[Excerpt] Participants at the first Dispute Systems Design Conference, held April 7, 1989 at Northwestern University, were excited and expectant. We suspected that we had the practical beginnings of a new field, but we weren’t sure whether or not we would be able to apply each other’s experiences to our own. In a way, we were looking for a common language or frame of reference that would enable us to learn from one another. Ury, Brett, and Goldbeig’s work in “Getting Disputes Resolved” was to be put to the test as to whether it could initiate that frame of reference for this diverse group of practitioners.