Sean Nolon (U. Vermont) recently published an article related to environmental conflict resolution.  In the article, Sean describes how different forms of consensus-building can be used to site wind turbines and create wind energy policy.  A link to the article on SSRN is here.  It is entitled Negotiating the Wind: A Framework to Engage Citizens in … Continue reading ADR, Consensus-Building and Wind Energy Policy →

Just as I am beginning to settle back into my bourgeois American lifestyle, I wake up this morning to find this article in the Times on a Ghanaian chief who spends most of his year in New York overseeing a taxi operation with his wife. While in Ghana last week, I had the opportunity to … Continue reading Customary Arbitration in an Evolving Africa →

Yesterday the ABA adopted a tepid resolution encouraging law schools to, perhaps, if they want to, give their students more training for the actual practice of law by developing “capstone” courses and clinics. Unfortunately, the resolution expressly states only that these courses should provide students with “client contact” (which is good) and “court appearances” (which … Continue reading ABA Adopts Resolution on Skills Training →

In the upcoming term, the US Supreme Court will hear a pair of appeals from criminal defendants who allege that they did not have competent assistance of counsel during plea bargaining. In one case, Lafler v. Cooper, the defendant states that he rejected a plea offer after his lawyer misunderstood the law and gave him … Continue reading Plea Bargains and Competent Assistance of Counsel →

We received the sad news yesterday that former New York Governor Hugh Carey, generous benefactor of the Hugh L. Carey Center for Dispute Resolution at St. John’s School of Law, passed away.  Governor Carey had had a long-standing ambition to create a center for dispute resolution at St. John’s when I founded the Carey Center … Continue reading Hugh L. Carey, 1919-2011 →

I recently read an article that nicely brings together advice about teaching law school courses from neuroscience and psychology. The article is: Deepening The Discourse Using The Legal Mind’s Eye: Lessons from Neuroscience and Psychology that Optimize Law School Learning by Hillary Burgess, 29 Quinnipiac L. Rev. 1 (2011). The article summarizes the research on … Continue reading Visual aids and memory →

Thanks to the Securities Arbitration Commentator’s Arbitration Alert service, I recently learned that the New York State Legislature is considering legislation to amend New York’s arbitration law to add a specific bias ground for vacatur.  The bill already passed through the State Assembly as A7002A-2011, and has now been introduced in the State Senate as … Continue reading New York State Legislature Considers Adding Vacatur Ground →

I leave on Friday for Ghana for a conflict resolution training that Fordham and St. John’s are conducting in conjunction with the Catholic University College of Ghana. Sponsored by the Giving to Ghana Foundation, this training will serve as the inaugural mediation training for a new Conflict Resolution Center. It will train neutrals to serve as court-connected … Continue reading Conflict Resolution in Ghana →

London and Paris are generally regarded as the primary forums for international arbitration in the trade networks built around the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, with major international cities such as New York, The Hague, and Rome also figuring prominently. But this article in the AmLaw Daily highlights the growing importance of Stockholm as a … Continue reading Sweden’s Rise as International Arbitration Forum →