Law Commons^™

The Center Of The Center For Alternative Dispute Resolution, Wayne Brazil

Wayne Brazil

Hawaii was one of the first states to establish within its judiciary a Center for Alternative Dispute Resolution. The Center's mission is: to mediate major public policy disputes and to facilitate policy formulation dialogues, to design and help implement mediation and other ADR programs for state and local governmental agencies, to provide education about and training in mediation for the public and for employees of state and local government, and to oversee the extensive network of community mediation centers that provide grass-roots mediation services throughout the Islands. In November of 2005 the Center celebrated its 20th anniversary by sponsoring various …

Laying Down The "Brics": Enhancing The Portability Of Awards In International Commercial Arbitration, Benjamin C. Mccarty

Benjamin C McCarty

The drafters of the 1958 New York Convention intended Article V(2)(b) to be interpreted narrowly, and while most pro-arbitration national courts do maintain narrowly defined areas of public policy that are sufficient for refusal of the recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award, this is not always the case. Developing states and jurisdictions that maintain corrupt or inefficient judicial systems have shown a greater willingness to invoke the public policy exception for a broader, amorphous variety of reasons. This phenomenon has created a sense of unpredictability among international investors, arbitrators, and business executives as to the amount of deference …

Gandhi’S Prophecy: Corporate Violence And A Mindful Law For Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

AbstractOver thirty years have passed since the Bhopal chemical disaster began,and in that time scholars of corporate social responsibility (CSR) havediscussed and debated several frameworks for improving corporate responseto social and environmental problems. However, CSR discourse rarelydelves into the fundamental architecture of legal thought that oftenbuttresses corporate dominance in the global economy. Moreover, CSRdiscourse does little to challenge the ontological and epistemologicalassumptions that form the foundation for modern economics and the role ofcorporations in the world.I explore methods of transforming CSR by employing the thought ofMohandas Gandhi. I pay particular attention to Gandhi’s critique ofindustrialization and principle of swadeshi (self-sufficiency) …

Online Dispute Resolution (Odr) Within Developing Nations: A Qualitative Evaluation Of Transfer And Impact, Doug Leigh, Frank Fowlie

Doug Leigh

The field of online dispute resolution (ODR) is developing both as practice and a profession. Evidence of this includes a growing community of scholars and practitioners. A Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) grant permitted 16 practitioners from developing countries to attend the 2008 ODR Forum in Victoria, British Columbia. In the year following the Forum, an evaluation was conducted to identify changes among these practitioners’ behaviors, knowledge, skills, abilities and credibility. Results indicate that ODR practitioners in developing countries are engaged in a wide range of activities, many of which are technologically and logistically complex. These practitioners also face a …

A Case Ill Suited For Judgment: Constructing 'A Sovereign Access To The Sea' In The Atacama Desert, Christopher Rossi

christopher robert rossi

Abstract: In 2015, the International Court of Justice ruled that Bolivia’s claim against Chile could proceed to the merit stage, setting up this Article’s discussion of perhaps the most intractable border dispute in South American history – Bolivia’s attempt to reclaim from Chile a ‘sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean’. This Article investigates the international law and deeply commingled regional history pertaining to the Atacama Desert region, the hyperarid yet resource-rich region through which Bolivia seeks to secure its long-lost access to the sea. Investigating the factual circumstances (effectivités), the post-colonial international legal principle of uti possidetis …

Deadly Waiting Game: An Environmental Justice Framework For Examining Natural And Man-Made Disasters Beyond Hurricane Katrina [Abstract], Robert D. Bullard

Robert D Bullard

Presenter: Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Clark Atlanta University 1 page.

The History And The Current Development Of Commercial Arbitration In Kazakhstan, Venera Konussova

Venera Konussova

Kazakhstan has recently been taking steps to a new wave of modernization in order to enter 30 the most developed countries of the world. Such ambitious goal requires not only fast and effective development of all spheres of the economy but also significant improvement of legislation. Revision of legislation in the field of arbitration seeks a twofold goal; to create favorable conditions for the civil rights protection, and to improve the investment climate in particular. In order to obtain this goal, the Draft Law on Arbitration largely reconsidered existing legislation by incorporating progressive regulations, which help to overcome long lasting …

The Use Of The Proportionality Principle To Distinguish Compensatory Indirect Expropriation From Regulatory Measures, Anca T. Muir

Anca T Muir

The Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) system has been criticized recently as a way for foreign corporations to counter a national government’s right to regulate. A subject of much of this scrutiny is the compensation requested by foreign investors when the host state needs to regulate for the public interest.

The issue of compensation for actions of indirect expropriation is a controversial issue, especially when the host state uses its police power to regulate in the public interest. When this occurs, it can create a conflict in which an investor claims that his investment was reduced to nothing by the …

Arbitration Of Disputes Between Consumers And Financial Institutions: A Serious Threat To Consumer Protection, Mark E. Budnitz

Mark E. Budnitz

No abstract provided.

