Yesterday the Supreme Court granted the petition for a writ of certiorari in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, No. 12-133, 2012 WL 3096737 (U.S. Nov. 9, 2012), to decide the following question presented:  “Whether the Federal Arbitration Act permits courts, invoking the ‘federal substantive law of arbitrability,’ to invalidate arbitration agreements on the ground … Continue reading Supreme Court grants certiorari in important arbitration case →

  The Supreme Court decided to take the American Express case [an arbitration case].  Because the court took the case even though Justice Sotomayor has recused herself, it looks like the 2nd Circuit will be reversed.   I was in a motorcycle commercial when I was living in Taiwan.  And yes, they dyed my hair … Continue reading Overheard at the WIP Conference →

I’m sitting here the WIP Conference and it’s been a fabulous day so far.  I say that because there  have been some fantastic presentations, and at this point (mid-afternoon) two that have stood out were from Jen Reynolds (propaganda, persuasion, manipulation, and how we teach negotiation) and Ken Kressel (tacit knowledge of mediators).  At this point I’m not … Continue reading Greetings from the Works-in-Progress Conference →

Tomorrow I’m off to the 6th Annual Works-in-Progress Conference, which is being most capably hosted by the Moritz School of Law at Ohio State.  As you’d expect, many of the Indisputably crew will be there to participate in and report on the event.  I hope we can do some live-blogging of the presentations and post about … Continue reading See you at the Works-in-Progress Conference →

My friend and colleague Sheila Heen, co-author of the well-known book, Difficult Conversations, just wrote a wonderful column for the New York Times, entitled Sleeping with the (Political) Enemy, all about how she and her husband John Richardson (also a negotiation and conflict resolution expert) manage to communicate about their vast political differences.  I read it … Continue reading Sleeping with (or Being Related to) the Enemy →

I link here to a great post from my colleague Irene Ten Cate on how the world of arbitration needs to incorporate more women–even by asking for binders of them!   This is a timely concern duly noted in the latest Alternatives newsletter with an article by Laura A. Kaster and in an column in the … Continue reading Binders Full of Women Arbitrators →

The international community, through a number of organizations, regularly observes elections in countries around the world.  Election observation is one method of preventing election disputes from evolving into violent conflict, particularly in countries with less developed or less trusted judicial systems.  The hope is that election observation by neutral outsiders will provide a peaceful forum … Continue reading Watching the Vote →

The Harvard Negotiation & Mediation Clinical Program (HNMCP) at Harvard Law School is looking for a Clinical Instructor to begin a three-year term appointment on July 1, 2013. If you are interested in supervising clinical projects for HNMCP, as well as teaching on the Spring Negotiation Workshop teaching team, you can find a full job … Continue reading HNMCP seeking clinical instructor →

From FOI Bryan Hanson (Creighton): October is here and Cyberweek 2012 is just a couple weeks away! Please make sure you save the dates of October 28th to November 2nd and join us online for what promises to be a wonderful week of exploration and discussion regarding online dispute resolution. Registration and information are both … Continue reading Cyberweek 2012 is almost here →

This entire week we are celebrating ABA Mediation Week.  Here is the ABA’s announcement of the event: Over the last few decades, the field of alternative dispute resolution has grown tremendously.  The recognition that not all cases are well suited for the adversarial process and that there are multiple paths to justice is increasingly shared … Continue reading Happy Mediation Week! →