In the category of “did we really need to litigate this all the way to an appellate court,” last Friday the Ninth Circuit vacated a FINRA arbitration award where the parties learned four years after the hearing that the Chairperson of the panel was impersonating a lawyer.   In Move Inc. v. Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., … Continue reading Ninth Circuit Disapproves of Imposter Arbitrators →

In December 2015, a FINRA Dispute Resolution Task Force issued its Final Report and Recommendations for improvements to the administration of its forum and its ADR processes.  (See my earlier blog post about it here.  The Report contained 51 separate recommendations. Earlier this month, FINRA posted a draft Status Report detailing the progress FINRA has made … Continue reading FINRA Dispute Resolution Makes Great Progress on Implementing Task Force Recommendations →

Thanks to Marquette Law, especially Andrea Schneider and Natalie Fleury, for hosting the Tenth Annual Works-in-Progress Conference, sponsored by the AALS Section on Dispute Resolution.  Not only did participants hear presentations and give and receive instant feedback on draft papers, half-baked ideas and book projects, but Andrea and Natalie kept us entertained with a host … Continue reading Marquette Law Hosts Fabulous ADR Works-in-Progress Conference →

I just learned (from my colleague Jim Fishman, who, in turn, learned from the AALS Contracts listserv, which in turn referenced a post on the Volokh Conspiracy blog) that the Trump Campaign makes a volunteer sign an adhesion contract (perfectly legitimate, IMHO).  Among the terms is an arbitration clause, which itself may not be so … Continue reading Trump Campaign’s Contract with its Volunteers Mandates Arbitration Unilaterally →

In May 2016, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released for public comment a proposed rule to regulate two aspects of consumer financial service arbitration.  First, the CFPB proposed to bar consumer financial services companies (as defined in the proposed regulations) from including class action waivers in their customer agreements.  Second, the CFPB proposed to require … Continue reading ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Comments on CFPB Rule Proposal →

Last Friday, FINRA issued Regulatory Notice 16-25 reminding member firms that, under FINRA Rules 12200 and 13200, they have a regulatory duty to arbitrate at the request of a customer (account-related disputes) or an associated person (employment disputes). The Notice cited a number of recent circuit court decisions holding that a forum selection clause in … Continue reading FINRA Reminds Broker-Dealer Firms of Their Duty to Arbitrate →

For those of you with access to the subscription-based New York Law Journal, today’s paper has a special pull-out section on Arbitration, with a spotlight on consumer agreements.  The digital (subscription-only) version can be accessed here.  Articles cover the CFPB’s rule proposal banning class action waivers, the mandatory arbitration clause debate, nuts and bolts of … Continue reading Today’s NYLJ: Special section on arbitration with spotlight on consumer agreements →

  From Professors Gomez (FIU) and Strong (Missouri): The Academic Council of the Institute for Transnational Arbitration is pleased to announce the launch of a new website, International Dispute Resolution Resources for Legal Educators.  The goal of this project is to gather, classify, and disseminate syllabi, notes, exercises, exams, and other original teaching materials prepared by international arbitration teachers … Continue reading New website with resources for educators in international dispute resolution →

From FOI Jean Sternlight: The Seventh Circuit has just issued a very important decision, Lewis v. Epic Systems Corp., banning the use of an arbitral class/collective action prohibition in a non-unionized wage and hour claim. The decision is based on Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which protects the right of all employees, … Continue reading Seventh Circuit Protects Employees’ Right to Bring Collective Actions, Despite Arbitral Waiver →

I apologize for interrupting the steady stream of John Lande photo albums to report that the first comment letter on the Consumer Financial Protection’s Bureau proposal (regulation CFPB-2016-0020, RIN 3170-AA51) to ban class action waivers in consumer financial agreements has been posted on the CFPB website.  Thanks to the incredible drafting and organizing efforts of … Continue reading 210 Professors Sign Comment Letter on CFPB Proposed Ban on Class Action Waivers →