Donna Shestowsky

x

Position Title
Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law and Director of the Lawyering Skills Education Program

2135 King Hall
Bio

Donna Shestowsky is Professor of Law and Director of the Lawyering Skills Education Program at the University of California, Davis, School of Law. She is also a faculty member of the Graduate Group in Psychology at UC Davis. She teaches Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), Advanced Negotiation and Client Counseling, Lawyering Process, Negotiation Strategy, and the Seminar in Legal Psychology. Her main research objective is to examine basic assumptions underlying the structure of the legal system and to explore ways in which the legal system might be improved using the methodological and analytic tools of psychological theory and research.

Dr. Shestowsky was the sole principal investigator of a multi-year research project, funded by the National Science Foundation and the American Bar Association, which examined how litigants evaluate legal procedures. One article based on this work was awarded the 2016 Mangano Dispute Resolution Advancement Award; another article was awarded the Best Article of 2018 in the field of dispute resolution from the AALS Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution. In recognition of her scholarly contributions, she was awarded the Scholar Award by the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Litigation in 2024.

Dr. Shestowsky's legal and psychological commentary has appeared in national sources such as CNN, NPR, and the New York Times. She advises courts in the development of court-connected ADR programs and provides negotiation education services to corporations, law firms, and national organizations. She also coaches the King Hall Negotiation team, which routinely places at the nationals in the ABA’s negotiation and client counseling competitions and ranked first in the world in the international law student negotiations competition. She was the 2007 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Her research has been published in top journals in both Psychology and Law, including the Stanford Law Review, Law and Human Behavior, and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. She is dedicated to helping legal practitioners make use of empirical research. To that end, she also publishes in journals with broader audiences, such as Court Review and Dispute Resolution Magazine.

Dr. Shestowsky was awarded a J.D. and Ph.D. in Psychology from Stanford University. During the 2003-2004 academic year, she was jointly appointed to the faculty at Northwestern University School of Law and the Kellogg School of Management. She was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 2004. She was elected as a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation in 2021. In 2023 she served as Chair of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution, and under her leadership, the section was honored with the award for Section of the Year.

Education and Degree(s)
  • B.S. Psychology, Yale University
  • M.S. Psychology, Yale University
  • J.D. Stanford University
  • Ph.D. Psychology, Stanford University
Honors and Awards
  • Scholar Award, AALS Section on Litigation (2024).
  • Section of the Year, AALS (2024).
  • American Bar Foundation Fellow (elected 2021).
  • Chair, AALS Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution (2023).
  • Best Article in the Field of Dispute Resolution (Best Article of 2018), AALS Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution (2019).
  • Faculty Development Award, University of California, Davis (2018-19) .
  • Mangano Dispute Resolution Advancement (“Best Paper”) Award, Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution (2016).
  • Ninth Circuit ADR Education Award (on behalf of University of California, Davis, School of Law) (2014).
  • Distinguished Teaching Award, Nominee, University of California, Davis, School of Law (2006 & 2014).
  • Distinguished Teaching Award, University of California, Davis, School of Law (2007).
Research Interests & Expertise
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Juries
  • Negotiation strategy
  • Change of venue surveys
  • Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)
  • Empirical research
  • Law and psychology
Membership and Service
  • Director of Legal Skills Education, UC Davis
  • Graduate Group in Psychology, Faculty, UC Davis
  • AALS Section on Dispute Resolution, Chair-Elect (2021)
  • American Bar Foundation Fellow
  • American Bar Association
  • American Psychology-Law Association
  • Association of American Law Schools
  • International Association for Conflict Management
  • Massachusetts Bar

Publications

Andrea C.F. Wolfs, Donna Shestowsky, Deborah Goldfarb, Justice via Chat? How Litigants’ Preferences and Attorneys’ Recommendations Influence the Choice to Use Online Dispute Resolution, PSYCH., PUB. POL’Y, & L. (forthcoming 2024).

Donna Shestowsky, Discussing Procedure, OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. (forthcoming 2024).

Hannah M. Johnson, Stephanie D. Block, Donna Shestowsky, Joseph E. Gonzales, Kristy L. Shockley & Gail S. Goodman, Discernment of Children's True and False Memory Reports: Police Officers and Laypersons, J. INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE (forthcoming 2024) (OnlineFirst 2023).

Jennifer Shack & Donna ShestowskyImplementing ODR in Family Court: Insights from the First Neutral Program Evaluation in the United States, in THE FAMILY DISPUTE RESOLUTION HANDBOOK (Peter Salem & Kelly Browe Olson eds., 2024).

