On Monday, the 9th Circuit handed down its decision in the Wilcox v. Apraio case, a case arising out of the Maricopa County wars – former County Attorney and now gubernatorial candidate Andrew Thomas, with the help of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, indicted several sitting Superior Court judges and several members of the County’s Board of … Continue reading Wilcox v. Apraio – the 9th Circuit Sidesteps Mediation Confidentiality Questions →

From this morning’s National Law Journal: Federal lawmakers have renewed legislation that would require judges to consider the public’s interest before agreeing to seal court records about products liability lawsuits with companies.  Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., introduced the Sunshine in Litigation Act of 2014 in the Senate this month. Rep. … Continue reading Sunshine in Litigation Act reintroduced →

Jeffrey T. Zaino, a Vice President at the American Arbitration Association, offers this guest blog post on developing a career as an ADR neutral: Developing a career as an arbitrator or mediator can be very challenging.  Before you consider moving into the field it is important that you talk to those arbitrators and mediators who … Continue reading Quick Tips for Developing Your ADR Career →

My eighth-grade daughter came home yesterday and told me the following: Each day in English they have homework, a quiz, or a test in class. After finishing, they put away their pencils, take out red pens, and grade their own work themselves as the teacher calls out the answers. My daughter sits next to a … Continue reading Tales from middle school →

I am passing along the following message from Tracey Frisch, Staff Attorney of the American Arbitration Association: Greetings, The AAA is looking to compile a list of law school clinics that would provide legal representation to self-represented parties in AAA administered arbitrations and mediations.  If there is a clinic at your school that would provide … Continue reading AAA Seeking Law School Clinics to Represent Parties in Arbitration and Mediation →

Dear all, as I just sent out to our listserve as well, it is time to remind you of the Boskey Competition for three reasons–(a) I need your students to submit essays;  (b) you might be right now in the midst of grading the next competition winner as we speak! and (c) we need judges … Continue reading Boskey Writing Competition →

I blogged yesterday (here) about FINRA’s Board of Governors’ Decision finding that Schwab violated FINRA’s rules by inserting a class action waiver in the PDAA in its customer agreement.  A few additional aspects of the decision are worth mentioning. First, FINRA’s Enforcement Department appealed the lower hearing panel’s adverse ruling to FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council … Continue reading More on FINRA’s Ruling in the Schwab Class Action Waiver Case →

From Ethan Katsh (U Mass): The 2014 International Online Dispute Resolution Conference will be held in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, June 25-27, 2014.  ODR 2014 <http://www.odr2014.org>  will bring together the technology, law and dispute resolution communities, academic researchers, representatives of  financial institutions, ecommerce and social media companies, and social justice advocates using innovative technologies … Continue reading ODR Conference in June 2014 at Hastings/Stanford →

In a stunning but hoped-for result (based on am amicus brief I co-authored in the case), FINRA’s Board of Governors reversed a disciplinary hearing panel decision in the FINRA v Schwab enforcement action. (See some of my previous blog posts on the subject, here, here and here.) That hearing panel had held, among other things, that Schwab’s class action … Continue reading FINRA Reverses Hearing Panel in Schwab Enforcement Case: Class Action Waiver Violates FINRA Rules →