David E. Matz, JD, Harvard University

David E. Matz is the founder, and until January 2010 was the Director, of the Graduate Programs in Dispute Resolution at UMass Boston. He is also an active dispute intervenor. Professor Matz has focused his work on the techniques of mediation and negotiation, and on the relationship of these to the workings of organizations and courts. He has done this primarily in the United States and Israel. In the United States, he has led in the development and use of assessment tools for court mediators, trained mediators, judges, and engineers. In Israel, he was central in developing policy and practice for the Israeli Ministry of Justice and Supreme Court in integrating mediation into the judicial system. He has also applied these approaches to the peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians and he has worked extensively with Arab and Jewish groups, here and abroad. More recently he has begun work with courts and law schools in China.

Research Interests:

  • Strategies for practitioners to build trust in conflict situations
  • The integration of mediation into organizational and judicial systems, here and abroad
  • Arab-Israeli negotiations
  • Sharing Jerusalem

Recent Cases:

An inter-group dispute between a doctors' practice group, a hospital, and a medical school; also mediated the intra-group dispute between the surgeons and the pediatricians who were members of the doctors' group.

A dispute between a brother and a sister who owned a large company, and involved differences in how their respective children should take responsibility for aspects of the business.

A dispute in a university between a dean and associate dean involving a sharp personality clash, as well a difference in policy over the use of technology in doing their work.

A dispute between community groups and an airport over the construction of a runway

Recent Publications:

Matz, D. E. (Fall, 2007). The Inevitability and Perils of Invisible Health Care Conflict, Hamline Journal of Law and Public Policy.

Matz, D. E. (January 2006). Reconstructing Camp David, Negotiation Journal

Matz, D.,E. (2006). Intra Team Miscommunication, The Negotiator's Fieldbook, Schneider A., and Honeyman C., editors.

Guest Lectures:

Fall 2003: US Policy and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Presented at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Winter 2004: An International Coalition and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Presented to the Boston Bar Association.

October, 2009: The Jews and American Foreign Policy, keynote address delivered at the Memorial Conference for Professor Dan Bar-On, at Ben Gurion University, Beersheva, Israel.

June, 2009: The Art of Negotiation, delivered to faculty and students at Jilin Law School, Jilin, China.

Organizations:

Oasis of Peace
Brit Tzedek v'Shalom

 

Israel

Professor David Matz traveled to Israel over Spring Break to conduct workshops for a seminar run by the California Colege of the Arts, School of Architecture.  The seminar is part of a project Matz is directing involving architects devising ways of Israel and Palestine sharing Jerusalem.  The project involves architects in the U.S., Israel, and Palestine, as well as architecture schools in all three locations.

China

Professor David Matz visited China in February as part of a four person delegation sponsored by the American Bar Association, the Massachusetts Council of Judges, and the University of Massachusetts, with funding provided by USAID. The delegation met with the China Law Society, the law faculty of Beijing University, and high court judges to design mediation training for Chinese lawyers and judges. The training itself was offered in China in June, 2009.  Also in June of 2009, Matz co-chaired the First English Language Negotiation Competition for students at Chinese Law Schools. The Second Competition will take place in June of 2010, where Matz will again co-chair and act as judge.
.

Articles on the Web

 

Time is Ripe For A US-Led Coalition for Mideast Peace

 

Dossier spécial: Que s'est-il passé à Camp David? Agreeing Not to Agree at Taba

 

Trying to Understand the Taba Talks (Part I)


Intervening in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - A Strategy and Its Risks [PDF]