Below is a reminder from AALS ADR Section Chair-Elect Ron Aronovsky to attend the section’s program at the AALS meetings in DC later this week. Thanks to Ron for putting together a great program and for prompting this post. On Saturday, January 7, 2012, the AALS ADR Section will host a program at the AALS Annual Meeting … Continue reading AALS Conference – See You in DC
Just before the holidays the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division concluded a 3 year investigation into America’s Toughest Sheriff, Maricopa County’s (the Phoenix metro) Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The investigation found discriminatory policing against Latinos, discriminatory jail practices against Latinos, a general culture of bias against Latinos in the Sheriff’s Office, and a practice of retaliatory … Continue reading Owen Fiss and Sherriff Joe Arpaio – “Against Settlement”
If you are interested in learning more about the complex world of military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, I recommend Losing Small Wars: British Military Failure in Iraq and Afghanistan by Frank Ledwidge. This book is a unique analysis of current events firmly placed within their historical context. The author is not only a dear … Continue reading Read all about it
A little holiday cheer while grading exams–here’s how (yet another) failed negotiation went in my house this past fall. For context, my son Noah broke his leg on the very first day of school, 10 minutes into the very first soccer practice of the year. Since he couldn’t move much, his friends have been over … Continue reading Negotiating Trick Shots
Florida has ended its foreclosure mediation program begun in 2009. The state Supreme Court scuttled the program because it was only settling 4% of the cases. It appears the program had lots of problems, including a failure to contact borrowers and a resistance by lenders to participate actively. What else is new? The legislatures and … Continue reading Florida Foreclosure Mediation Program Ends with a Yawn
Sarah Cole recently published On Babies and Bathwater: The Arbitration Fairness Act and the Supreme Court’s Recent Arbitration Jurisprudence, 48 Houston L. Rev. 457 (2011) (available here). She writes, “The AFA misses the mark primarily because it overstates the case against arbitration, rendering the legislation unpalatable to corporate and business interests, as well as many … Continue reading Sarah Cole vs. (part of prior versions of) The Arbitration Fairness Act
OK, we all send reprints to each other, and that’s good. And many of us scribble little personalized notes to each other on the reprints, and that’s good, too. In theory, though, the personalized note should cause the recipient to want to read the article in question. Below is an example of not that: +MM
In late November, a first-of-its-kind arbitration ended when the mobile phone technology companies Skyworks and AATI settled their dispute over their failed merger. Although there was no award, the arbitration was significant because the arbitrator was a judge on the Delaware Court of Chancery–which just happens to be the court in which the claim was … Continue reading In Court, but Out of Sight: Chancery Court Arbitration
I was not aware that Outer Space Activities were so conflict-laden. I learned today that, last week, the Administrative Council of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (the “PCA”) adopted the “PCA Optional Rules for the Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Outer Space Activities.” According to the PCA’s announcement, the “project was set in motion in … Continue reading This is Out of this World…
In Buckeye Check Cashing v. Cardegna, Justice Scalia authored an opinion for the Supreme Court holding that, where a consumer credit contract contains an arbitration provision, the arbitrator rather than a court decides all questions about the legality of the underlying debt instrument. Buckeye’s holding was controversial, because it effectively pushes a consumer debtor into arbitration … Continue reading Originalism, Arbitration, and the Civil Jury
