The view on apologies from a veteran mediator: Robert A. Creo, a longtime friend of the CPR Institute, visits International Dispute Negotiation host Michael McIlwrath in Florence, Italy, to discuss why saying you are sorry can bring about a positive resolution.

Bob has worked as an arbitrator and neutral, from his Pittsburgh hometown, since the 1970s. He says here that the legal system’s fear of liability results in actions that run in the opposite direction of human nature’s call, which would be to acknowledge mistakes in the hopes of reaching conciliation and moving on.

The podcast, recorded a couple of weeks ago, can serve as an intro and an expansion of an older online continuing legal education seminar, “I'm Sorry? Acknowledgment and Apology in Preventing Medical Malpractice Claims” that Bob conducted for the CPR Institute at WestLegalEdcenter on April 13. The session is now available on demand, for credit, here.

In this week’s IDN 74, Bob dissects the methods for effective apologies—ones that mean what they say, and help end often brutal litigation--but which are not pro forma, or from forms.

“I advise people to never script an apology," he says, “ and to do it orally, and do it from the heart.”

Bob’s CLE seminar is part of a series of Master Mediator sessions he is doing in conjunction with the WestLegalEdcenter site. The courses are based on Bob’s Master Mediator column, which has appeared periodically on the CPR Institute website for more than three years.

Bob also is a member of the CPR Panels of Distinguished Neutrals, and a member of Alternatives’ editorial board. The new June issue of Alternatives profiles Bob’s latest initiative, the Master Mediator Institute, a group of veteran mediators trying to “advance the field of decision science.” The Alternatives article is available here for CPR Institute members for free, and can be purchased here from John Wiley & Sons. (See the June ADR Briefs article.) Information on the Master Mediator Institute can be found here.

Bob also is an adjunct professor at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law, and the Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh.