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 →

Governor-elect John Kasich, in one of his first speeches following the election, singled out as problematic Ohio’s approach to the resolution of collective bargaining disputes for public sector employers and employees. Ohio, through its State Employment Relations Board (SERB), attempts to mediate collective bargaining impasses. If negotiations and mediation fail, a fact-finder is appointed. The … Continue reading End to Fact-finding and Conciliation for Public Sector Employees in Ohio? →

The Daily Labor Report adds its commentary on the recently-argued Concepcion case here: http://news.bna.com/dlln/DLLNWB/split_display.adp?fedfid=18392824&vname=dlrnotallissues&fn=18392824&jd=a0c4u8e3z2&split=0

In the 1970s, Lon Fuller initiated what became an extended scholarly conversation about the extent to which ADR can and should serve the public function of norm-creation that is such a central feature of adjudication. That topic remains a theme of recent ADR scholarship, appearing in the work of Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Susan Sturm, Amy Cohen, … Continue reading ADR and Norm-Creation →

Jean Sternlight from the Boyd School of Law at UNLV (and longtime Indisputably friend) offers her thoughts on today’s Supreme Court arguments in AT&T v. Concepcion. _______________________________________________ The Supreme Court heard oral argument today in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, No. 09-893.  As most of you know, the case has the possibility of being momentous in the … Continue reading Sternlight on AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion →