Category Archives: General

CFPB Report on Arbitration in Consumer Finance Contracts

The Consumer Financial Products Board has issued its report on the use of pre-dispute arbitration clauses in consumer finance contracts, as directed by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Act. In conducting its study, the CFPB looked at hundreds of financial agreements, reviewed thousand of disputes–including individual arbitrations, individual lawsuits, class actions, and public enforcement actions–and conducted a … Continue reading CFPB Report on Arbitration in Consumer Finance Contracts →

Blurred Lines: Are Non-Attorneys Who Represent Parties in Arbitrations Involving Statutory Claims Practicing Law?

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As an arbitrator and teacher of arbitration, I’ve noticed that legal issues are more frequently the focus in arbitration proceedings, both non-labor and labor. I have watched non-lawyer representatives struggle to make legal arguments (although, in fairness, sometimes that is true of lawyers as well). To ensure adequate representation of parties in arbitration involving legal … Continue reading Blurred Lines: Are Non-Attorneys Who Represent Parties in Arbitrations Involving Statutory Claims Practicing Law? →

SEC Approves FINRA Proposal to Further Revise Definition of Public and Non-Public Arbitrator

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The SEC approved FINRA’s proposal to ” refine and reorganize the definitions of ‘non-public’ arbitrator and ‘public’ arbitrator.”  Customers who file an arbitration claim against a broker dealer or associated person now has the right to an all-public arbitration panel, so the definitions of who fits the two classifications are high stakes.  This proposal is misguided, … Continue reading SEC Approves FINRA Proposal to Further Revise Definition of Public and Non-Public Arbitrator →

No Surprise — Iskanian Court Enforces Class Action Waiver

From the Daily Labor Report (BNA): “Under directions from the California Supreme Court, the California Court of Appeal Feb. 26 held that class action and arbitration waivers in an agreement between a trash removal company and an employee are enforceable as to the worker’s individual wage and hour claims under state law (Franco v. Arakelian … Continue reading No Surprise — Iskanian Court Enforces Class Action Waiver →

Litigation as Violence

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I just read a provocative article entitled, “Litigation as Violence,” by Vincent Cardi (West Virginia), 49 Wake Forest L. Rev. 677 (2014). You may want to assign this nine-page article (and/or this post) in your classes, which may stimulate valuable discussion about the consequences of lawyers’ work for their clients – and themselves. Professor Cardi … Continue reading Litigation as Violence →

How Can You Get a Piece of the Action?

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In a series of posts, I described significant problems with the traditional negotiation paradigm of two coherent models, positional and interest-based negotiation (or other labels for essentially the same models). This paradigm has been helpful in moving us forward in recent decades. But simply saying that something was a interest-based or positional negotiation not only … Continue reading How Can You Get a Piece of the Action? →