Unlike other transitions taking place across the country these days, I am pleased to report that the AALS ADR Section has successfully, peacefully and without tweet transitioned its leadership from fellow blogger and Academic Dean Cynthia Alkon (Texas A&M) to me (Jill Gross, Pace).  On behalf of the Section, thank you Cynthia for your service … Continue reading AALS ADR Section’s Smooth and Tweetless Transition of Leadership →

If you are planning to attend the AALS Annual Meeting in San Francisco next week, please join me at the ADR Section’s program (co-sponsored by the Section on Comparative Law) — Comparative Commercial Arbitration: U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America — on Friday, January 6, at 1:30pm, in Golden Gate 6 at the Hilton. I … Continue reading AALS ADR Program in SF on Comparative Commercial Arbitration →

This audience might be interested in reading an article that appeared in the December 2016 volume of the Journal of Empirical Studies entitled “Are Arbitrators Human?”  Authored by a Ph.D. candidate in human development (Rebecca K. Helm, Cornell), a federal magistrate judge (Judge Andrew J. Wistrich, CD Cal.), and a law professor (Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, … Continue reading Article Asks Whether Arbitrators are Human →

I am pleased to post this on behalf of Prof. David Horton (UC Davis Law): Dear Colleagues, I hope the end of the semester is treating you well.  As you may have heard, Judge Rakoff recently issued an important opinion finding that a plaintiff did not assent to an arbitration clause in Uber’s Terms of … Continue reading Amicus brief in Second Circuit Uber arbitration case →

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 →