NYS Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and NYC Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg Proclaim Thursday, October 17 as Mediation Settlement Day Everyone can benefit from learning about mediation and other Alternative Dispute Resolution resources to resolve conflicts and disputes peacefully. Throughout the month of October, Mediation Settlement Day sponsors offer special programs to increase understanding about mediation … Continue reading Happy Mediation Settlement Day!
Cornell University’s Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, in conjunction with the Modria Mediation Room, is hosting the 2013 Cyberweek eMediation Competition. WHEN: November 4-8, 2013 COMPETITORS: 1. Competitors must be a current student at a college or university. 2. Mediator – Individuals may register to participate in the competition as a mediator. 3. Parties – … Continue reading CyberWeek 2013 eMediation Competition
As I blogged here, at the end of 2012, George Friedman retired as Executive Vice President and Director of Dispute Resolution of FINRA Dispute Resolution after many years in a top role there. (He remains an Adjunct Professor at Fordham where he has taught Arbitration Law for many years.) However, since his so-called retirement, he … Continue reading George Friedman’s Prolific Retirement
I am passing along an annoucement from FOI Noam Ebner: It is time once again to prepare for the annual conference on Online Dispute Resolution, Cyberweek 2013. This online conference provides a week of activities and dialogue about the world of Online Dispute Resolution and how it relates to our work as conflict specialists. Cyberweek … Continue reading Cyberweek 2013 and Call for Proposals
For those of you who are interested, the text of the bill proposed on Friday is here.
Last Friday, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn) introduced the “Investor Choice Act” into the House of Representatives, a bill that proposes to ban broker-dealers, investment advisers, funding portals and municipal securities dealers from including mandatory arbitration clauses in their customer and client agreements. While Dodd-Frank explicitly authorized the Securities and Exchange Commission to ban such arbitration … Continue reading Bill Banning Predispute Arbitration Clauses in Broker-Dealers’ Customer Agreements Introduced into Congress
The SEC has published for public comment a rule change proposal filed by FINRA to alter the arbitrator selection method in three-arbitrator customer cases. Comments are due by July 11, 2013. Currently, customers must elect a panel composition method at the beginning of a case, with the default method being the Majority Public Panel option that results in one … Continue reading SEC Seeks Public Comment on Arbitrator Selection Rule Proposal
As many of our readers know, the ABA Dispute Resolution Section, LEAPS project sponsors a website that includes resources for teaching practical problem-solving and professional skills. To faciliate being a resource for professors who would like to move away from lecture-based formats in teaching “doctrinal” courses, the LEAPS executive committee is developing a list of textbooks that incorporate … Continue reading Looking for law textbooks that incorporate problem-solving teaching
BNA has reported that FINRA has implemented a new policy and will now conduct annual background checks as well as an additional review of arbitrators before appointing them to new cases. This change in policy was prompted by FINRA’s discovery last year that one of its arbitrators had been indicted for the uanuthorized practice of law. … Continue reading FINRA to conduct background checks on arbitrators
I have had a few days to digest the Supreme Court’s most recent opinions interpreting the Federal Arbitration Act (Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, see blog post here; and American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, see blog posts here and here) and offer the following reflections: Sutter affirmed the broad power of the arbitrators to decide … Continue reading Reflections on 2013 Supreme Court Arbitration Decisions
