Today, the Supreme Court granted cert in a FOURTH arbitration case. Many years have passed since the Court granted cert in this many arbitration cases. The case, Vaden v. Discover Bank, 07-0773, will answer an important question about federal courts’ jurisdiction over disputes subject to an arbitration agreement that do not raise a federal question … Continue reading A Fourth U.S. Supreme Court Arbitration Case This Year
On March 8, the National Arbitration Forum blog reported that Fullbright and Jaworski conducted a survey of American companies which revealed that, “in recent years, American companies of all sizes have become less reliant on outside counsel.” See http://arbitration-forum.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html While the NAF bloggers speculate that the popularity of arbitration may be behind this change, it … Continue reading Why American Companies Resolve Disputes Outside of Litigation
Professors Jill Gross and Barbara Black recently submitted Perceptions of Fairness of Securities Arbitration: An Empirical Study to the Securities Industry Conference on Arbitration. The study is based on survey responses received from customers (comprising approximately 45% of those responding), corporate representatives of securities brokerage firms and persons associated with the firms (22%) and lawyers … Continue reading Customers’ Perceptions of (Un)fairness in Securities Arbitration
Jean Sternlight recently published an article entitled In Defense of Mandatory Binding Arbitration (If Imposed on the Company), 8 Nev. L. J. 82 (2007). She describes the project as one that she conceived initially as a “lark,” but what emerges is a truly fascinating thought exercise. Jean’s basic thesis is summarized in the excerpt below. … Continue reading Imposing Arbitration on the “Big Guys”
Resolution Systems Institute, which used to be known as CAADRS, sent this announcement about their new website. It looks like a great new resource for research on court ADR: A NEW WEB SITE FOR A TRUSTED RESOURCE: INTRODUCING COURTADR.ORG Resolution Systems Institute, formerly the Center for Analysis of ADR Systems (CAADRS), announces the launch of … Continue reading CAADRS Becomes RSI; New ADR Resources Available
Professors Theodore Eisenberg, Geoffrey Miller and Emily Sherwin investigated a number of Fortune 100 firms’ use of mandatory arbitration clauses. See Arbitration’s Summer Soldiers: An Empirical Study of Arbitration Clauses in Consumer and Nonconsumer Contracts (draft December 18, 2007). Their empirical analysis revealed that companies frequently use arbitration clauses in consumer contracts but do not … Continue reading Empirical Arbitration Analysis Reveals Companies Prefer Litigation
Last Monday, January 14th, the United States Supreme Court heard oral argument in the Preston v. Ferrer case. This case raises the question whether the Federal Arbitration Act preempts the California Talent Agencies Act. Preston involves a dispute between a purported talent agent and his client, Alex Ferrer, over fees. “Judge Alex”, as he is … Continue reading Oral Argument in Preston v. Ferrer
Professor Alan Rau sent me the following announcement about an upcoming conference on arbitration: What Can the Arbitrator Do? Remedies in Commercial, Investment and Energy Arbitrations’ April 17-18, 2008 St. Regis Hotel Houston, Texas Presented by The Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague The Houston International Arbitration Club, Inc. The University of Texas School of … Continue reading Arbitration Conference at University of Texas School of Law
The agency literature is filled with discussions of how best to structure compensation systems to promote the right incentives for people we hire to do things on our behalf. Embedded in most of it is an assumption that we can tell when someone is doing a good job. That’s not a bold assumption when I … Continue reading Evaluating Agents, Attorneys, Arbitrators, Mediators (and Students)
During the American invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, we were introduced to the concept of the “embedded journalist.” Pentagon officials claimed that they were limiting journalists’ access in order to ensure their safety and protect secret military operations. These protestations likely were sincere, but Pentagon officials also must have been aware that “embedded journalists” were … Continue reading The Rise of the “Embedded Neutral?”
