Late last week the Supreme Court unanimously decided U.S. v. Davila, the full decision is here. This is not a ground-breaking case, and the holding is not a surprise. Yet it is the bigger question about how our criminal justice system routinely works that is embedded into this case, although not confronted or even explicitly … Continue reading Plea Bargaining Harmless Error
In May, the Third Circuit heard oral arguments in Delaware Coalition for Open Government v. Stine, the case challenging the constitutionality of Delaware’s chancery arbitration scheme (see my previous commentary on the program here, here, and here.) A federal court had found the scheme unconstitutional on grounds that it violated the public’s First Amendment right … Continue reading Stipanowich on Delaware Chancery Arbitration
CALL FOR PAPERS ADR and the Regulatory State Sponsored by the AALS Section on Alternative Dispute Resolution 2014 AALS Annual Meeting • January 2-5, 2014 • New York City Private dispute resolution and agency decision-making are now prominent and permanent features of our legal landscape, either as substitutes for or alternatives to formal adjudication. In … Continue reading AALS ADR Section Call for Papers
Today, the Supreme Court in Oxford Health Plans v. Sutter, http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/oxford-health-plans-llc-v-sutter/, affirmed its commitment to narrow judicial review of arbitration decisions. In Sutter, the arbitrator interpreted an arbitration agreement to permit class arbitration. Because the parties asked the arbitrator to interpret the agreement, the only question for a court, according to the Supreme Court, is … Continue reading Supreme Court Affirms Commitment to Narrow Judicial Review of Arbitration Awards in Sutter Decision
At the Law&Society annual conference this past weekend, I had the pleasure of sitting on a panel with Nancy Welsh (Penn State), Cynthia Alkon (Texas Wesleyan), Danya Reda (NYU), Amy Cohen (Ohio State), and Hiro Aragaki (Loyola LA) — along with honorary panelists and commenters extraordinaire Art Hinshaw (ASU) and Kelly Browe Olson (Arkansas). The … Continue reading The virtue of proximity?
Despite increasing pressure on the SEC to exercise its Dodd-Frank-granted explicit authority to ban mandatory securities arbitration, SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter stated earlier this week, according to a report in Reuters, that the Commission won’t have time to address the issue until 2014, in light of the other mandates of Dodd-Frank. It’s a shame that the … Continue reading SEC Won’t Have Time to Tackle Issue of Mandatory Securities Arbitration
From Jean Sternlight via the list serv. ————————- University of Nevada Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution Psychology and Lawyering: Coalescing the Field Friday, Feb. 21 and Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014 UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law Las Vegas, Nevada In recent years both academics and practitioners … Continue reading Call for Papers – Psychology and Lawyering: Coalescing the Field
Responding to substantial pressure from regulators and the investing public, the brokerage firm Charles Schwab reversed itself and eliminated the class action waiver clause from its pre-dispute arbitration clause in its customer account agreements. See news coverage here. Readers of this blog know from my previous posts that in early 2012 FINRA brought a disciplinary … Continue reading Schwab removes class action waiver from customer agreements
OJ Simpson will be back in court this week in Las Vegas bringing an appeal from his 2008 armed robbery and kidnapping conviction in 2008. He has apparently filed, through his new lawyer, a 94-page petition for a new trial—which reportedly includes 19 specific issues that the court has agreed to hear “mostly claiming that … Continue reading Was OJ Simpson’s Lawyer Ineffective?
Back in the day Kevin Underhill and I were young associates at large law firms in Kansas City and living the life that only single people with lots of disposable income can. Now he’s a big time lawyer in San Francisco and has the funniest legal blog there is – Lowering the Bar – and I’m simply … Continue reading If You’re Standing in Front of a Car, You Are In a Poor Negotiating Position
