Law Commons^™

An Overview Of Brokercheck And The Central Registration Depository, Christine Lazaro, Albert Copeland

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Securities brokers are governed by a unique regulatory framework, subject to both extensive state and federal statutory and regulatory regimes. The vast bulk of federal regulation and oversight of brokers and brokerage firms has been delegated to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), a self-regulatory organization with the power to govern its members’ conduct. FINRA operates under the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), a federal agency established by the federal securities laws.

FINRA was created on July 26, 2007 through the consolidation of the National Association of Securities Dealers (“NASD”) and the member regulation, enforcement …

Ethical Compass: Three Different Judicial Treatments For Settlement Fever, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

This is the first of a three-part series that examines different aspects of the settlement fever that has stricken our justice system. What can we learn from judicial decisions about how individual judges assess the settlement means that lawyers, in consultation with their clients, have chosen to resolve their case?

Expanding Access To Remedies Through E-Court Initiatives, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Virtual courthouses, artificial intelligence (AI) for determining cases, and algorithmic analysis for all types of legal issues have captured the interest of judges, lawyers, educators, commentators, business leaders, and policymakers. Technology has become the “fourth party” in dispute resolution through the growing field of online dispute resolution (ODR), which includes the use of a broad spectrum of technologies in negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and other dispute resolution processes. Indeed, ODR shows great promise for expanding access to remedies, or justice. In the United States and abroad, however, ODR has mainly thrived within e-commerce companies like eBay and Alibaba, while most public …

The European Succession Regulation And The Arbitration Of Trust Disputes, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Over the last few decades, U.S. citizens have become increasingly mobile, with significant numbers of individuals living, working, and investing abroad. Estate planning has become equally international, generating ever-larger numbers of cross-border succession cases. While these sorts of developments are welcome, they require lawyers to appreciate and anticipate the various ways that the laws of different jurisdictions can interact. One of the most important recent developments in international succession law comes out of the European Union. While the European Succession Regulation may initially appear applicable only to nationals of E. U. Member States, U.S. citizens can also be affected by …

Anti-Suit Injunctions In Judicial And Arbitral Procedures In The United States, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

One of the prevailing myths of transnational litigation is that U.S. courts are not only ready but extremely willing to use anti­suit injunctions to preclude parties from filing or pursuing pro­ceedings elsewhere in the world. In fact, anti-suit injunctions (sometimes referred to as "stays" of litigation) are considered an extraordinary remedy in the United States, and the general rule is that "parallel proceedings on the same in personam claim should ordinarily be allowed to proceed simultaneously, at least until judgment is reached in one which can be pled as res judicata in the other." While this approach, often referred to …

Acts Like A Lawyer, Talks Like A Lawyer…Non-Lawyer Advocates Representing Parties In Dispute Resolution, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

What are the ethical implications for lawyer mediators, arbitrators and dispute resolution providers when the lines between the roles of lawyers and the non-lawyers who are representing clients in dispute resolution become blurry? Traditionally, non-lawyer advocates (hereinafter NARs) have represented clients in the negotiations, mediation and arbitration of legal matters without cause for concern. Yes, labor union representatives, sports agents, and special education advocates are three familiar examples of non-lawyers who represent clients in negotiations, mediations and arbitrations, informing clients of their legal rights. Routinely, the lawyers and neutrals presiding over the dispute resolution procedure have warmly welcomed these …

When The Empty Adr Chair Is Occupied By A Litigation Funder, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

The discussion about the $140 million jury verdict against Gawker media for posting a sex video of Terry Bollea, professionally known as Hulk Hogan, having sex with his best friend’s wife, quickly shifted to a conversation about the ethics of litigation funding when it was finally disclosed that Peter Thiel had funded Bollea’s litigation. The backstory reveals that Gawker outed Thiel, revealing his homosexuality ten years earlier in a more conservative time when such a revelation might have impacted Thiel’s earning capacity. Thiel, an icon in Silicone Valley and a co-founder of PayPal, promised revenge. Thiel got his revenge, …

Symposium Introduction: Beyond The Faa: Arbitration Procedure, Practice, And Policy In Historical Perspective, Carli N. Conklin

Faculty Publications

The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), enacted in 1925, provides a framework for how we think about arbitration procedure, practice, and policy in the United States today. Yet, the FAA, and the interpretive lens it provides, are relatively new on the horizon, historically speaking

Realizing Rationality: An Empirical Assessment Of International Commercial Mediation, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

For decades, parties, practitioners and policymakers have believed arbitration to be the best if not only realistic means of resolving cross-border business disputes. However, the hegemony of international commercial and investment arbitration is currently being challenged in light of rising concerns about increasing formalism in arbitration. As a result, the international community has sought to identify other ways of resolving these types of complex commercial matters, with mediation reflecting the most viable option. Numerous public and private entities have launched initiatives to encourage mediation in international commercial and investment disputes, and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) …

Introducing The 'New Handshake' To Expand Remedies And Revive Responsibility In Ecommerce, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

There was a time when individuals would meet in person to make purchases and do deals. They would discuss the terms, assess the trustworthiness and character of their contracting partners, and conclude the deal with a handshake. The handshake helped ensure the enforcement of the deal without need for the rule of law or legal power. That handshake was one’s bond — it was a personal trust mark. With the emergence of eCommerce, however, that handshake has nearly disappeared along with the sense of responsibility it inspired. Accordingly, this article discusses how this has impacted consumers’ access to remedies regarding …

Major Investor Losses Due To Conflicted Advice: Brokerage Industry Advertising Creates The Illusion Of A Fiduciary Duty, Joseph C. Peiffer, Christine Lazaro

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

No national standard exists today requiring brokerage firms to put their clients’ interests first by avoiding making profits from conflicted advice. In the five years since the passage of the Dodd Frank Act, inaction by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on a fiduciary standard has cost American investors nearly $80 billion, based on estimated losses of $17 billion per year.

Amid encouraging recent signs of possible action from the Department of Labor and the SEC, there is a compelling case to be made for a ban on conflicted advice in order to protect investors. In the absence of …

Legal Uncertainty And Aberrant Contracts: The Choice Of Law Clause, William J. Woodward Jr.

Faculty Publications

Legal uncertainty about the applicability of local consumer protection can destroy a consumer’s claim or defense within the consumer arbitration environment. What is worse, because the consumer arbitration system cannot accommodate either legal complexity or legal uncertainty, the tendency will be to resolve cases in the way the consumer’s form contract dictates, that is, in favor of the drafter. To demonstrate this effect and advocate statutory change, this article focuses on fee-shifting statutes in California and several other states. These statutes convert very common one-way fee-shifting terms (consumer pays business’s attorneys fees if business wins but not the other way …

Has Expungement Broken Brokercheck?, Christine Lazaro

Faculty Publications

Stockbrokers are subject to one of the most comprehensive public disclosure regimes. They must disclose substantial information about their backgrounds, their employment history, and their disciplinary history. FINRA, the self-regulatory organization that regulates the brokerage industry, also requires that brokers disclose customer complaints and makes much of this information available to the public through an online database called BrokerCheck. The allegations of wrongdoing remain on the broker’s record permanently, unless the broker succeeds at having customer dispute information expunged. The broker is able to accomplish this by requesting that the arbitration panel that hears the customer dispute grant expungement, and …

Limits Of Procedural Choice Of Law, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Commercial parties have long enjoyed significant autonomy in questions of substantive law. However, litigants do not have anywhere near the same amount of freedom to decide procedural matters. Instead, parties in litigation are generally considered to be subject to the procedural law of the forum court.

Although this particular conflict of laws rule has been in place for many years, a number of recent developments have challenged courts and commentators to consider whether and to what extent procedural rules should be considered mandatory in nature. If procedural rules are not mandatory but are instead merely “sticky” defaults, then it may …

Constitutional Conundrums In Arbitration: Book Review Of Arbitration And The Constitution, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

The combination of arbitration and constitutional law is the topic of Professor Peter Rutledge's new book, and the focus of this review essay, which will consider, among other things, whether these two subjects are compatible.

Lost Options For Mutual Gain? The Layperson, The Lawyer, And Dispute Resolution In Early America, Carli N. Conklin

Faculty Publications

In 1786, legal reform activist Benjamin Austin undertook a campaign to promote the use of arbitration over litigation as the primary method of dispute resolution in Massachusetts. Although supported by a groundswell of anti-lawyer sentiment, Austin ultimately failed in securing the triumph of arbitration. Exploring Austin's pamphlet campaign in its historical context not only provides us with a snapshot of the arguments for and against dispute resolution in early America, but also serves as a corrective to the prevailing accounts of arbitration in American legal history. This article explores the context and content of Austin's pamphlet campaign and its implications …

Beyond The Self-Execution Analysis: Rationalizing Constitutional, Treaty And Statutory Interpretation In International Commercial Arbitration, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

International commercial arbitration has long been considered one of the paradigmatic forms of private international law and has achieved a degree of legitimacy that is virtually unparalleled in the international realm. However, significant questions have recently begun to arise about the device’s public international attributes, stemming largely from a circuit split regarding the nature of the New York Convention, the leading treaty in the field, and Chapter 2 of the Federal Arbitration Act, which helps give effect to the Convention in the United States. Efforts have been made to place the debate about the New York Convention within the context …

Discovery Under 28 U.S.C. §1782: Distinguishing International Commercial Arbitration And International Investment Arbitration, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

For many years, courts, commentators and counsel agreed that 28 U.S.C. §1782 – a somewhat extraordinary procedural device that allows U.S. courts to order discovery in the United States “for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal” – did not apply to disputes involving international arbitration. However, that presumption has come under challenge in recent years, particularly in the realm of investment arbitration, where the Chevron-Ecuador dispute has made Section 1782 requests a commonplace procedure. This Article takes a rigorous look at both the history and the future of Section 1782 in international arbitration, taking care to …

Ensuring Remedies To Cure Cramming, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

The unauthorized addition of third party charges to telecommunications bills ("cramming") is a growing problem that has caught the attention of federal regulators and state attorney generals. This Article therefore discusses the problems associated with cramming, and highlights consumers’ uphill battles in seeking remedies with respect to cramming claims. Indeed, it is imperative for policymakers, researchers, consumer advocates, and industry groups to collaborate in developing means for resolving these claims. Accordingly, this Article offers a proposal for resolving cramming disputes in order to advance this collaboration, and inspire development of a functioning online dispute resolution ("ODR") process to handle these …

American Exceptionalism In Consumer Arbitration, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

“American exceptionalism” has been used to reference the United States’ outlier policies in various contexts, including its love for litigation. Despite Americans’ reverence for their “day in court,” their zest for contractual freedom and efficiency has prevailed to result in U.S. courts’ strict enforcement of arbitration provisions in both business-to-business (“B2B”) and business-to-consumer (“B2C”) contracts. This is exceptional because although most of the world joins the United States in generally enforcing B2B arbitration under the New York Convention, many other countries refuse or strictly limit arbitration enforcement in B2C relationships due to concerns regarding power imbalances and public enforcement of …

Empowering Settlors: How Proper Language Can Increase The Enforceability Of A Mandatory Arbitration Provision In A Trust, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

With hostile trust litigation reaching epidemic proportions, many people within the trust industry are interested in identifying new and less expensive ways to resolve trust-related disputes. Arbitration is often proposed as a possible alternative, although questions exist about whether and to what extent a mandatory arbitration provision found in a trust will be considered enforceable by a court. Up until now, most commentary in this area of law has focused on purely jurisprudential issues, with little attention being paid to the practical efforts that settlors can make to increase the enforceability of arbitration provisions found in trusts. This Article takes …

Resolving Mass Legal Disputes Through Class Arbitration: The United States And Canada Compared, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

This article compares three issues that have arisen as a result of recent Supreme Court decisions in both countries: the circumstances in which class arbitration is available; the procedures that must or may be used; and the nature of the right to proceed as a class. In so doing, the article not only offers valuable lessons to parties in the U.S. and Canada, but also provides observers from other countries with a useful framework for considering issues relating to the intersection between collective relief and arbitration.