Comparing Mandatory Arbitration And Litigation: Access, Process, And Outcomes, Alexander Colvin, Mark D. Gough

Alexander Colvin

[Excerpt] What do we know about mandatory arbitration and its impact? Some existing studies have examined samples of employment arbitration cases, usually obtained from the American Arbitration Association (AAA), which is currently the largest arbitration service provider in the employment area. Although some early studies found relatively high employee win rates and damage awards in arbitration, comparable to those in litigation, these results were mainly based on arbitration under individually negotiated agreements or in the securities industry and involved relatively highly paid individuals. More recent studies using larger samples of cases based on mandatory arbitration agreements find much lower employee …

Individual Employment Rights Arbitration In The United States: Actors And Outcomes, Alexander Colvin, Mark Gough

Alexander Colvin

The authors examine disposition statistics from employment arbitration cases administered over an 11-year period by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) to investigate the process of dispute resolution in this new institution of employment relations. They investigate the predictors of settlement before the arbitration hearing and then estimate models for the likelihood of employee wins and damage amounts for the 2,802 cases that resulted in an award. Their findings show that larger-scale employers who are involved in more arbitration cases tend to have higher win rates and have lower damage awards made against them. This study also provides evidence of a …

Making The Justice System Balance: Beyond The Zuber Report, Frederick H. Zemans

Frederick H. Zemans

The civil and criminal justice systems rely on a highly individualized dispute resolution process in which each litigant must both prosecute and present his or her own case with limited intervention by the court system and no direct involvement by the judiciary. Neil Brooks has noted that the adversarial system reflects the "political and economic ideology of classic English liberalism in three ways: by its emphasis upon self-interest and individual initiative; by its apparent distrust of the state; and, by the significance it attaches to the participation of the parties." Much of the current discussion of access to justice is …

A Parade Of Reforms: The European Commission's Latest Proposal For Isds, Gus Van Harten

Gus Van Harten

The European Commission's most recent proposal for ISDS reflects a move away from essentially fake reforms to something potentially more meaningful. However, it is insufficient to satisfy the criteria of independence, fairness, openness, subsidiarity, and balance and does not appear reliable until backed by clear language and a negotiating red line for the proposed Canada-Europe CETA and any other agreement providing for ISDS.

Arbitrator Behaviour In Asymmetrical Adjudication: An Empirical Study Of Investment Treaty Arbitration, Gus Van Harten

Gus Van Harten

The study examines arbitrator behaviour in the unique context of investment treaty arbitration. It employs the method of content analysis to test hypotheses of systemic bias in the resolution of jurisdictional issues in investment treaty law. Unlike earlier studies, the study examines trends in legal interpretation instead of case outcomes and finds statistically significant evidence that arbitrators favour: (1) the position of claimants over respondent states and (2) the position of claimants from major Western capital-exporting states over claimants from other states. There is a range of possible explanations for the results and further inferences are required to connect the …

The European Commission's Push To Consolidate And Expand Isds: An Assessment Of The Proposed Canada-Europe Ceta And Europe-Singapore Fta, Gus Van Harten

Gus Van Harten

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the European Commission’s approach to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in the proposed CETA with Canada and FTA with Singapore. The text on ISDS in both agreements is evaluated according to general criteria of independence, fairness, openness, and balance. The main conclusion reached is that there is no significant difference between the CETA and FTA when it comes to ISDS. With the qualified exception of the criterion of openness, both agreements fall well short of satisfying the criteria. As such, neither agreement offers a significant improvement on the U.S. model of ISDS and, …

Notes On The German Economy And Energy Ministry's Proposal For Reformed Investor-State Dispute Settlement (Isds), Gus Van Harten

Gus Van Harten

These notes provide a general reaction to a proposal by the German economy and energy ministry for ISDS in a treaty between Europe and the U.S. Overall, the proposal takes only a minority of the steps needed to make ISDS independent, fair, open, subsidiary, and balanced. I suggest that the appropriate approach remains to reject ISDS in new treaties (especially among Western developed countries). The proposal would be a good starting point for replacing ISDS in existing treaties with developing or transition countries – but that is clearly not its purpose.

Students' Union Courts As Arbitral Tribunals In Nigerian Law: The Case Of The University Of Nigeria, Obiora Okafor

Obiora Chinedu Okafor

No abstract provided.

Privatizing Our Public Civil Justice System, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Trevor C. W. Farrow

No abstract provided.

Re-Framing The Sharia Arbitration Debate, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Trevor C. W. Farrow

This article is a response to Mr. McGuinty regarding his response to religious arbitration in the province of Ontario. First, the issue is not about simply prohibiting religious tribunals. Second, it is not only an Ontario issue. Third, it is not necessarily even a Sharia (or religion) issue. This article focuses on these three problems.

Public Justice, Private Dispute Resolution And Democracy, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Trevor C. W. Farrow

This paper is about the widespread and systematic privatization of the public civil justice system. In particular, it: (1) documents the move to privatize civil disputes across all aspects of the justice system (including courts, administrative tribunals and state-sanctioned arbitration regimes), (2) looks at some of the benefits and drawbacks of privatization, specifically including negative impacts on systems of democratic governance, and (3) identifies justice - rather than efficiency - as the primary benchmark by which civil justice reform initiatives should be judged.

