This was the email subject line from a former student who sent me a link to the recently released dissenting opinion (available here) in Sarei v. Rio Tinto — a case alleging human rights violations in the context of the Papua New Guinea civil war.  There was no majority opinion, just an order referring the … Continue reading Mediating the French Revolution →

Bishop Eddie Long is the pastor of an Atlanta megachurch and a prominent and controversial opponent of gay marriage. Earlier this fall, Long was accused by four young men of coercing them into sexual relationships with him. Their sexual misconduct lawsuit against him is scheduled to go to mediation in February, with a trial date … Continue reading Is Mediation an “End Run” Tantamount to Admission of Guilt? The Bishop Eddie Long Case →

Last week’s Economist published an interesting article about a new book, American Grace, written by Professors Robert Putnam and David Campbell.  According to the Economist, the book discusses religious unity in the United States and why religion does not tend to be a serious point of conflict within the United States despite the fact that we … Continue reading The Aunt Susan Theory →

Proposals for the 2011 Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association  are due this week, on Wednesday, December 8, 2010.  The meeting will be in San Francisco on June 2-5, 2011.       For more information see:  http://www.lawandsociety.org/ann_mtg/am11/call.htm

St. John’s is seeking participants for a conference on international employment dispute resolution next summer at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England. The conference is called “Worlds of Work: Employment Dispute Resolution Systems Across the Globe,” and will be held on July 20-23, 2011. It is hosted by our Center for Labor & Employment Law in conjunction with … Continue reading Call for Participation: Cambridge 2011 →

Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the denial of FINRA arbitration to a customer of a broker-dealer on the grounds of waiver. In Louisiana Stadium Exposition District v. Merrill Lynch, 10-889-CV (Nov. 22, 2010), the Court affirmed a district court’s order denying a motion to compel arbitration on the grounds that the … Continue reading Second Circuit affirms denial of motion to compel FINRA arbitration on grounds of waiver →

We commonly think this about our counterparts in conflicts.  Unfortunately the statistics about mental illness in the USA are such that we may not be wrong.  A study just released by the Substance and Mental Health Service Administration states that nearly 20% of adult Americans “experienced mental illness in the last year.”  Of that number … Continue reading “But He is Crazy!” →

Bill Henderson (Indiana Law) consistently produces top-quality empirical work on the legal academy and the legal profession. In a recent piece in the National Jurist, he describes research he and others have done into what makes a successful lawyer and predicts that the model in which increasingly large law firms hire exclusively from the top … Continue reading Bill Henderson on What Makes a Successful Lawyer →

On Veteran’s Day last week, the Chief Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times suggesting that a special court for veterans, modeled on drug courts, should be adoped across the country.  It sounds like a wonderful and compassionate idea.  Justice Castile, himself a veteran, described the program started … Continue reading Veterans Court →

The New York State Bar Association finds itself in the forefront of the debate over the expanding role of ADR this week after it decided to table a proposal that would require lawyers to notify their clients of mediation as an alternative to litigation. The proposal was supported by the Bar Association’s Dispute Resolution Section, … Continue reading NYSBA Proposal for Mandatory Mediation Notice—And Resistance to It →