USA Network has announced its new TV show about a mediator. Site here. The trailer shows a judge referring insane parties to mediation in a manner not all that dissimilar from real judicial referrals I’ve witnessed. Everyone on the TV show is beautiful, of course. And good thing, too, because I’d hate for anyone out … Continue reading It Was Bound To Happen …
The Texas legislature is considering a proposal to allow deferred adjudication plea bargains for first time driving while intoxicated cases. Under the proposal all first time DWI offenders would be eligible to have their case dismissed after a guilty plea and after a standard amount of time if they complete basic requirements (such as pay … Continue reading Mothers Against Case Backlogs?
I wish I could take credit for that title, but that lovely phrase above is the title of a new book by Victoria Pynchon with the full title of A is for Asshole: The Grownup’s ABCs of Conflict Resolution . The rest of the book is just as funny as the title with witty chapters … Continue reading A is for Asshole, no seriously
The AALS ADR section breakfast and session will be on Friday January 7th. They have been relocated from the Hilton. Unfortunately, they are now in different hotels. The ADR section breakfast will be in Davidson, Fourth floor level, Parc 55 Wyndham from 7:00 am – 8:30 am. The ADR section session and section meeting will be … Continue reading AALS ADR Section Breakfast & Session (Friday 1/7) Update
Kudos to Pepperdine for obtaining a grant from FINRA’s Investor Education Foundation to start a clinic in which students represent investors with small claims in securities mediations and arbitrations. This is the first such clinic in the Southern California area, where many retirees have been desperate for free legal services in this specialized area. See … Continue reading Pepperdine to Launch Investor Advocacy Clinic
A recent study found that a third of students “stretched the truth” on anonymous teacher evaluations. A full 20% said they lied on the comments section of the evaluations. These lies went both ways: to help professors they liked and to hurt professors they didn’t like. Although a larger percentage of students reportedly lied about professors … Continue reading Really? They lie?
The WSJ’s health blog reports on a study conducted by Columbia’s Carol Liebman and others of medical malpractice mediations in New York City. To the surprise of no one who knows anything about mediation, the study finds the mediation works: it lowers the cost of litigation and can help to reduce medical errors, and that … Continue reading MedMal Mediation Works – But Where Are the Docs?
Richard Holbrooke, a career diplomat who is perhaps best known for his role in the negotiations that ended the war in Bosnia, died on Monday, December 13, 2010. At the time of his death Mr. Holbrooke was the special representative for the Obama Administration for Afghanistan and Pakistan. To read more about his career see … Continue reading Negotiator, Diplomat, Richard Holbrooke
Carrie Sperling (Arizona State) has posted on SSRN an article (to be published at 60 Catholic U. L. Rev. 1 (2010)), on the role of lawyers’ demand letters in negotiations, arguing that scholars have not integrated negotiation theory and legal writing practice when it comes to pre-negotiation demand letters. Here is the abstract: Lawyers frequently … Continue reading Sperling on the Role of Demand Letters in Negotiations
Cross-posted from Securities Law Prof Blog (authored by Prof. Barbara Black, Dec. 3, 2010): Judge Jed Rakoff (S.D.N.Y.) denied Goldman Sach’s motion to vacate a $20.580 million arbitration award obtained by the Official Unsecured Creditors’ Committee of Bayou Group on Nov. 8, 2010 and promised that a written opinion would follow. The opinion was filed on Nov. … Continue reading SDNY on arbitration – “the wonderous alternative to the rule of reason”