Does Class Arbitration "Change The Nature" Of Arbitration? Stolt-Nielsen, At&T And A Return To First Principles, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

In Stolt-Nielsen S.A. v. AnimalFeeds International Corp., the United States Supreme Court stated that class arbitration “changes the nature of arbitration,” an idea that was also reflected in the Supreme Court’s subsequent decision in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion. Certainly class proceedings do not resemble the traditional view of arbitration as a swift, simple and pragmatic bilateral procedure with few witnesses, documents or formalities, but do these types of large-scale disputes violate the fundamental nature of the arbitral procedure? This article answers that question by considering the jurisprudential nature of arbitration and determining whether and to what extent class arbitration …

Faa Law, Without The Activism: What If The Bellwether Cases Were Decided By A Truly Conservative Court, Richard C. Reuben

Faculty Publications

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided an extraordinary number of cases under the Federal Arbitration Act in the last half century, a pattern that continues today at the pace of a case or two a year. During this time, Republican presidential candidates have made much political hay out of the Supreme Court, running against the Warren Court’s “liberal activism” by promising to appoint judges who would decide cases more conservatively. In this article, I analyze whether this promise has been fulfilled in the context of the Supreme Court’s FAA jurisprudence by identifying the core principles of judicial conservatism – restraint, …

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 …

Navigating The Borders Between International Commercial Arbitration And U.S. Federal Courts: A Jurisprudential Gps, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

This article provides just that sort of guide, outlining the various ways in which U.S. federal courts can become involved in international commercial arbitration and introducing both basic and advanced concepts in a straightforward, practical manner. However, this article provides more than just an overview. Instead, it discusses relevant issues on a motion-by-motion basis, helping readers find immediate answers to their questions while also getting a picture of the field as a whole. Written especially for busy lawyers, this article gives practitioners, arbitrators and new and infrequent participants in international commercial arbitration a concise but comprehensive understanding of the unique …

Arbitration Of Trust Disputes: Two Bodies Of Law Collide, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

This article considers the various issues that arise when two separate bodies of law – trust law and arbitration law – collide, using recent developments in the field of international commercial arbitration to address some of the more intransigent problems facing trust arbitration. The article focuses on five areas of concern: the potential for impermissible ouster of the courts, the operability and effectiveness of the arbitration provision, the extent to which the arbitration provision is binding on the party against whom arbitration is asserted, proper representation of parties and arbitrability. In so doing, this article introduces a number of new …

Mandatory Arbitration Of Internal Trust Disputes: Improving Arbitrability And Enforceability Through Proper Procedural Choices, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Trusts and their civil law equivalents, often known as foundations or associations, play a large and increasing role in the global economy, holding trillions of dollars worth of assets and generating billions of dollars worth of revenue and trustees’ fees annually. Once considered nothing more than “mere” estate planning devices, trusts are now more often seen in commercial rather than in private contexts, and often feature sophisticated financial institutions as professional trustees. With favorable tax laws in various off-shore jurisdictions making international trusts increasingly popular and hostile trust litigation reaching epidemic proportions, arbitration would seem to be many parties’ dispute …

Border Skirmishes: The Intersection Between Litigation And International Commercial Arbitration, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

This essay considers the tension between the autonomous theory of international commercial arbitration and the more interactive theory advanced by Gary Born during his keynote address at the recent “Border Skirmishes” symposium at the University of Missouri School of Law. In his presentation, Born considered the relationship between litigation and international commercial arbitration and distinguished between permissible “border crossings” and impermissible “border incursions.” This essay considers how these concepts play out both in routine interactions between courts and tribunals and more in difficult scenarios, such as those involving anti-suit injunctions. The discussion also presents statistics concerning the amount of ancillary …

Building Bridges To Consumer Remedies In International Econflicts, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

Consumer purchases over the Internet (“ePurchases”) are on the rise, thereby causing an increase in conflicts regarding these purchases (“eConflicts”). Furthermore, these conflicts are increasingly international as consumers purchase goods over the Internet not knowing or caring where the seller is physically located. The problem is that if the purchase goes awry, consumers are often left without recourse due to the futility of pursing international litigation and the textured law and policy regarding enforcement of private dispute resolution procedures, namely arbitration. The United States strictly enforces arbitration contracts in business-to-consumer (“B2C”) relationships, while other countries have refused or limited enforcement …