This revolutionary book shows how through mediation parties can escape the trap of conflict rather than remain ensnared within its grasp at enormous cost to themselves and others. The authors demonstrate how mediators, and lawyers, can support parties to work together effectively in ways that deeply respect their humanity. Through the telling of ten riveting stories of actual commercial mediations, the principles and methodologies of the understanding-based approach come alive. In so "challenging conflict," the authors also challenge the conflict resolution field to reach for more.

"Reading this book is like having a mentor. It allows readers to simultaneously view the mediation process while also reading the inside thoughts of the mediator."
- Legal Information Alert (Vol. 28, Number 3), Alert Publications, Inc., Chicago, IL

Published with Harvard's Program on Negotiation, this book provides an analysis of understanding conflict and offers a way to work together to make decisions that resolve disputes. The authors explain how to meet conflict itself in an effort to understand how individuals can relate to it, and use it effectively in mediation. Divided into four parts-choosing to mediate, deepening understanding of the process, challenges in working together, and devising a resolution.