Deborah Thompson Eisenberg, Donna Shestowsky & Robert R. Niccolini, What Matters to Employment Attorneys When Considering Online or In-Person Mediation?, 41 ALTS. TO HIGH COST OF LITIG. 151 (2023).

Donna Shestowsky, Civil Litigants’ Evaluations of Their Legal Experiences, 19 ANN. REV. L. & SOC. SCI. 19 (2023).

Donna Shestowsky & Jennifer Shack, Ten Tips for Getting the Most Out of an Evaluation of Your ODR Program, 59 CT. REV. 6 (2023).

Jennifer Shack & Donna Shestowsky, Access to Justice: Lessons for Designing Text-Based Court-Connected ODR Programs, 29 DISP. RESOL. MAG. 29 (2023).

DONNA SHESTOWSKY & JENNIFER SHACK, UNIV. OF CAL., DAVIS, RESOL. SYS. INST., ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION FOR POST-JUDGMENT FAMILY LAW CASES: A REPORT TO THE OTTAWA COUNTY, MICHIGAN, FRIEND OF THE COURT (2022). 

Donna Shestowsky, Why Client Expectations of Legal Procedures Must Be Managed to Achieve Settlement Satisfaction, 40 ALTS. TO HIGH COST OF LITIG. 105 (2022).  

DONNA SHESTOWSKY & JENNIFER SHACK, UNIV. OF CAL., DAVIS, RESOL. SYS. INST., ONLINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION FOR DEBT AND SMALL CLAIMS CASES: A REPORT ON A PILOT PROGRAM IN COLLIN COUNTY, TEXAS (2022). 

DONNA SHESTOWSKY & JENNIFER SHACK, UNIV. OF CAL., DAVIS, RESOL. SYS. INST., LITIGANTS' EXPERIENCE WITH SMALL CLAIMS COURT: A REPORT TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE FIRST CIRCUIT, STATE OF HAWAII (2021) (limited distribution report). 

Donna Shestowsky, How Useful is Court ADR if People (Still) Don’t Know About it?, in DISCUSSIONS IN DISPUTE RESOLUTION: THE FOUNDATIONAL ARTICLES 327 (Art Hinshaw, Andrea Kupfer Schneider & Sarah Rudolph Cole eds., 2021).

Donna Shestowsky, Great Expectations? Comparing Litigants’ Attitudes Before and After Using Legal Procedures, 44 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 179 (2020).

Mara Olekalns, Donna Shestowsky, Sylvia P. Skratek & Ann-Sophie de Pauw, The Double Helix of Theory and Practice: Celebrating Stephen J. Goldberg as a Scholar, Practitioner, and Mentor, 13 NEGOT. & CONFLICT MGMT. RSCH. 85 (2019).

Deborah Goldfarb, Sidnei Priolo-Filho, Janelle Sampana, Donna Shestowsky, Lucia C. A. Williams & Gail S. Goodman, International Comparison of Family Court Professionals’ Perceptions of Parental Alienation and Child Sexual Abuse Allegations, 2 INT'L J. ON CHILD MALTREATMENT 323 (2019).

Sidnei Priolo-Filho, Deborah Goldfarb, Donna Shestowsky, Janelle Sampana, Lucia C. A. Williams & Gail S. Goodman, Judgments Regarding Parental Alienation When Parental Hostility or Child Sexual Abuse is Alleged, 15 J. CHILD CUSTODY 302 (2019).

Ellen E. Deason, Michael Z. Green, Donna Shestowsky, Rory Van Loo & Ellen Waldman, ADR and Access to Justice: Current Perspectives, 33 OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. 303 (2018).

Donna Shestowsky, Inside the Mind of the Client: An Analysis of Litigants’ Decision Criteria for Choosing Procedures, 36 CONFLICT RESOL. Q. 69 (2018).

Donna Shestowsky, Easing the Road to Civil Justice: Improving Litigants’ Awareness of ADR Options, 54 CT. REV. 142 (2018).

Donna Shestowsky, When Ignorance is Not Bliss: An Empirical Study of Litigants' Awareness of Court-Sponsored Alternative Dispute Resolution Programs, 22 HARV. NEGOT. L. REV. 189 (2017).

Jonni L. Johnson, Sue D. Hobbs, Yoojin Chae, Gail S. Goodman, Donna Shestowsky & Stephanie Block, “I Didn’t Do That!”: Event Valence and Child Age Influence Adults’ Discernment of Preschoolers’ True and False Statements, 36 J. INTERPERSONAL VIOLENCE NP753 (2017).

