Greetings from Hong Kong, where the Kavanaugh hearings have been the subject of much discussion among non-American colleagues based here, many of whom stayed up into the night to watch the hearings live. I have wanted to say something about this for a while now, and so I thank Jen Reynolds and John Lande for … Continue reading The Kavanaugh Hearings Through the Lens of Arbitration
In her post this week, Jean Sternlight argues that the logic of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Wellness Int’l Network v. Sharif casts doubt on the constitutionality of private mandatory arbitration, at least as applied to consumers and employees. She challenges the insistence by the Court’s pro-arbitration Justices that arbitration does not implicate constitutional rights ecause arbitrators … Continue reading Another View of the Arbitration Cathedral–Further Thoughts on Sharif
You are cordially invited to this program at the ABA conference in Seattle, which will take place on Friday, April 17, from 3-4:15, in the Orcas Room. My partners in crime for this caper are Alyson Carrel, Jim Coben, and Noam Ebner. Here’s the idea for our program – How many times have you heard … Continue reading Everything You Know about Dispute Resolution is Wrong – Can You Handle the Truth?
Jen wrote a comment about my post that built on Prof. Vincent Cardi’s new article, “Litigation as Violence,” describing some effects of “violence” even from non-physical acts. She wrote: We in ADR should not undervalue, when analyzing the dispute resolution landscape, the regulatory function of litigation in the United States. A business executive may feel … Continue reading Minimizing Unnecessary Violence in Litigation and Other Dispute Resolution Processes
SSRN subscribers will soon see a passel of my old articles scrolling across their screens and may wonder, “What the heck?” The heck is that, thanks to a new scanner, I was able to make nice pdf files of some articles I wrote before I started posting pieces on SSRN. With the benefit of hindsight, … Continue reading Oldies But Goodies
Does ADR include trials? I know, I know. This sounds like another one of my dumb questions. Although I have a pretty broad conception of DR, my initial reaction was that trial is one of the few procedures I would exclude from DR. As described below, on reflection, I probably would include trials. More importantly, … Continue reading What is (A)DR About?
Over the past year or so, critics of consumer and employment arbitration have coined a new term for what ADR scholars have historically called mandatory pre-dispute arbitration: “forced arbitration.” The most prominent example appears in the recent film produced by the Alliance for Justice titled Lost in the Fine Print. Narrated by Robert Reich, the movie draws on … Continue reading On “Forced” Arbitration
The Alliance for Justice and SALT will host a reception at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 3 in conjunction with the AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The reception will feature a screening of the short film Lost in the Fine Print: Examining the Impact of Forced Arbitration. The film will be followed by brief comments … Continue reading AFJ/SALT Reception at AALS to Screen “Lost in the Fine Print”
Alan Kaplinsky and Mark Levin, Ballard Spahr attorneys writing on their CFPB Monitor blog, have offered their initial thoughts on the study of consumer understanding of arbitration agreements that my St. John’s colleagues and I recently posted. My colleague Jeff Sovern has posted a full response at the Consumer Law & Policy Blog. I’ll just add … Continue reading Industry Response to Consumer Arbitration Study
In a new article published as part of DePaul Law School’s excellent annual Clifford Symposium on Tort Law & Social Policy, Miriam Gilles and Tony Sebok take up the subject of Crowd-Classing Individual Arbitrations in a Post-Class Action Era. They suggest that enterprising plaintiffs’ attorneys have two potentially viable avenues for making it financially viable … Continue reading Gilles & Sebok on Crowd-Classing Individual Arbitrations
