In the wake of a FINRA disciplinary hearing panel decision not to enforce its own rules against broker-dealer Charles Schwab barring class action waivers in customer-broker account agreements because of the Federal Arbitration Act (see my previous blog posts about that decision here and here), investor rights advocates have stepped up their efforts to press the Securities … Continue reading Added Pressure on SEC to Eliminate Mandatory Securities Arbitration →

Yesterday was the last day of class for our International Conflict Resolution class and, to close,  I thought I would post some oversarching comments.  Particularly as the new Secretary of State, John Kerry, embarks on what I hope will be a successful quest to learn more about the Israeli Palestinian conflict and encourage the parties to … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2013–American Perspectives on the Middle East →

In a poll conducted by Brian Leiter’s Law School Reports, Alternative Dispute Resolution ranked fourth in terms of what areas of law need more attention from the legal academy in terms of more full-time faculty doing research in the area .  The full poll results can be found here.   So, blog readers, what do you think?  … Continue reading ADR on Top Five List of What Needs More Attention From Legal Academy →

A highlight of our trip was meeting with Justice Aharon Barak.  Barak has been hailed as the father of Israeli constitituional law and Justice Elana Kagan called Justice Barak her “judicial hero.”  His remarks covered a widespread range of topics from the development of Israeli law to several difference famous Israeli Supreme Court cases to … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2013–A Meeting with a Judicial Giant →

At the ABA Dispute Resolution Section meetings in Chicago the national rounds of the Representation in Mediation Competition were held.  As always, we were very impressed with the competitors, especially the team from Faulkner University’s Thomas Jones Goode School of Law who won the championship.  Congrats Faulkner and thanks to all of you who acted … Continue reading Congratulations to Faulkner University – National Champs !! →

As we wrote about the last Israel trip, noting the complications and contradictions of the country are crucial to also understanding it.  On the 65th anniversary of Israeli independence, this blog post from student Kristina Minor discusses the importance and implications of Zionism: Israel is by far the most complicated place I have ever been.  … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2013–It’s Still Complicated →

At the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Annual Meeting last week, Senator George Mitchell spoke about Northern Ireland and how important hope and patience is for a peace process. On the other hand, and contrary to much that we read about in negotiation, he did not argue that trust is needed. Several of our speakers in Israel spoke … Continue reading Israel Reflections 2013–is trust necessary? →

James Stark and Douglas Frenkel have published Using Fear and Guilt to Persuade: What Might Empirical Research Tell Mediators? in the Winter 2013 Dispute Resolution Magazine, pages 26-29. The article’s opening scenario describes the predicament of a mediator who is working with a plaintiff who is getting “less reasonable as the mediation progresses” and appears … Continue reading Stark and Frankel on Using Fear and Guilt to Persuade →

On Monday evening my ASU colleague Joe Feller was struck by a car and killed while jogging.  Joe, a natural resources scholar who engaged in impact environmental litigation, was an ADR skeptic (at best) who thought collaborative processes were being used to subvert the protections offered by the country’s natural resource laws.  He expressed his views … Continue reading Joe Feller – Rest in Peace →

Hi all—lovely to see so many of you last week at the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Conference!   Just to follow up from my mini-presentation in the morning of the LEC, I wanted to send around live links to the two teaching materials I shared.  The first is the article on teaching the TKI and … Continue reading DYNAD Exercise →