About Richard C. Reuben

Professor Reuben (retired) is coauthor and executive editor of one of the country’s leading Alternative Dispute Resolution casebooks, Dispute Resolution & Lawyers(5th ed. 2014) (with Leonard L. Riskin, Chris Guthrie, Jennifer K. Robbennolt, and Nancy A. Welsh). He is also developing a new Administrative Law casebook for West Academic’s Interactive Casebook series that is expected to be ready for use in Fall 2017.  His scholarly articles have appeared in the California Law Review, UCLA Law Review, Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Law & Contemporary Problems(Duke), the Journal of Legal Education, and the SMU Law Review, among many others.

Professor Reuben’s current research focuses on the efficacy of mindfulness training for first year law and other professional students in terms of helping them manage their stress, improve their academic performance, and enhance their overall well-being. He is also one of the first professors to teach Emotional Intelligence in American law schools, and has recently founded two national programs for mindfulness in law. One is the Mindfulness Affinity Group of the Association of American Law School’s Section on Balance in Legal Education, for law professors, administrators, and staff. The other is more practice-oriented: the Mindfulness in Law Society, a national network connecting law students, lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals interested in mindfulness, yoga, and other contemplative practices.

This research builds on Professor Reuben’s longstanding interest in conflict and dispute resolution. His earlier research has explored the relationship between dispute resolution and law, as well as democratic governance.  He is one of the nation’s leading authorities on confidentiality in ADR processes, and a sought-after teacher of Conflict and Conflict Management for Lawyers.
Professor Reuben was the founding director of the Center for the Study of Conflict, Law and the Media from 2001-2015. The center is a partnership of the Law School and the internationally regarded Missouri School of Journalism. He is also a member of the American Law Institute, the Executive Committee of the AALS Section of Dispute Resolution, and Executive Committee of the AALS Section on Balance in Legal Education.

A journalist as well as a lawyer, Professor Reuben has a joint appointment at the Missouri School of Journalism, a world leader in media education and research. As a journalist, Professor Reuben covered the U.S. Supreme Court and other legal issues for the ABA Journal, the Los Angeles and San Francisco Daily Journals, and other publications for more than a decade. He was the founding editor and board member of Dispute Resolution Magazine, a quarterly publication of the American Bar Association, from 1996-2013.

Professor Reuben served as the American Bar Association’s reporter for the Uniform Mediation Act, which already has been adopted in several states.  He also founded the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution’s Committee on Public Policy, Participation, and Democracy. Professor Reuben also served for two years as the Associate Director of the Stanford Center for Conflict and Negotiation at Stanford University, and on the Board of Directors of the Conflict Resolution Information Project for five years.

He frequently served of counsel in litigation involving governmental entities, and also conducts trainings in negotiation and conflict management, as well as mindfulness meditation.

Before retirement Professor Reuben’s primary teaching assignments were the School of Law are Administrative Law, Election Law, Civil Rights Litigation, Conflict and Conflict Management, and Emotional Intelligence for Lawyers. He also taught Labor and Employment Law, Negotiation, Legislation, and Local Government Law. He has taught at Stanford Law School, Harvard Law School, Pepperdine Law School, Hamline Law School, Central European University in Hungary, and Johannes Kepler University in Austria.

Areas of Expertise

• Administrative Law
• Arbitration
• Campaign Finance Law
• Civil Rights
• Confidentiality of Dispute Resolution Processes
• Conflict
• Democracy
• Election Law
• Emotional Intelligence
• Legislation
• Local Government
• Media Coverage of Conflict
• Mediation
• Mindfulness Education
• Negotiation
• Voting Rights

Educational Background

• BA magna cum laude, University of Georgia, '79
• JD, Georgia State University, '86
• JSM '96, JSD, '98, Stanford Law SChool