Finally up for air after a terrific training yesterday for our new volunteer attorney-mediators, I am delighted to announce that Marquette will be starting a Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program. You can link here for the website giving the background details (generous funding by the city and state–see the announcement by the dean here) and also to … Continue reading Milwaukee Foreclosure Mediation Program Kickoff
Professor Susan Franck at Washington and Lee has an interesting new paper about investment treaty arbitration that just hit SSRN. The paper disputes assertions of certain governments (like Bolivia and Ecuador) that suggest the investment treaty process is unfairly tilted against the developing world. In addition it makes a case for using ADR and Dispute … Continue reading Development and Outcomes of Investment Treaty Arbitration
From p. 72 of the Treasury Department’s Financial Regulatory Reform blueprint (entitled “A New Foundation: Rebuilding Financial Supervision and Regulation”) released today: The SEC should study the use of mandatory arbitration clauses in investor contracts. Broker-dealers generally require their customers to contract at account opening to arbitrate all disputes. Although arbitration may be a reasonable … Continue reading The Obama Administration’s Plan for Securities Arbitration
On Tuesday, NPR’s afternoon news show All Things Considered aired a piece on arbitration. The piece is interesting, but not favorable. It shares several compelling stories – a female Halliburton employee who was raped by co-workers in Iraq and has to arbitrate her claims against the company, the Public Citizen study where consumers lost 94% of the … Continue reading NPR Story on the “Arbitration Debate”
Yesterday, as reported here, President Obama appointed Kenneth Feinberg as the official in charge of determining limits to executive compensation at companies receiving federal bailout money. Mr. Feinberg is no stranger to making compensation determinations involving large sums of money, as he was in charge of determining payouts to families from the September 11 Victim’s … Continue reading Obama’s Executive Compensation “Czar” is ADR Savvy
Last week, during the April 29 observance of “Arbitration Fairness Day,” Senator Russell Feingold introduced into the Senate the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 (s. 931). Senator Feingold’s website announcement states: The bill would make pre-dispute agreements requiring arbitration for any employment, consumer, franchise, or civil rights disputes unenforceable. The bill does not prohibit arbitration, but rather prevents … Continue reading Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 – Senate version
This morning NPR’s Morning Edition show aired a story on the mediation of elder care issues. Like many such stories, it discusses the basics of mediation and mentions how to find mediators in one’s area for handle such issues. Audio and print versions of the story can be found at: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102972077
Yesterday my Mediation Clinic students spent the day in the down and dirty world of mediation ethics and we discussed the stomach turning case of a local mediator / con-man, Gary Karpin. Regular readers of this blog will remember my posts about this guy from the fall after he was convicted and sentenced to 15 … Continue reading Mediation Ethics and a Lack of Regulation – Revisited
As we continue to deal with the likes of Bernie Madoff and other swindlers who have lost millions of dollars for their investors, perhaps Elie Wiesel has a good idea on how to punish all of them. Holocaust survivor, human rights activist and author Elie Wiesel lost his entire life savings with Madoff. His charity, the … Continue reading Restorative Justice for Bernie Madoff?
As we begin to dive into the Spring semester, you’ll find yourself thinking about making flight reservations for the ABA Dispute Resolution Section’s Annual Meeting in April. We want you to know about a new program we’re testing out: Law Professors’ Teaching Forum: Mediation Shop Talk. It will be held on Saturday April 18, from … Continue reading Calling All Mediation Professors – Your Plans for the ABA DR Section’s 2009 Annual Meeting
