Update: November 7-9 are the dates for this year’s AALS ADR Section Works-in-Progress Conference, hosted by Cardozo Law. Check out the flyer for details.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the USNews rankings came out today.  Here’s the rankings of law school dispute resolution programs. Pepperdine Harvard Missouri Hamline Ohio State Yeshiva (Cardozo) Oregon Marquette UC Hastings Willamette UNLV 14 schools were ranked, and once I get past the paywall, I’ll update this post w/ the remaining 3 schools.  Congratulations … Continue reading US News Law School Dispute Resolution Program Rankings (updated) →

The New York Times reported here yesterday that the judge in the Martha Stewart-JC Penny-Macy’s contract dispute ordered the parties into mediation.  This is after three weeks of testimony in a bench trial that consolidated two law suits.  According to the NY Times this will be the first mediation in this case.  Apparently, previously, JC Penny … Continue reading Martha Stewart Ordered into Mediation →

According to one of the Valley’s leading news sources, a “mediation specialist” has been accused of taking contraband into the Maricopa County Jail.  The story is here and a after a quick read you’ll realize that this is a simple mistake.  Turns out the person charged is a Mitigation Specialist with the Public Defender’s Office.  Mediation … Continue reading “Mediation Specialist” and Jail Contraband →

I am excited to bring you news of the imminent publication of Designing Systems and Processes for Managing Disputes, authored by Nancy H. Rogers, Robert C. Bordone, Frank E.A. Sander and Craig A. McEwen. The first coursebook in Dispute Systems Design is a terrific book that will provide a hands-on interdisciplinary approach to the field … Continue reading Announcing the Publication of the first coursebook of its kind: Designing Systems and Processes for Managing Disputes →

I read with interest the transcript of today’s oral argument in the highly anticipated American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant case, No. 12-133. As I suspected, though, following oral argument, it would seem unlikely that the Court will decide in the merchants’ favor. Instead, the likely outcome is that the Court will hold that merhcants … Continue reading American Express v. Italian Colors Restaurant Oral Argument Report →

Congratulations to Cardozo School of Law, the 2013 host of the Seventh Annual Works-in-Progress Conference! The AALS ADR Section Executive Committee was very impressed with Cardozo’s proposal and we are all looking forward to the event. More details, including dates, coming soon.

FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers issued its decision today in Dep’t of Enforcement v. Charles Schwab & Co, an enforcement action in which FINRA alleged that Schwab’s class action and joinder waiver language in its customer agreement violated FINRA rules that preserved the judicial class action remedy for investors and empowered arbitrators to consolidate non-class though … Continue reading FINRA Hearing Panel Concludes that FAA Preempts Enforcement of FINRA Rules Barring Class Action Waiver in Broker-Dealer’s Customer Agreement →

I am delighted to report that Friend-of-the-Blog Jennifer Gerarda Brown has been named Dean of the Quinnipiac University School of Law.  The official announcement can be found here.  Suffice it to say that we are enthusiastic supporters and confident that Jennifer will do a great job.  Congrats to both Jen and Quinnipiac!

The 2010 Dodd-Frank Act empowered the SEC to study the use of mandatory arbitration in the securities industry and consider whether to ban regulated firms from imposing mandatory arbitration on customers.  To date, the SEC has not launched any such study, presumably because Dodd-Frank was loaded with so many regulatory mandates to the SEC that … Continue reading Mass. Securities Regulator Urges SEC to Ban Investment Advisers from Imposing Mandatory Arbitration →