In 2006 American Board of Neutrals Association (ABNA) incorporated and started accepting applications for membership this January. The organization is geared towards those who have graduate degrees – masters, doctoral, LLM – in the field of Negotiations and Conflict/Alternative Dispute Resolution/Peace Studies. The ABNA’s web site indicates that it is quite an ambitious organization. … Continue reading Birth of a New ADR Organization
At our International Media & Conflict Conference in March, Professor Lisa Laplante discussed the use of blogs in tracking transitional justice efforts and, in particular, her blog on the Fujimori trial in Peru. The blog is a unique bilingual effort to keep the world apprised of this trial. Yesterday, the Peruvian court announced their guilty verdict–the … Continue reading Fujimori, Blogs, and Transitional Justice
As those of you who follow arbitration know, 14 Penn Plaza v. Pyett raised the age-old question whether a union can waive an individual employee’s right to bring a statutory claim in court by mandating that statutory claims be arbitrated through a clause negotiated in a collective bargaining agreement (“CBA”). The issue was initially resolved … Continue reading Pyett Analysis — Unions can waive but what is clear and unmistakable?
The US Supreme Court today held that a collective-bargaining agreement that clearly and unmistakably requires union members to arbitrate ADEA claims is enforceable as a matter of federal law. The Court did not overrule Gardner-Denver; rather, it distinguished it. The decision was 5-4 with Thomas writing the majority opinion. Here is the cite: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-581.pdf I … Continue reading Pyett Decided Today — Union can waive rights
Columnists in both the New York Times and Newsweek in the last few weeks have discussed how often we tend to be persuaded by people who are just plain wrong. And, as a follow up to our media and conflict resolution conference last week, it was interested to realize what part the media plays in helping … Continue reading Fame v. Accuracy in Persuasion
Last weekend, we hosted a truly special gathering of scholars and practitioners in the area of media, journalism, international relations, communications, psychology, law and dispute resolution. I will be blogging a few more times about the conference, abstracts, and upcoming Marquette Law Review on the symposium but wanted, for now, to post a couple responses … Continue reading International Media & Conflict Resolution Conference
Yesterday my Mediation Clinic students spent the day in the down and dirty world of mediation ethics and we discussed the stomach turning case of a local mediator / con-man, Gary Karpin. Regular readers of this blog will remember my posts about this guy from the fall after he was convicted and sentenced to 15 … Continue reading Mediation Ethics and a Lack of Regulation – Revisited
Last week, I taught about successive conflicts in my ethics class and there could be no better timing than the Fish & Richardson case to explain the hot potato scenario. The “hot potato doctrine” means that firms are generally prohibited from dropping smaller clients (like hot potatoes) in order to pick up more lucrative clients. … Continue reading Hot Potato Conflicts
Even Civil Procedure professors are now having fun with the “What did Hall Street mean” game, and the Fifth Circuit’s decision earlier this month in Citigroup v Bacon, (5th Cir. March 5, 2009), is the latest fodder for discussion. Beth Thornburg, of SMU Law School, and William Slomanson, of Thomas Jefferson Law School, recently posted … Continue reading Hall Street and Manifest Disregard
Earlier this month, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes connected with Darfur. The warrant raises again the timeless question of peace versus justice. (See articles by Marquette visiting professor Lisa Laplante on outlawing amnesty and me on balancing … Continue reading Using Indictment as a Negotiation Tactic
