As i blogged here and here,  in mid-2014, FINRA appointed a Task Force, Chaired by (retired) Professor Barbara Black, my former colleague and frequent co-author, “to consider possible enhancements to its arbitration forum to improve the transparency, impartiality and efficiency of FINRA’s securities arbitration forum for all participants.”  The 13-member Task Force includes forum arbitrators, representatives from … Continue reading FINRA Dispute Resolution Task Force Issues its Final Report and Recommendations →

As Art posted yesterday, the Supreme Court once again held that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts a conflicting state law.  The DRLE listserv already has featured some interesting commentary about the case and the Justices’ tone in both the majority and dissent.  I am posting today to provide a few more details of the case and … Continue reading More on DirectTV v. Imburgia →

In 2000, NASD (now FINRA) spun off its dispute resolution subsidiary from its regulatory functions to bolster investors’ perception that the forum is neutral and to enhance the credibility of its securities arbitration and mediation services.  Last month, the SEC released for public comment a proposal FINRA filed to merge its Dispute Resolution subsidiary into … Continue reading FINRA’s Bad Idea to Merge its Dispute Resolution Subsidiary into FINRA Regulation, Inc. →

Texas A&M University School of Law (Fort Worth, TX) hosted the ninth annual AALS ADR Works-in-Progress Conference this past Friday and Saturday.  Other than the constant, drenching, torrential rains and floods, these Aggies know how to throw a conference! Not only were we all incredibly well-fed (and watered) with traditional Texas fare, we listened to … Continue reading Greetings from soggy Texas and the AALS ADR WIP Conference →

On the first day of its new term, the Court granted certiorari in another FAA preemption case.  In MHN Government Services v. Zaborowski, the Court agreed to decide whether, as SCOTUS Blog styled it, “California violates federal arbitration law when it treats arbitration contracts differently from other contracts, in determining whether all or only part … Continue reading Scotus Grants Cert in Another FAA Preemption Case →

For an interesting take on “Deflategate” and Tom Brady’s legal maneuvers to overturn his four-game suspension imposed by the NFL Commissioner acting as “arbitrator,” see George Friedman’s blog post, “Deflategate” – the Commissioner Has Ruled – Now What?“.

Earlier this summer, the Second Circuit upheld a district court decision compelling individual arbitration of a brokerage employee’s federal and state wage-and-hour claims and enforcing a class and collective action waiver in the employee’s employment agreement. See Cohen v. UBS Financial Services, Inc., 2015 WL 3953348 (2d Cir. June 30, 2015). The employee had argued … Continue reading Second Circuit Enforces Class Action Waiver in Brokerage Firm Employee’s PDAA →

In June (yes, I am behind on my blogging), the FINRA Dispute Resolution Task Force, which FINRA formed last summer (see here), issued an “Interim Summary of Key Issues” to “alert users of the forum, arbitrators, mediators and the general public to its current thinking on the key issues before it.”  While the Task Force … Continue reading FINRA Dispute Resolution Task Force Issues Interim Summary of Key Issues →

I spent most of the past two days at a wonderful conference – ODR 2015, hosted by Pace Law School (at the University’s downtown NYC campus), listening to fellow online dispute resolution enthusiasts from across the U.S. as well as from countries such as England, Canada, Nigeria, Israel, China, New Zealand, Belgium, Malaysia, Japan, and … Continue reading ODR 2015 →

What a wonderful conference! After three days in Seattle, I am energized with new ideas for teaching, new topics for research (yes, some sparked by anger) and new ways to improve my own practice as an arbitrator. I was humbled by the multiple shout-outs at the FINRA/ Securities DR panel, inspired by Jean Sternlight’s speech … Continue reading Reflections from ABA DR Conference in Seattle – day one, two and three →