Mediation and arbitration have long served as lucrative retirement gigs for former judges. Today, the New York Times reports that Mel Weiss, the disgraced, disbarred, and finally incarcerated former securities class action overlord, has hung out his shingle as a mediator. Weiss can no longer practice law, so he has evidently decided his true calling … Continue reading The Ex-Con Mediator
Last year, UNCITRAL established a Working Group to develop a global online dispute resolution system for the resolution of low-value cross-border disputes, both B2B and B2C. (Former Indisputably blogger Nancy Welsh and my St. John’s colleague Elayne Greenberg have been participating and poked me on this one.) The Working Group published a set of draft … Continue reading UNCITRAL Cross-Border ODR Initiative
The Supreme Court has vacated a Second Circuit decision refusing to enforce an arbitration agreement that included a class action waiver, remanding the case for further consideration in light of AT&T v. Concepcion. In the case, Fensterstock v. Affiliated Computer Services, a law school graduate, Joshua Fensterstock, was the lead plaintiff in a class action … Continue reading Concepcion Fallout
About a year ago or so the Indisputably crew asked Paul Kirgis, Associate Dean at St.John’s University in New York City, if he wanted to join the crew and become a blogger. Wisely, he suggested acting as a stealth blogger to see if he’d like it or not. As regular readers know, his “stealth” posts were … Continue reading Paul Kirgis, Now an Official Indisputably Contributor
The Supreme Court has dismissed Stok & Assocs. v. Citibank, a routine step triggered by the settlement of the case. Stok had raised the issue of whether a party waives its right to compel arbitration of a dispute by participating in related litigation, even where no prejudice to the party resisting arbitration can be shown. … Continue reading Stok Dismissed After Settlement
Like many states, Minnesota is facing a budget crisis. Its Democratic Governor, Mark Dayton, and the Republican legislature cannot agree on a budget; they face a government shut-down as of July 1. Dayton recently suggested that the sides engage a mediator—or two mediators, one selected by each side—to help broker a deal. This seems to … Continue reading Budget Mediation: An Idea Whose Time Has Not Yet Come
Perhaps of interest to those who have experience in the Caucuses, or those wondering what would happen if a law student interested in conflict resolution were to decide to spend a summer in parts of the former Soviet Union working on a rule of law project, or those who just enjoy a well-written travel blog, … Continue reading A Law Student in the Caucuses
Late last week, the Second Circuit affirmed a denial of a vacatur motion in the context of a $400 million FINRA arbitration award. In STMicroelectronics, N.V. v. Credit Suisse Securities (USA), LLC, Docket No. 10-3847-cv (2d Cir. June 2, 2011), Credit Suisse moved to vacate an award against it arising out of its sale of … Continue reading Second Circuit Affirms $400 Million FINRA Arbitration Award
The National Center for Appropriate Dispute Resolution in Special Education (CADRE) is advertising a Policy Analyst position. (Here.) CADRE works with state and local education and early intervention systems, parent centers, families and educators to increase the nation’s capacity to effectively resolve special education disputes, reducing the use of expensive adversarial processes. I don’t normally … Continue reading Special Education ADR Policy Analyst Position
Paula Young from the Appalachian School o f Law recently sent around an email asking for ADR themed submissions for the Spring volume of the Appalachian Journal of Law. The specifics of the call for papers are below. The Appalachian Journal of Law currently seeks articles on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and related topics for … Continue reading Call for Papers – Appalachian Journal of Law
