Law Commons^™

Principles For Designing Negotiation Instruction, John M. Lande, Ximena Bustamante, Jay Folberg, Joel Lee

Faculty Publications

This article analyzes recommendations in the Rethinking Negotiation Teaching (RNT) series. Instructors teaching negotiation and other dispute resolution subjects have long had a hard time trying to cover everything they would like in their courses. The RNT project has documented (and, to some extent, stimulated) a growing profusion of ideas and techniques for teaching negotiation, which has multiplied instructors’ dilemmas in designing their courses. Since instructors cannot teach everything they would like, this article suggests some general principles for making decisions about what to include and how to conduct these courses. Clearly, there is no single right or best way …

What Constitutes An "Agreement In Writing" In International Commercial Arbitration? Conflicts Between The New York Convention And The Federal Arbitration Act, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

This article investigates whether and to what extent a party must produce an “agreement in writing” when seeking to enforce an international arbitration agreement or award in a U.S. federal court. This issue has recently given rise to both a circuit split and a petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, and involves matters of formal validity as well as federal subject matter jurisdiction. The problem arises out of subtle differences in the way an “agreement in writing” is defined in the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) and the 1958 United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign …

Process Purity And Innovation In Dispute Resolution: A Response To Professors Stempel, Cole, And Drahozal, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

This article uses a "process characteristics and values" approach to make the case against displacing arbitration finality with substantive judicial review. It responds to a trio of articles in a forthcoming Nevada Law Review symposium on whether and how the Federal Arbitration Act should be amended. In one article, Nevada Law Professor Jeffrey Stempel contends all arbitration awards should be subject to substantive judicial review similar to that of public trial courts. In a second article, Ohio State Professor Sarah Cole argues that substantive review should generally be permitted when the parties agree to it by contract, an issue now …

Principles For Policymaking About Collaborative Law And Other Adr Processes, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

This Article articulates a set of principles for policymaking about alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to promote values of process pluralism, choice in dispute resolution processes, and sound decision making. It argues that policymakers should use a dispute system design (DSD) framework in analyzing policy options. DSD involves systematically managing a series of disputes rather than handling individual disputes on an ad hoc basis. It generally includes assessing the needs of disputants and other stakeholders, planning to address those needs, providing necessary training and education for disputants and dispute resolution professionals, implementing the system, evaluating it, and making periodic modifications as …

Getting The Faith: Why Business Lawyers And Executives Believe In Mediation, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

Do you believe in mediation? That may seem like an odd question. Normally one thinks of ‘believing in‘ (or having faith in) things like magic, God, or the market. These are typically things that are beyond verifiable human knowledge (such as magic and God) and/or deeply held values (such as whether the market is a better mechanism than government for managing the flow of goods and services). At first blush, one might not think that mediation would fall into either category. There have been numerous empirical studies about many different aspects of mediation, so one can confidently say, for example, …

Toward More Sophisticated Mediation Theory, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

In the lead article in this symposium, Professor Jeffrey Stempel provides a very thoughtful analysis of the mediation field. He focuses on the debate over facilitative and evaluative mediation and he is critical of many of the arguments made by proponents of facilitative mediation. I have expressed some similar concerns, and I generally agree with his analysis (with a quibble here and there). I do think that the facilitation-evaluation debate has been productive (though admittedly wearisome), and that proponents of facilitative mediation deserve more credit than he gives them in his article.

Constitutional Gravity: A Unitary Theory Of Alternative Dispute Resolution And Public Civil Justice, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

Under the traditional bipolar model, civil dispute resolution is generally divided into two spheres: trial, which is public in nature and therefore subject to constitutional due process, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which is private in nature and therefore not subject to such constraints. In this article, Professor Richard Reuben proposes a unitary understanding of public civil dispute resolution, one that recognizes that ADR is often energized by state action and thus is constitutionally required to comply with minimal but meaningful due process standards. Depending upon the process, such standards might include the right to an impartial forum, the right …

Failing Faith In Litigation? A Survey Of Business Lawyers' And Executives' Opinions, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

To provide a more systematic assessment of contemporary faith in litigation, this article looks at a particular context-- business litigation--and analyzes the opinions of three groups of respondents: lawyers in private law firms who do commercial litigation (“outside counsel”), lawyers employed in business firms who do some litigation (“inside counsel”), and nonlawyer executives in business firms (“executives”). These groups have the greatest exposure to litigation in the corporate setting; furthermore, because they play powerful roles in our political, economic, and social life as well as the legal system, their opinions influence public opinion more generally.

A "Party Satisfaction" Perspective On A Comprehensive Mediation Statute, James Levin, Chris Guthrie

Faculty Publications

Mediation Statute, 13 Ohio St. J. on Disp. Resol. 885 (1998)

During the past fifteen years, the alternative dispute resolution movement has greatly altered the legal landscape. Courts, legislatures and administrative agencies have enacted more than 2000 laws dealing with mediation and other dispute resolution processes. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) and the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution have recently formed a unique partnership to assess whether a model or uniform mediation statute might remedy some of the problems caused by the current patchwork of often confusing and conflicting mediation laws. The task …

Public Justice: Toward A State Action Theory Of Alterative Dispute Resolution, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

Various forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) are increasingly taking the place of litigation to resolve disagreements among parties. ADR is frequently imposed by court rule or legislative command for certain types of cases, or compelled by courts when private parties contract to use ADR. To date, ADR doctrine has focused on the structural issues attendant to bringing these processes into the mainstream of American dispute resolution. This Article contends that courts must now address the question of whether ADR-both court-related and contractual-can constitute state action, and therefore be subject to constitutional restraints. The author surveys the history and modern …