DC.
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Legal Educators Colloquium: Integrating Dispute Resolution into the Curriculum, April 2015, Seattle, WA.
Silicon Flatirons Center, The Future of Law School Innovation, panelist Change Management: How Can Law Schools, Law Students, and Employers Develop a New Model, Boulder, CO April 2014.
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Legal Educators Colloquium: Approaches to Scholarship in ADR, April 2012, Washington, DC.
National Symposium on Dispute Resolution in Special Education, The Four Ways to Assure Mediator Quality (and why none of them work), October 2011, Eugene, OR.
Harvard Law School, Program on Negotiation, Negotiation Pedagogy Project, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Camera: Video in Negotiation Pedagogy, April 2011, Cambridge, MA.
Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, The Psychology and Economics of Settlement, April 2011, Portland, OR.
International Ombudsman Association, Transparency in Practice: Mediation Ideas for Ombuds, April 2011, Portland, OR.
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Legal Educators Colloquium: Revisiting Core Concepts, April 2010, San Francisco, CA.
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Legal Educators Colloquium: Mediation Shop Talk, April 2009, New York, NY.
Harvard Law School Dispute System Design Symposium: Dispute Systems Design in Times of Crisis, moderator, March 2008, Cambridge, MA.
Harvard Law School, Program on Negotiation Dispute Resolution Forum, The Four Ways to Assure Mediator Quality (and why none of them work), February 2008, Cambridge, MA.
Marquette University Law School, Faculty Colloquium, Customized Litigation, March 2007, Milwaukee, WI.
University of Nevada Las Vegas, Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution, Customized Litigation: The Case for Making Civil Procedure Negotiable, February 2007, Las Vegas, NV.
Harvard Law School, Perspectives on Dispute Resolution: A Conference Honoring Frank E. A. Sander, April 2006, Cambridge, MA.
University of Oregon School of Law, Annual ADR Conference, Mediation Ethics: Getting Paid, Being Sued, and Keeping Quiet, February 2006, Eugene, OR.
Tennessee Supreme Court ADR Commission, Advanced Mediation Workshop, Emerging Issues for the Modern Mediator, November 2005, Nashville, TN.
Lane County (OR) Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution, Mediator Liability,September 2005, Eugene, OR.
American Association of Law Libraries, Annual Conference, Difficult Conversations, July 2005, San Antonio, TX.
Law School Admissions Council, Annual Meeting, Difficult Conversations, June 2005, Indian Wells, CA.
International Academy of Mediators, Annual Conference, Mediator Authenticity, Transparency and Deception, May 2005, Montreal, PQ, Canada.
American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Legal Educators Colloquium: What Can Other Disciplines Teach Us? April 2005, Los Angeles, CA.
Yale-Quinnipiac Dispute Resolution Speaker Series, What We Think and What We Say: An Exploration of Mediator Transparency, April 2005, Hamden, CT.
American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Experiments in Alternative Assessment, January 2005, San Francisco, CA.
Law and Society Association Conference, Canon of Negotiation Initiative: What Did We Get?, May 2004, Chicago, IL.
American College of Civil Trial Mediators and International Academy of Mediators Annual Meeting, Mediator Accountability: Ethical and Legal Standards, April 2004, New Orleans, LA.
American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution, Legal Educators Colloquium, Grading in Skills-Based Classes, April 2004, New York City.
Wisconsin Association of Mediators, Informed Practice: What Every Mediator Needs to Know, November 2003, Madison, WI.
American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, Ethics and Mediation, January 2003, Washington, D.C.
Oregon State Bar Section on Dispute Resolution, Emotions and Negotiation, November 2002, Portland, OR.
Oregon Mediation Association Annual Meeting, How to Get Sued (Or Not), November 2002, Portland, OR.
The Northern Kentucky University Labor-Management Conference, Transparency in Mediation and Negotiation: The Pros and Cons of Speaking Your Mind, May 2000, Newport, KY.
The Michigan Conference on Dispute Resolution, Difficult Conversations: Practical Strategies for Handling Conversations We Dread, November 1999, Ypsilanti, MI.
The Boston Bar Association Section on Litigation, International Mediation, September 1999, Boston, MA.
The CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution, Transparency in Mediation, June 1999, Santa Fe, NM.
The American Bar Association, Section on Dispute Resolution, Cognitive Barriers to Dispute Resolution, April 1999, Boston, MA.
The Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution Annual Conference, Panel: Ethics in Mediation, October 1998, Portland, OR.
Honors and Awards:Herman Award for Specialized Pedagogy. 2023. Awarded by the University of Oregon to recognize outstanding achievement and expertise in a particular area of teaching.
