International Work Though most of TMG’s work takes place locally, we have also been involved in a number of interesting and exciting projects around the globe: China In February of 2009, David Matz went to China as part of a group of mediation experts in a delegation of the University of Massachusetts, the American Bar Association and the Massachusetts Judges Conference. They met with Chinese judges, lawyers and others to develop a training for judicial policy makers on the role of mediation in the courts. In June of 2009, David as part of a team, returned to conduct that training. At that time he also began a partnership with the Beijing Faculty of Law which led to the establishment of a negotiation competition for Chinese law students, which David co-chaired. As a celebration of TMG’s 25th anniversary, we decided to be a sponsor of the 2nd annual Chinese negotiation competition, which took place in Beijing in June, 2010. Four of us from TMG (Brad, Jane, David and Amy) traveled to Beijing, conducting a mediation demonstration at Beijing Law School and serving as competition judges. To support the competition, TMG offered as a prize to the top finishers, a fully sponsored two-week program in the Boston area to introduce them to various conflict management and ADR practices. In April of 2011 Yang Nan (Nancle), Xia Quing (Nicole) and Li Puwei (Puwei) arrived and had an intense, exhausting, educational and inspiring 2-week tour of Boston’s legal and ADR communities. Please see our Special Summer Issue for the details. The great success of this venture was due in large part to all who volunteered their time and shared their expertise:
Special thanks as well to Chris Brodie, who took on, as a consultant to TMG, the lion’s share of coordinating their complex and intricate schedule – it was a truly impressive feat. While this visit brought to a close the “anniversary phase” of our work in China, David’s involvement continues: he traveled back to Beijing in May of this year, serving once again as co-chair and judge for the competition, which just completed its third year. In addition to his ongoing work with the competition, David also spent several weeks in Changchun, in Northeastern China, teaching negotiation to law students at Jilin University. He also taught about U.S. foreign policy regarding Chinese human rights to law students from five regional law schools. (See Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 issues for his reports on that experience.) David has demonstrated a long and substantial commitment to work on Israeli-Palestinian issues. He is on the board of directors of the American Friends of Neve Shalom, Wahat al-Salam, a planned community in Israel bringing together Arabs and Jews in what is designed to be an “Oasis of Peace” in the Middle East. In conjunction with Leodas & Associates, David conducted a week-long mediation training for Palestinian lawyers. In addition, TMG provided training for Palestinian judges on the use of ADR in the courts. Over a period of several years, David worked to promote the use of ADR in the Israeli courts. First, he consulted with the Israeli Ministry of Justice to assist in the development of legislation to establish the use of mediation and arbitration in the Israeli Courts. Later, he worked as a consultant to the High Court of Israel to design and implement ADR programs for the Israeli Trial Courts. Finally, in conjunction with the University of Tel Aviv Law Faculty, David set up and ran a mediation clinic in the Tel Aviv District Court. He has also taught at a number of Israeli universities, and trained executives, ADR professors and government officials. He spent his sabbatical in the Fall of 2001 at the University of Tel Aviv, researching Palestinian/Israeli negotiations at Taba. (See Newsletter Fall 2001, Spring 2002) In June of 2007, David worked on a project to engage urban designers to develop creative ways to divide Jerusalem in a way that would enable both Palestinians and Israelis to share the city while providing security to all. David’s involvement in this project continued in the spring of 2009 when he developed several workshop sessions in Jerusalem for architects and activists. In October of 2007, David gave the keynote address in Jerusalem at the annual meeting of the International Mediators Association. David spent a portion of his most recent sabbatical conducting research on attitudes of Jewish Jerusalemites on their reactions to a peace process that could divide the sovereignty of their city. This has focused on the ways in which symbols and religion can and cannot be negotiated. Projects in Nigeria In June 2007, David Matz was part of a delegation to Abuja, Nigeria, providing trainings in mediation and negotiation skill development for attorneys, judges and law professors. The training was sponsored by Settlement House, a private, not-for-profit agency based in Abuja. Eben Weitzman also joined a delegation to Nigeria in January of 2009, working with government officials and civil society leaders to better manage both societal and organizational disputes. He has continued to serve as a consultant since that time to a number of Nigerian groups dealing with religious, political and organizational conflict.
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