robert coulson
TRANSCRIPT
ROBERT COULSONJuly 24, 1924 - September 9, 2017
Bob Coulson, President of the American Arbitration
Association (AAA) from 1972 to 1994, passed away in
September 2017 at the age of 93.
He was widely recognized as a leader in the effort to develop and
expand the acceptance and use of alternative dispute resolution
(ADR) worldwide. Consistent with his belief that angry conflicts
led to needless waste, he was a staunch advocate of the use of
mediation and paved the way for its role as one of the dispute
resolution methodologies offered by the AAA.
Among his many achievements as President of the AAA, in 1977
Bob Coulson was one of the architects of the USA-USSR
Chamber of Commerce and Industry Optional Clause Agreement
for arbitrating contract disputes between American corporations
and Soviet trade organizations, which provided for Stockholm,
Sweden, as the place of arbitration. He was instrumental in
exploring the application of efficient methods of dispute
resolution in the areas of health care, patent rights, consumer
claims, financial planning, insurance, mass torts, and others.
In 1977, Bob Coulson was one of the architects of the USA-USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry Optional Clause Agreement for arbitrating contract disputes between American corporations and Soviet trade organizations.
Bob Coulson’s contributions to the arbitration community and
the American Arbitration Association cannot adequately be
summarized in only a few paragraphs. He, however, seemingly
explained his lifelong dedication to the concept of conflict
resolution rather than litigation, and his support of the Association
Under his leadership, in 1985 the AAA created the Asia/Pacific
Center for the Resolution of International Business Disputes.
The Asia/Pacific Center’s purpose was to foster international
commercial arbitration and other dispute resolution mechanisms
and to promote California and Hawaii as advantageous sites for
dispute resolution. International Rules were created in 1990 as
part of the AAA’s efforts to harmonize the practice of
international arbitration on a global basis. He was also an avid
supporter of efforts to upgrade arbitrator training and to educate
the legal community and the public on the benefits of ADR.
As an author on the subject of ADR, Bob Coulson was prolific,
having penned nearly a dozen books, including Fighting Fair;
Family Mediation; Police Under Pressure; Empowered at Forty; Alcohol,
Drugs and Arbitration; and the seminal work How to Stay Out of
Court. His The Termination Handbook led to a media tour in 1982
during which he made 40 radio and television appearances,
including on the TODAY Show with Bryant Gumbel. Articles
on the book appeared in the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Dallas
Morning News, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street
Journal, and the Washington Post.
A sailor at heart, Bob Coulson wrote several novels and
non-fiction books about his sail racing experiences. He started
entering competitions at an early age and won the National
Junior Sailing Championship Sears Trophy on two occasions.
During his collegiate years at Yale he won several trophies and
championships and is a member of the College Sailing Hall of
Fame. He continued to win races throughout his life while
representing the Eastern and New York Yacht Clubs and won his
last race at the age of 93. Perhaps not surprisingly, he was sailing,
“feeling the breeze on my face,” as he put it, when he was afflicted
with the stroke that claimed his life a week later. His memoir,
A Cheerful Skeptic, Sailing Through Life, was published in 2013.
His The Termination Handbook led to a media tour in 1982 during which he made 40 radio and television appearances, including on the TODAY Show with Bryant Gumbel.
young lawyers who have been trained in that art and are qualified
to represent their clients at the bargaining table.
“Harvard’s President Derek Bok encouraged law schools to pay
more attention to ‘the gentler arts of reconciliation and
accommodation.’ Negotiation is not a ‘gentle art.’ Negotiating
requires tough-minded, persuasive, successful advocates. The
spineless parties are those who abdicate control to someone else.
Mediation is hard work. Mediators sweat.”
ADR in America, 1993
that he helmed for twenty years, in the following way in 1991
on the occasion of the AAA’s 65th Anniversary. “The wonderful
thing about the American Arbitration Association has been its
loyalty to the concepts of impartiality and service. Generation
after generation of arbitrators, mediators and staff have kept these
ideals in mind as they struggled to resolve complex and seemingly
intransigent controversies.”
The American Arbitration Association is privileged to have had
Bob Coulson steer the ship during his tenure as President.
Excerpts from several of Robert Coulson’s books on ADR
“Arbitration is more than a mechanism for coping with existing
problems: it is a moral force, encouraging a spirit of cooperation
that makes it possible for companies and unions to resolve
problems without the agony of an adversarial process. The
availability of a credible arbitration procedure ensures that both
parties will be motivated to settle grievances amicably. This book
is dedicated to the proposition that the highest calling of mankind
is the task of bringing peace and understanding to the human
condition.”
Labor Arbitration – What You Need to Know, 1981
“Litigation has to be expensive because courts try not to make
procedural mistakes. Their attempt to achieve procedural
perfection causes delay and consequent expense. …Even if the
most modern administrative procedures were available to the
courts, the basic dilemma would still be present because of the
protective devices: for example, pre-hearing discovery rules
which help the lawyer prepare his case, the complicated rules of
trial practice, and the appeal system. While law reformers have
narrowed the possibility for procedural mistakes, at the same time
they have increased the protective steps that must be taken. This
has resulted in further delay, and in more cost to the parties. As
one businessman put it: ‘My experience with the courts is that
they get so involved in providing due process that they often
misunderstand the dispute.’”
How to Stay Out of Court, 1968
“Since only a small percentage of cases is tried, the so-called
litigator is actually a pre-litigator. Practical experience may now
be more valuable than the appellate sophistry that law schools
have been stressing. Students need to learn about negotiating. If
the purpose of law school should be to prepare practitioners for
successful careers, students need to acquire skills in dispute
resolution. As Chief Justice Warren Burger put it, ‘Of all the skills
needed by a practicing lawyer, skill in negotiation must rank very
high.’ Corporations and government agencies will want to hire
The wonderful thing about the American Arbitration Association has been its loyalty to the concepts of impartiality and service. Generation after generation of arbitrators, mediators and staff have kept these ideals in mind as they struggled to resolve complex and seemingly intransigent controversies.”
“Executives should approach dispute settlement with the same spirit
that they bring to every other aspect of their business. Mediation
puts disputes on an express track toward settlement, through the
intervention of a third party. It supercharges the negotiations.
Mediation can be particularly helpful when corporations want to
expedite the resolution of their business disputes.
“Mediation has other advantages. When disagreements are settled
with the help of a mediator, adversaries are likely to preserve their
business relationships. One reason is that a mediator helps them
focus upon their common interests. That is not true of litigation.
Much of the talk that goes on during a trial involves legal
procedural issues. The executives involved many not even
understand the dialogue: motions, rules of evidence, and the like.
Ultimately, a trial judge’s decision is imposed upon the parties.
“In mediation, on the other hand, the negotiators focus on the
substantive issues. The executives are involved, trying to find a
practical solution to their mutual problem. Adversarial at the
outset, mediation brings about a reconciliation. It probes into the
minds and attitudes of the parties. Consensual settlements have
been found to be more acceptable and more permanent than
third-party determinations.”
Business Mediation – What You Need to Know, 1987