From Ballard Spahr: The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. 1740 (2011), obligates courts to compel individual arbitration even where the plaintiff has proven that doing so would make it impossible to vindicate statutory rights, according to a non-precedential opinion issued August 22 by the U.S. Court of … Continue reading Concepcion in New Jersey →

As you head into the long holdiay weekend, please remember that proposals are now due for Works-in-Progress papers to be considered for publication in the Ohio State University Journal of Dispute Resolution. Here is the information about this year’s Works-in-Progress Conference and the opportunity to have your paper selected for publication in a special issue … Continue reading REMINDER: AALS Works-in-Progress Early Submission Date Approaching →

It looks like the CFPB will begin its required study of consumer arbitration. From Ballard Spahr: “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced today that is has initiated its study of consumer arbitration as mandated by Section 1028 of the Dodd-Frank Act. It submitted to the Federal Register for publication a “request for Information Regarding Scope, … Continue reading CFPB will begin study of consumer arbitration →

As promised, here are more details about the upcoming Works-in-Progress Conference. If you attend the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Conference next week, please stop by the Ohio State University Journal of Dispute Resolution to speak with our Symposium Editors about the conference. The Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Dispute Resolution’s Sixth Annual … Continue reading 2012 Works-in-Progress Conference at Ohio State — More Information! →

The 2012 Schwartz Lecture on Dispute Resolution will be given by Deborah M. Kolb, an internationally renowned expert on gender issues in negotiation and leadership. On April 4th at noon in the Moritz College of Law’s Saxbe Auditorium, she will speak on “Negotiating in the Shadow of Organizations: Doing Well by Doing Good.” Recent research … Continue reading Professor Deborah Kolb is Ohio State University Moritz College of Law’s Schwartz Lecturer on April 4th →

If you are in Columbus, next week, we are hosting a terrific speaker at 4 p.m. in the Moritz College of Law, Saxbe Auditorium at the Ohio State University (he will actually visit Harvard Law School first, on the 6th, if you happen to be in Boston). The annual Lawrence Negotiation Lecture this year will … Continue reading Michael Young — Mediator of Secret Talks to End Apartheid to speak at Moritz College of Law →

Jean Sternlight and one of my students sent me this link from Sesame Street in which Justice Sotomayor engages in some “dispute resolution”. Seems more like evaluative mediation to me. Very amusing! Goldilocks Avoids Criminal Sanction When Sotomayor Judges Dispute on Sesame Street http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/goldilocks_avoids_criminal_sanction_when_sotomayor_judges_dispute_on_sesame/

There appears to be some life left in the “vindication of statutory rights” argument following Concepcion and Stolt-Nielsen after all! The Second Circuit, in In re: American Express Merchants’ Litigation, 06-1871 (2d Cir. 2012), held that a class action waiver in an arbitration agreement can be ruled unconscionable if the plaintiff (here, a merchant) can … Continue reading Class Action Waiver in Arbitration Agreement Unconscionable →

I would be remiss in my duties as director of the Moritz College of Law if I did not offer my congratulations to the student winners of the annual CPR academic awards — both of whom are members of the Moritz College of Law class of 2011. From our press release: Michael Diamond ’11 wrote … Continue reading Moritz College of Law Students win CPR Awards →

Paul beat me to the punch, but I could not agree more with him that the Court’s decision in Compucredit v. Greenwood is unsurprising. The true mystery of the case is that the Court took it in the first place. Until Congress decides to make it clear that a particular statutory claim cannot be arbitrated, … Continue reading Unsurprising is Exactly How I Would Describe Compucredit v. Greenwood →