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 →

Stacie Strong from Missouri sends along the following call for papers for a symposium entitled Border Skirmishes: The Intersection Between Litigation and International Commercial Arbitration.  Note that the relevant links are in the announcement’s text. —————————– The Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution at the University of Missouri School of Law has put out a call … Continue reading Call for Papers – Border Skirmishes: The Intersection Between Litigation and International Commercial Arbitration →

From Kelly Lynn Anders: Creighton Law School’s 2011 TePoel Lecture and Law Review Symposium will be held on Friday, March 25. The topic of this year’s Law Review Symposium is “Moral and Ethical Perspectives in War, Terrorism, and Military Law.” The 2011 TePoel Lecturer, Dr. Cynthia G. Irmer, will discuss “Transforming Conflict with a New … Continue reading “Transforming Conflict with a New Framework” →

Ben Davis at the University Toledo sent these thougths on Ohio Senate Bill 5 out on the AALS list serv last week.  His concerns at the end of this post were sent to me via email. – – – – – – – – For all of you following the developments with regard to Public Sector Employees … Continue reading Ben Davis on Ohio Senate Bill 5 →

As we proceed to recall elections for numerous state senators and now robo-calls from the Koch-funded group “Americans for Prosperity”, life continues to be interesting.  Definitely warming up the winter!  I was interviewed last week by our local news on a clip seen here and, while I wish I was given more than 20 minutes to … Continue reading More from Wisconsin →

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 →

If you’re a big-time football fan you know that the National Football League is in the midst of a collective bargaining crisis.  The collectcive bargaining agreement (CBA) between the players’ union and the league expires tonight at midnight eastern which puts the fall’s season in jeopardy.  The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service is currently mediating the … Continue reading The NFL’s Labor Negotiation – Seriously !?!? →

This article from the National Law Journal online offers some good guidance for students as to the skills young lawyers need to succeed in a law practice. Among the essential skills are knowledge of current events, appearance, sociability, humility, manners, generosity, flexibility, punctuality, diligence, and collegiality. I can certainly think of things I would add … Continue reading The [Non-Legal?] Skills Young Lawyers Need →

In conjunction with the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Spring Conference that will be in Denver on April 13-16 this year, the ABA will be hosting the National Finals of the Representation in Mediation Competition.  In this competition law students play the roles of lawyers and clients in mediation and demonstrate the skills needed to … Continue reading National Finals of the Representation in Mediation Competition – Mediators and Judges Needed →