Areas of Expertise
Publications:
Full Length Law Review Articles
Settlement Malpractice, 86 University of Chicago Law Review 1825 (2019)
Islands, Vitamins, Salt, Germs: Four Visions of the Future of ADR in Law Schools, 25 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 25 (2010).
Three Things to Be Against ('Settlement' Not Included), 78 Fordham Law Review 1203 (2009).
The Four Ways to Assure Mediator Quality (and why none of them work), 24 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 191 (2009).
Customized Litigation: The Case for Making Civil Procedure Negotiable, 75 George Washington Law Review 461 (2007).
Pleadings in the Age of Settlement, 80 Indiana Law Journal 727 (2005).
Schmediation and the Dimensions of Definition, 10 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 69 (2005).
Lights, Camera, Begin Final Exam: Testing What We Teach in Negotiation Courses, 54 Journal of Legal Education 91 (2004).
Suing Mediators, 83 Boston University Law Review 147 (2003).
Ten Ways to Get Sued: A Guide for Mediators, 8 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 81 (2003).
Will This Case Settle? An Exploration of Mediators' Predictions, 16 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 39 (2000).
Remodeling the Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators, 2 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 87 (1997), co-authored with Jamie Henikoff.
Casting Light on the Black Box of Mediation: Should Mediators Make Their Conduct More Transparent?, 13 Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution 1 (1997).
Shorter Law Review Articles and Book Chapters
Review of Morrill & Musheno: Navigating Conflict: How Youth Handle Trouble in a High-Poverty School, 36 Negotiation Journal 73 (2020).
Commentary: The Overconfident Disputant in Mediation Ethics: Cases and Commentaries (Ellen Waldman, ed.) (Jossey-Bass 2011).
Iqbal and Settlement, 114 Penn St. L. Rev. Penn Statim 51 (2010).
Before the Big Bang: The Making of an ADR Pioneer, 22 Negotiation Journal 437 (2006).
Mediator Accountability: Ethical and Legal Standards of the Profession, American Journal of Trial Advocacy 47 (2005).
Mediation 'Transparency' Helps Parties See Where They're Going in Mediation: Approaches and Insights Russ Bleemer, ed. (CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution 2005).
Learning to Learn to Negotiate: An Action Science Perspective, (with Scott R. Peppet), in The Negotiator's Fieldbook, (C. Honeyman and A. Schneider, eds.) (2006).
Contingent Agreements: Agreeing to Disagree about the Future, 87 Marquette Law Review 690 (2004). Updated and reprinted in The Negotiator's Fieldbook, (C. Honeyman and A. Schneider, eds.) (2006).
The Law of Bargaining, 87 Marquette Law Review 838 (2004), co-authored with Russell Korobkin & Nancy Welsh. Updated and reprinted in The Negotiator's Fieldbook, (C. Honeyman and A. Schneider, eds.) (2006).
Action Science and Negotiation, 87 Marquette Law Review 648 (2004), co-authored with Scott Peppet.
Loyalty, Confidentiality and Attorney-Mediators: Professional Responsibility in Cross-Profession Practice, 1 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 203 (1996).
Books
DISPUTE RESOLUTION: BEYOND THE ADVERSARIAL MODEL 3D ED., (Aspen 2018), co-authored with Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Lela Love and Andrea Schneider.
Dispute Resolution: Examples & Explanations co-authored with Andrea Kupfer Schneider (Aspen 2008) (2d ed. Aspen 2011) (3d ed. Aspen 2014).
The Handbook of Dispute Resolution, edited with Robert C. Bordone (Jossey-Bass 2005).
Other Publications
Which is Better, Food or Water? The Rule of Law or ADR?, Dispute Resolution Magazine 8 (2010).
Create Value out of Conflict, 9 Negotiation 1 (Harvard Business School Publishing, June 2006).
The Wrong Model, Again: Why the Devil is Not in the Details of the New Model Standards of Conduct for Mediators, Dispute Resolution Magazine (Spring 2006).
Promises, Promises: Mediators and Their Contracts, in Alternatives: CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution (January 2004).
What Me Liable? A Checkup for Mediators, Dispute Resolution Magazine 25 (Summer 2003).
An Introduction to Transparent Mediation, in Alternatives: CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution (June 1998).
Frank Sander: Mentor to the Field of Dispute Resolution, Dispute Resolution Magazine 14 (Fall 2012), co-authored with David Hoffman.
Arthur Miller Scared the Hell Out of Me, 90 Oregon Law Review 945 (2012).