Saltman Center 2025 Memorial Beecroft Lecture

How should lawyers discuss Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) options like negotiation and mediation with their clients? Surprisingly, this critical question has received little attention in the legal literature. Using a "top five tips" format, this presentation will explore key insights from empirical research, primarily from the field of psychology, offering practical takeaways to enhance client counseling on ADR.

About Donna Shestowsky

Donna Shestowsky is Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law. She is also a faculty member of the Graduate Group in Psychology at UC Davis. Her main research objective is to examine basic assumptions underlying the structure of the legal system and to explore ways in which the legal system might be improved using the methodological and analytic tools of psychological theory and research.

Dr. Shestowsky was the sole principal investigator of a multi-year research project, funded by the National Science Foundation and the American Bar Association, which examined how litigants evaluate legal procedures. One article based on this work was awarded the 2016 Mangano Dispute Resolution Advancement Award; another article was awarded the Best Article of 2018 in the field of dispute resolution from the AALS Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution.

Dr. Shestowsky's legal and psychological commentary has appeared in national sources such as CNN, NPR, and the New York Times. She advises courts in the development of court-connected ADR programs. Her research has been published in top journals in both Psychology and Law, including the Stanford Law Review, Law and Human Behavior, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. She is dedicated to helping legal practitioners make use of empirical research. To that end, she also publishes in journals with broader audiences, such as Court Review and Dispute Resolution Magazine.

She was awarded a J.D. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University. During the 2003-2004 academic year, she was jointly appointed to the faculty at Northwestern University School of Law and the Kellogg School of Management. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 2021.

About the Beecroft Lecture Series

The Beecroft Lecture Series was established in honor of the late Chris Beecroft Jr., a 1971 UNLV graduate and onetime commissioner of Alternative Dispute Resolution for the Clark County District Court. Following Beecroft’s passing in December 2016, the ADR section of the State Bar of Nevada worked quickly to launch the Chris Beecroft Jr. Fund, which helps to sponsor the lecture series for the Saltman Center.

Named in honor of Chris Beecroft, Jr., and generously co-sponsored by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State Bar of Nevada, the prestigious Beecroft Lecture Series is hosted annually by the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution and features the nation’s foremost ADR authorities. Each year, the Saltman Center invites renowned ADR scholars to present their research and share insights on a variety of topics related to conflict and conflict resolution.

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For more information, please visit the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution website

Host or Publisher William S. Boyd School of Law