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