Our good friend Jean Sternlight (UNLV) sends along her opinions on Sharif, one of last week’s Supreme Court cases and how it impacts the Federal Arbitration Act. The Supreme Court’s most recent Article III decision, Wellness Int’l v. Sharif (2015), raises substantial questions as to the constitutional legitimacy of the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. … Continue reading Sternlight – Asking Tough Questions About Mandatory Arbitration and Article III →

Three days ago, the Nevada Supreme Court released an opinion in the case of Weddell v. Sharp et al. (Here).  Although it has facts that would make ADR & Civ Pro professors fairly swoon, the opinion itself is maddening. Both the majority and the dissent. Sigh. Based on reading the opinion, I understand the basic … Continue reading A Maddening Nevada Supreme Court Case →

This dispatch comes from FOI Alyson Carrel (Northwestern). Last week, Robert DeNiro spoke at the NYU Tisch School of Arts graduation ceremony.  After congratulating the students on their success, he paused, then added, “ “and, you’re f***ed.”  Everyone laughed because they understood the uncertainty these students face.  Unlike their peers in accounting, law or medicine who … Continue reading Carrel on Dreams of an ADR Career →

As the summer begins and a lot of us are planning our research and writing, please keep in mind that the 9th Annual AALS Alternative Dispute Resolution Section’s Works-in-Progress Conference will be on October 23 & 34, 2015,  at the Texas A&M University School of Law in Fort Worth, Texas. As many of the readers … Continue reading Save the date: AALS ADR Works in Progress in October →

Harvard’s Project on the Foundations of Private Law has started an interesting blog entitled New Private Law.* As one of its introductory posts, the blog posted a list of the most cited private law articles in the last 25 years.  Scrolling through the list you’ll see that Russell Korobkin (UCLA) has two pieces in the … Continue reading Korobkin – 2 Pieces among the top 50 most cited private law articles →

As we wait to hear whether the ABA will adopt the proposed change to Standard 304(b), below is the Section’s letter to the Section on Legal Education and Bar Admission in support of the proposed rule. For those who don’t know the details, the short version is this.  Last summer the ABA extensively revised the … Continue reading ABA DR Section’s Letter Supporting Proposed Changes to Standard 304(b) →

From Inside Higher Ed, the story here of UT Austin’s new president negotiating for less compensation than he was offered. After being offered $1M plus perks for the post, “Fenves negotiated the offer down to $750,000 a year, plus $50,000 in deferred pay. He also asked for a smaller potential bonus, down from 12 percent … Continue reading Negotiating for less →

Last week I had the pleasure of being part of a panel at the Clinical Conference discussing mediation skills that crossover into lawyering skills.  [Spoiler alert – Doug Frenkel (Penn) and Jim Stark (Connecticut) have an article coming out in the HNLR this fall on this very topic.]  Not surprisingly we spent a lot of time … Continue reading It’s Not About the Nail ……… →