Common Ground

What if we could catch disputes before anyone thinks of themselves as being in one?

Mo sits down with Tracey Frisch, Division Vice President of Mediation at the American Arbitration Association-ICDR, to talk about pushing resolution upstream. Tracey shares how she went from high school peer mediator to leading the AAA's mediation business, why the construction industry has quietly figured out dispute resolution, and how mediators in Dayton, Ohio are now responding to low-level 911 calls instead of police.

They also dig into the hard questions on AI in mediation: what "governed AI" actually means, whether an algorithm suggesting a settlement range empowers self-determination or erodes it, and why informed consent may be the most important design principle for any resolution tool.

About the AAA-ICDR Foundation

Tracey's featured cause is the AAA-ICDR Foundation, whose mission is to support the prevention and resolution of conflicts by expanding access to alternative dispute resolution. Its current priority is bringing mediation and conflict resolution into alternative crisis response programs, supporting community-centered approaches to public safety and law enforcement engagement.

Learn more or donate: https://www.aaaicdrfoundation.org
Fundraiser: November 5, New York City

What happens when a self-described non-entrepreneur sets out to build an AI mediator?

Host Morgan "Mo" Tregenza talks with Renee Jackson, founder of Dyspute.ai and creator of the AI mediator Adri, about her path from litigation to legal tech and why she flipped traditional mediation on its head. They cover her AI-versus-human mediator experiment, the guardrails behind responsible legal AI, and the "shadow market" of disputes that never reach resolution. A candid, optimistic look at where technology can expand access to mediation, and what we should be careful not to lose.

Renee and Mo, with John Lande, speak at the 2026 ODR Conference on June 11th.

In this episode, we welcome Morgan Tregenza of Levelheaded as the show's new host. Morgan sits down with Colin Rule to talk about where mediation is headed: what modernizing the practice really looks like, where technology helps (and where it gets in the way), and how the field can resolve more disputes before they ever reach a courtroom.

It's part introduction, part conversation about the future of dispute resolution, and a good listen whether you're a working mediator or just curious about how the field is changing.

What happens when the field built on resolution starts thinking about prevention instead?

In this episode, host Morgan "Mo" Tregenza sits down with Ethan Katsh, widely considered one of the pioneers of online dispute resolution, ahead of the 2026 ODR Conference in Boston. They get into why every new technology creates more disputes, why the old "naming, blaming, claiming" model is breaking down, and where AI helps and where it worries even the people who saw all of this coming.

A candid conversation about technology, conflict, and the future of mediation, from someone who has been shaping it for four decades.

What happens when a field that set out to change the world becomes just another checkbox in the system?

In this special episode, new host Morgan Tregenza sits down with outgoing host and ODR pioneer Colin Rule for a candid conversation about the state of dispute resolution — and why now is the time to reclaim its soul.

Colin traces his journey from a grassroots Quaker-trained peacemaker in the late '80s to one of the most influential voices in online dispute resolution, and reflects on how a once-electric movement has become absorbed into the very establishment it sought to transform.