Pietro Ortolani & Donna ShestowskyDisputant Psychology in International Arbitration: What Can a Comparison with Domestic Arbitration Teach Us?, in THE ROLES OF PSYCHOLOGY IN INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION (Tony Cole ed., 2017).

Donna Shestowsky, The Psychology of Negotiation: Using Persuasion to Negotiate More Effectively, in THE NEGOTIATOR'S DESK REFERENCE 339 (Andrea Kupfer Schneider & Christopher Honeyman eds., 2017).

Donna Shestowsky, How Litigants Evaluate the Characteristics of Legal Procedures: A Multi-Court Empirical Study, 49 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 793 (2016).

Donna Shestowsky, New Research Sheds Light on How Litigants Evaluate the Characteristics of Legal Procedures, 34 ALTS. TO HIGH COST OF LITIG. 145 (2016).  

Donna Shestowsky, Mediation? Negotiation? Arbitration? Trial?: A Multicourt Study Looks at Litigants' Preferences, 21 DISP. RESOL. MAG. 28 (2015).

Donna Shestowsky, How Litigants Evaluate Legal Procedures at the Start of Their Cases, 50 CT. REV. 126 (2014).

Donna Shestowsky, The Psychology of Procedural Preference: How Litigants Evaluate Legal Procedures Ex Ante, 99 IOWA L. REV. 637 (2014).

Stephanie D. Block, Donna Shestowsky, Daisy A. Segovia, Gail S. Goodman, Jennifer M. Schaff & Kristen W. Alexander, That Never Happened: Adults’ Discernment of Children’s True and False Memory Reports, 36 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 365 (2012).

Lee Ross & Donna ShestowskyTwo Social Psychologists’ Reflections on Situationism and the Criminal Justice System, in IDEOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND LAW 612 (Jon Hanson ed., 2012).

DONNA SHESTOWSKY, AN EVALUATION OF THE VENTURA SUPERIOR COURT SMALL CLAIMS MEDIATION PROGRAM (2011) (limited distribution report).

Donna Shestowsky & Jeanne Brett, Disputants’ Perceptions of Dispute Resolution Procedures: An Ex Ante and Ex Post Longitudinal Empirical Study, 41 CONN. L. REV. 63 (2008).

Donna Shestowsky, Disputants’ Preferences for Dispute Resolution: Why We Should Care and Why We Know So Little, 23 OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. 549 (2008).

Donna Shestowsky, Misjudging: Implications for Dispute Resolution, 7 NEV. L.J. 487 (2007).

Donna Shestowsky, Dispute Resolution, Psychology of, in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LAW AND SOCIETY: AMERICAN AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES 427 (David S. Clark ed., 2007).

Donna Shestowsky, Psychology and Persuasion, in THE NEGOTIATOR'S FIELDBOOK 361 (Andrea Kupfer Schneider & Christopher Honeyman eds., 2006).

Janice Nadler & Donna ShestowskyNegotiation, Information Technology, and the Problem of the Faceless Other, in NEGOTIATION THEORY AND RESEARCH 145 (Leigh L. Thompson ed., 2006).

Donna Shestowsky, Procedural Preferences in Alternative Dispute Resolution: A Closer, Modern Look at an Old Idea, 10 PSYCH., PUB. POL’Y, & L. 211 (2004).

Donna Shestowsky & Leonard M. Horowitz, How the Need for Cognition Scale Predicts Behavior in Mock Jury Deliberations, 28 LAW & HUM. BEHAV. 305 (2004).

Donna Shestowsky, Improving Summary Jury Trials: Insights from Psychology, 18 OHIO ST. J. ON DISP. RESOL. 469 (2003).

Lee Ross & Donna ShestowskyContemporary Psychology’s Challenges to Legal Theory and Practice, 97 NW. U.L. REV. 1081 (2003).

Franklin Strier & Donna ShestowskyProfiling the Profilers: A Study of the Trial Consulting Profession, Its Impact on Trial Justice and What, if Anything, to Do About It, 1999 WIS. L. REV. 441 (1999).

Donna Shestowsky, Where is the Common Knowledge? Empirical Support for Requiring Expert Testimony in Sexual Harassment Trials, 51 STAN. L. REV. 357 (1999).

Donna Shestowsky, Duane T. Wegener & Leandre R. Fabrigar, Need for Cognition and Interpersonal Influence: Individual Differences in Impact on Dyadic Decisions, 74 J. PERSONALITY & SOC. PSYCHOL. 1317 (1998).