An Introduction To Representative Negotiation, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Trevor C. W. Farrow

No abstract provided.

Dispute Resolution And Legal Education: A Bibliography, Trevor C. W. Farrow

Trevor C. W. Farrow

No abstract provided.

The Icsid Effect? Considering Potential Variations In Arbitration Awards, Susan Franck

Susan D. Franck

The legitimacy of the World Bank's dispute resolution body - The International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) - is a matter of heated debate. Some states have alleged that ICSID is biased, withdrawn from the ICSID Convention, and advocated creating alternative arbitration systems. Using pre-2007 archival data of the population of then- known arbitration awards, this Article quantitatively assesses whether ICSID arbitration awards were substantially different from arbitration awards rendered in other forums. The Article examines variation in the amounts claimed and outcomes reached to evaluate indicators of bias. The results indicated that there was no reliable …

The Diversity Challenge: Exploring The "Invisible College" Of International Arbitration, Susan Franck

Susan D. Franck

As diversity can affect the perceived legitimacy of a state’s dispute resolution system and the quality of judicial decisions, diversity levels in the national bench and bar have been an area of transnational concern. By contrast, little is known about diversity of adjudicators and counsel in international arbitration. With a lack of accurate, complete, and publicly available data about international arbitrators and practitioners, speculation about membership in the “invisible college” of international arbitration abounds. Using data from a survey of attendees at the prestigious and elite biennial Congress of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration permitted one glimpse into the …

Designing Emotional And Psychological Support Into Truth And Reconciliation Commissions, Verlyn F. Francis Ms.

Verlyn F. Francis Ms.

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions are a dispute resolution mechanism used to attempt to reunite countries and states after internal conflicts and civil wars. A large component of this transitional justice process involves truth-telling by perpetrators and victims. The ultimate goal is reconciliation of the parties within the unified state.

Using the example of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, this paper argues that successful reconciliation depends on the design of the process. It is important for the designer to balance individual and institutional interests and to ensure that all stakeholders are at the design table. Since the truth-telling in …

The Quest For A New Generation Of Labor Chapter In The Ttip, Michele Faioli

Michele Faioli

The TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement) may be key for the EU-US forthcoming vision of labor and industrial relations. More in general, it may be key for idea of a possible common Western labor legal system. The TTIP may be turned into a occasion to ground a new generation of labor chapters in investment/partnership treaties. In line with preliminary outputs, a practical proposal is introduced. This essay is also aimed at analyzing, under a critical legal approach, why, to what extent and how the TTIP labor chapter may be set up. By means of a de-constructive method in …

The 2012 Saudi Arbitration Law: A Comparative Examination Of The Law And Its Effect On Arbitration In Saudi Arabia, Faris K. Nesheiwat, Ali Khasawneh

Ferris K Nesheiwat

A major concern for any outside investor in the Middle East's largest economy is that arbitration in Saudi Arabia is notoriously complicated, time-consuming, and prone to interference by the local courts, while arbitral awards have often faced difficulties in being enforced. A new Saudi Arbitration Law was issued by Royal Decree No. M/34 on April 16th, 20124 (the “New Law”), which came into force on 9 July 2012. The New Law, which is covered in 58 Articles, is intended to alleviate many of the shortcomings of the Saudi Arbitration Law of 1983 (the “Old Law”) and strengthen investors' confidence in …

Curbing The Runaway Arbitrator In Commercial Arbitration: Making Exceeding The Powers Count, Sarah Cole

Sarah Cole

Arbitration is in crisis. Under fire as an oppressive, claim-suppressing method of dispute resolution, imposed by businesses upon unsuspecting employees and consumers, arbitration is also becoming increasingly unpopular with its original designers – businesses in commercial disputes with other businesses. While academic commentators spill considerable ink assessing the propriety of businesses imposing pre-dispute arbitration agreements on consumers and employees, to date they have paid scant attention to the reasons underlying business flight from arbitration as a preferred method for resolving disputes with other businesses. Empirical research sheds some light on this issue – surveys reveal that in-house counsel believe that …

A Price Theory Of Legal Bargaining: An Inquiry Into The Selection Of Settlement And Litigation Under Uncertainty, Robert J. Rhee

Robert Rhee

Conventional wisdom says that economic surplus is created when the cost of litigation is foregone in favor of settlement, a theory flowing from the Coase Theorem. The cost-benefit analysis weighs settlement against the expected value of litigation net of transaction cost. This calculus yields the normative proposition that settlement is a superior form of dispute resolution and so most trials are considered errors. While simple in concept, the prevailing economic model is flawed. This article is a theoretical inquiry into the selection criteria of settlement and trial. It applies principles of financial economics to construct a pricing theory of legal …

Dr Ethics Book Brings It All Together, Jonathan R. Cohen

Jonathan R. Cohen

Dispute resolution practice has changed dramatically over the past several decades. The traditional litigation model has increasingly given way to a “multi-door” vision of varied dispute resolution practices. With that functional change in how we process disputes has come a pressing need to address the varied ethical challenges of these varied practices. Dispute Resolution Ethics is a marvelous contribution toward that effort.