About Larry Ray
Ray aspired to be a history professor but under the influence of Muskingum University Dr. Robert Munkres (Political Science/Pre-Law Professor), he attended law school. Not that enamored by the large lecture classes, Ray discovered an experimental program: The Night Prosecutors Mediation Program, funded by the US Department of Justice. Ray had found his niche in the mediation, negotiation and dispute resolution world. He found that lawyers can actually be problem solvers. Thus, began his dispute resolution career.
​
He served as the first director the American Bar Association (ABA) DC based Dispute Resolution initiative.
​
He served as the first Executive Director of the National Association for Community Mediation (NAFCM) based in DC.
​
Presently, Ray is self-employed delivering mediation, arbitration, negotiation and executive coaching. He is Senior Adjunct Faculty at The George Washington University School of Law (33 years) and named adjunct professor of the year with former SCOTUS Justice Sandra Day O’Connor presenting.
​
For 17 years, he has been teaching F2F and online at his law school: Capital University School of Law.
He arbitrates for FINRA; delivers trainings for American Management Association (AMA).
Ray is one of the founding Partners of SenatusADR.
Why this blog?
Fascinating and common sense that in the dispute resolution field, some things change and some things don’t. The purpose of this blog is to track both.
No Change: In 1936 Dale Carnegie wrote the book How to Win Friends and Influence People*. The theme of the book is for persuasion to be effective, the persuader must use people skills; that is, the persuader must get the parties to “Like” them. If the parties like and more importantly, “trust” the persuader, the more likely of success.
In 2012, John Maxwell wrote the book: Thinking for a Change. ** One chapter is entitled, How to Make People Like You. He asserts that for a negotiator to be effective, they must likable and trustworthy. The negotiator must use their people skills.
Maybe the “no change” is attributable to human nature. Human nature may not be that different from 1936 to 2012.
Change: When I attended law school, a few years ago J, there were no mediation, arbitration or negotiation courses. The only glimpse of negotiation was contained in a teaching module for the course: Trial Practice.
​
This was ironic since 98.5% of all civil cases are eventually negotiated and 95% of all criminal cases are plea bargained or negotiated. So negotiation and mediation skills are essential for attorneys, right?
​
Today is a new day for law schools. Today in law school, one could almost major in dispute resolution. At prestigious law schools such a The George Washington University School of Law (DC) and Capital University School of Law (OH), there are approximately 14 courses ranging from basic negotiation to business negotiation to international arbitration.
So, yes, in the dispute resolution world, some things change and some things remain the same. This blog will stay on top both.
.jpg)