Mediation and arbitration have long served as lucrative retirement gigs for former judges. Today, the New York Times reports that Mel Weiss, the disgraced, disbarred, and finally incarcerated former securities class action overlord, has hung out his shingle as a mediator. Weiss can no longer practice law, so he has evidently decided his true calling is as a neutral. (Maybe JAMS should be concerned; one imagines a new competitor emerging: Criminals Organized for Neutral Services.)

So, is Weiss qualified to be a mediator? Prospective clients should rest assured. He took a one-week course in arbitration last summer!