David E. Matz, JD, Harvard University

David E. Matz is the founder and 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.

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

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, 2003 & Spring, 2004). What Really Happened at Taba. The Journal of Palestine-Israel Studies.

Matz, D. E. (Fall, 2003). How To Understand a Negotiation. Journal of International Negotiation.

Matz, D.,E. (Winter, 2003). Intervenors, Rejectionists, and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. The New England Journal of Public Policy.

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.

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 is being conducted in partnership with the New York, Boston and Chicago chapters of the American Institute of Architects.

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 will be offered in China in June.

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]