As one of my final posts about Kosovo, I thought that some readers might be interested in a snapshot of what life is like for law professors in Europe’s newest state.    If you taught a first year course at the main public university in the capital of Pristina you would enjoy classes of nearly 1000 … Continue reading If you taught at a law school in Kosovo… →

The deadline was recently extended for those interested in presenting at the upcoming Empirical Legal Sutdies Conference.  The announcement is below: The Conference on Empirical Legal Studies 2010 of the Society for Empirical Legal Studies (SELS) will be held at the Yale Law School, in New Haven, Connecticut, on Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November … Continue reading Empirical Legal Studies Conference →

Earlier this morning the Standing Committee on Mediator Ethical Guidance released Opinion SODR 2010-1 entitled Mediators’ Duty of Care in Drafting Agreements.  A copy of the opinion in full can be accessed here.  Below are the specific query and subquestions the committee received.  Questions: A married couple with one minor child has decided that they would … Continue reading Mediators’ Duty of Care in Drafting Agreements →

In conjunction with FINRA, the Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution at St. John’s will host the second annual Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon on October 2-3, 2010 in New York City. This competition requires student teams to negotiate, mediate, and arbitrate a realistic securities dispute, with neutrals from FINRA’s roster serving as mediators, arbitrators, … Continue reading Securities Dispute Resolution Triathlon – Early Bird Deadline →

Volume 10, Issue 3 of the PEPPERDINE DISPUTE RESOLUTION LAW JOURNAL has appeared in print.  Articles included in this volume are:  Taking It Upstream:  Collaboration, Consensus Building & Sustainable Development–Green Leadership (Un)conference.  10 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 351-521 (2010).  Zikman, Steve.  Foreword.  10 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 351-354 (2010).  Zikman, Steve.  South Pasadena:  a dialogue on dialogue.  10 Pepp. … Continue reading New Volume of Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Journal →

Today House and Senate negotiators reached agreement on legislation that redefines federal oversight of the financial services industry. The agreement may have a major effect on arbitration in the financial services industry. Overlawyered reports, “Tucked away in the Obama administration’s proposals for revamping regulation of financial services is a provision that would apparently allow federal … Continue reading End of Arbitration in Financial Services Contracts? →

As I posted earlier this week, I am in Kosovo for a few weeks at the invitation of the American Bar Association to do an assessment of legal education in the country.  As part of that process I had meetings outside of Pristina so we set out for a full day road trip.  It is … Continue reading Road Trip, Kosovo style →

Pepperdine’s Peter Robinson has published an article titled Settlement Conference Judge – Legal Lion or Problem Solving Lamb: An Empirical Documentation of Judicial Settlement Conference Practices and Techniques in which he reports on an empirical study he conducted of judges in California to assess their methodologies in settlement conferencing. As he acknowledges, the results cannot … Continue reading Robinson on Judicial Settlement Conferences →

Yesterday Sarah gave us her views on the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Rent-a-Center West case – a big win for business.  For other takes on the case in the legal blogoshpere see: Prawfsblawg – Today’s arbitration decision in Rent-A-Center v. Jackson SCOTUS blog – New rule for deciding validity of agreements to arbitrate arbitration … Continue reading More on Rent-a-Center West v. Jackson →