After more than six years in development, and hundreds of public comment letters on two different proposed versions, the SEC approved a revised Discovery Guide applicable to customer cases in FINRA securities arbitration. FINRA is one of the few arbitration forums mandating automatic production of “presumptively discoverable” documents and information in arbitrations brought by customers … Continue reading SEC Approves New Discovery Guide for FINRA Arbitration →

The ABA has just released a new book on Planned Early Negotiation authored by John Lande, Isidor Loeb Professor and Director, LL.M. Program in Dispute Resolution, University of Missouri School of Law. The book, which includes a CD with numerous practical forms, is entitled “Lawyering with Planned Early Negotiation:  How You Can Get Good Results for … Continue reading Lande’s New Book on Planned Early Negotiation →

The Werner Institute at Creighton University School of Law has announced that, on November 4-5, 2011 in Omaha, Nebraska, it will host the 5th AALS Section on Dispute Resolution Works-in-Progress Conference for scholars who are teaching and researching in Dispute Resolution. Attendance will be free of charge. For more information on the conference, visit: http://www.creighton.edu/werner/2011WIPConference. If … Continue reading Creighton to Host 5th Annual ADR Works-in-Progress Conference →

The ABA Section of Dispute Resolution seeks experienced mediators and lawyers to be judges and mediators for the Representation in Mediation Competition National Finals. Final Rounds will take place in conjunction with the Section’s Spring Conference at the Sheraton Downtown Denver, in Denver, Colorado, April 13-14. In this competition, law students role-play as attorneys and … Continue reading Volunteer Judges and Mediators Needed for National Finals of Mediation in Representation Competition →

Yesterday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its earlier decision in In re Am. Express. Merchs. Litig., 554 F.3d 300 (2009), that a pre-dispute arbitration clause in a credit card agreement (American Express) was not enforceable because it contained a provision requiring consumers to waive their rights to pursue claims as a class. See … Continue reading Second Circuit Once Again Refuses to Enforce an Arbitration Clause in a Credit Card Agreement With A Class Action Waiver →

A federal district court judge’s decision a few weeks ago to issue a TRO to enjoin several FINRA arbitrations against Securities America so as to preserve the broker-dealer’s assets to pay a class action settlement reached in the district court has drawn a lot of media coverage. Earlier today, Professor Black posted on the Securities … Continue reading Texas Judge Enjoins FINRA Arbitrations To Preserve Respondents’ Assets for Class Action Settlement →

For those readers interested in the topic of how mediators persuade parties, James Stark (U Conn) and Douglas Frenkel (U Penn) recently posted on SSRN a working paper entitled “Changing Minds: The Work of Mediators and Empirical Studies of Persuasion.” Here is the abstract: The use of mediation has grown exponentially in recent years in … Continue reading Stark and Frenkel on Mediators and Persuasion →

As promised, I have reviewed the papers in Stok & Associates, P.A. v. Citibank, N.A, Docket 10-514, in which the Supreme Court granted certioriari last week to decide the following question: “Under the Federal Arbitration Act, should a party be required to demonstrate prejudice after the opposing party waived its contractual right to arbitrate by … Continue reading More on Stok and Arbitration Waiver →

On Tuesday (Feb. 22), the Supreme Court granted a cert petition in Stok & Associates v. Citibank, Docket 10-514. The issue presented is: “Under the Federal Arbitration Act, should a party be required to demonstrate prejudice after the opposing party waived its contractual right to arbitrate by participating in litigation, in order for such waiver … Continue reading Supreme Court Grants Cert. Petition in Arbitration Case →

FINRA continues to revise its Codes of Arbitration Procedure in response to developments in arbitration practice. This week FINRA filed with the SEC two new rule change proposals: (1) to codify current practice that parties have the right to reply to responses to motions within five days of the response; and (2) to eliminate the … Continue reading More FINRA Dispute Resolution Arbitration-Related Rule Proposals →