Yesterday I blogged about stepped-up political pressures on the Securities and Exchange Commission to outlaw mandatory arbitration agreements in customers’ account agreements with their brokerage firms.  The pressures are not coming just from politicians.  Last week, a Tennessee appellate court refused to enforce a pre-dispute arbitration clause in a brokerage firms’ account agreement with a customer … Continue reading Tennessee court invalidates brokerage firm’s arbitration clause as unconscionable →

In the wake of a FINRA disciplinary hearing panel decision not to enforce its own rules against broker-dealer Charles Schwab barring class action waivers in customer-broker account agreements because of the Federal Arbitration Act (see my previous blog posts about that decision here and here), investor rights advocates have stepped up their efforts to press the Securities … Continue reading Added Pressure on SEC to Eliminate Mandatory Securities Arbitration →

Following closely on the heels of Quinnipiac’s very wise decision to name ADR Law Prof Jen Brown the next Dean of its law school, Ohio Northern University announced it appointed Richard Bales, currently at Northern Kentucky Chase College of Law, the next Dean of its Pettit College of Law. Congratulations to Rick on this accomplishment, … Continue reading Rick Bales named Dean at Ohio Northern’s Law School →

Last week, author Dan Solin, a long-time critic of FINRA, published a column in U.S. News & World Report attacking the FINRA arbitration forum as biased, unfair to investors and shrouded in secrecy.  Presumably, the column was motivated by a federal judge’s recent decision to deny a FOIA request that PIABA (Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association) filed with the SEC to … Continue reading George Friedman responds to Dan Solin’s indictment of FINRA arbitration →

As many of our readers know, the Legal Education, ADR and Practical Problem-Solving Project (LEAPS) of the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Law Schools Committee was launched in 2010 to promote the teaching of practical problem-solving in law school so as to improve legal education.  I am on the Executive Committee, along with Deborah Eisenberg, … Continue reading Update on LEAPS →

Today, the Columbia Law School Blue Sky Law Blog published a blog posting that I co-authored with Prof. Barbara Black (Cincinatti) with that question as the title.  Click here to read our answer.

FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers issued its decision today in Dep’t of Enforcement v. Charles Schwab & Co, an enforcement action in which FINRA alleged that Schwab’s class action and joinder waiver language in its customer agreement violated FINRA rules that preserved the judicial class action remedy for investors and empowered arbitrators to consolidate non-class though … Continue reading FINRA Hearing Panel Concludes that FAA Preempts Enforcement of FINRA Rules Barring Class Action Waiver in Broker-Dealer’s Customer Agreement →

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act empowered the SEC to study the use of mandatory arbitration in the securities industry and consider whether to ban regulated firms from imposing mandatory arbitration on customers.  To date, the SEC has not launched any such study, presumably because Dodd-Frank was loaded with so many regulatory mandates to the SEC that … Continue reading Mass. Securities Regulator Urges SEC to Ban Investment Advisers from Imposing Mandatory Arbitration →

Sean Nolon (Vermont) posted his most recent article on SSRN.  The title is: Second Best Practices?: Addressing Mediation’s Definitional Problems in Environmental Siting Disputes.  The article looks at two environmental case studies where interested parties served mediative functions and explores the implications for the concept of mediator neutrality.  Professor Nolon proposes that this practice has value, but … Continue reading S. Nolon on Mediator Role Confusion in Siting Disputes →

Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that a mandatory arbitration clause in an insurance contract was unenforceable under state law, and the state law was not preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act because of the McCarran-Ferguson Act.  In State of Wash. v. James River Ins. Co., Civ. No. 87644-4 (WA Sup. Ct. Jan. … Continue reading Washington State Supreme Court Voids Mandatory Arbitration Clause in Insurance Contract →