Private Dispute Resolution in International Business: Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration, (3rd revised ed.), by Klaus Peter Berger

Abstract

Private Dispute Resolution in International Business: Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration , (3rd revised ed.), by Klaus Peter Berger, Kluwer Law International, 2015, includes Case Study (Volume I) (159 pp), Interactive USB Card , and Handbook (Volume II). Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jerry Lee Lewis’ 1957 song Great Balls of Fire !1 reflects this reviewer’s impression of Professor Klaus Peter Berger pounding the keyboards of three separate laptop computers during his ‘Comparison of Negotiation, Mediation, Arbitration’2 at his ‘brain-rattling’ 2014 Cologne Academies for which the Private Dispute Resolution in International Business ( PDRIB ) beta-test version was used. After reviewing the PDRIB third edition, this reviewer can only affirm his initial Cologne Academies impression of highly effective and fun learning and add ‘Chapeau!’ to the author and his 2015 redesign team.3 PDRIB third edition’s main focus—the advocacy skills required from practitioners to be successful in international business negotiation, mediation, or arbitration—is innovatively advanced through the interactive multi-media realization of its three goals, which go beyond reading for maximum learning efficiency. 1. Update and revise ‘the text of the Handbook to take into account … recent developments in the law and practice of ADR in international business’. 2. ‘Improve user friendliness of the Handbook, which now serves a dual purpose. [It] continues to function as a complement to the Case Study in that it contains Answers to the Questions posed in the Case Study at the end of each Scenario’ and ‘may now be also used … as a stand-alone reference manual for international ADR’ due to ‘a new and comprehensive Table of Contents and a much more detailed [Subject] Index’. 3. ‘Improve the usability and graphical interface of the digital content … a switch … from DVD to USB technology [with] case-related documents contained on the USB Card … revised or rewritten … to adapt them to the standards of contemporary international ADR practice’.4 Part I of this review summarizes the PDRIB third edition. Part II assesses how well the above goals are achieved. Part III examines the third edition’s place within international legal scholarship and why it is … [↵][1]* Principal, PhilRay-IDR, ; Senior Counsel (Retired 2012), Siemens AG, Erlangen, Germany; Adjunct Professor, Georgia State University Law School (1989–1991); University of Erlangen-Nurnberg Law School, Erlangen, Germany (1996–97); Chairman, State Bar of Georgia’s Drafting Committee, Georgia International Transactions Arbitration Code of 1988. phil{at}philray-idr.com [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1