Law Commons^™

Empowering Consumers Through Online Dispute Resolution, Amy J. Schmitz

Faculty Publications

We transact online every day, hoping that no problems will occur. However, our purchases are not always perfect: goods may not arrive; products may be faulty; expectations may go unmet. When this occurs, we are often left frustrated, with no means for seeking redress. Phone calls to customer service are generally unappealing and ineffective, and traditional face-to-face or judicial processes for asserting claims are impractical after weighing costs against likely recovery. This is especially true when seeking redress requires travel, or for crossborder claims involving jurisdictional complexities. This situation has created a need for online dispute resolution (“ODR”), which brings …

Comment On Us Trade And Investment Agreements Submitted To Ustr, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Comments to USTR Re: Review of US Trade and Investment Agreements (July 17, 2017): CCSI, in response to the United States Trade Representative’s request for public comment to inform its performance review of US trade and investment agreements, submitted Comments that focused on the impact that investment protection provisions, enforceable through investor-state dispute settlement, have on rights-compliant, inclusive sustainable development within the United States and abroad.

A Tort In Search Of A Remedy: Prying Open The Courthouse Doors For Legal Malpractice Victims, Susan Saab Fortney

Faculty Scholarship

Black's Law Dictionary defines “tort” as a civil wrong for which a remedy may be obtained. In examining both the economics and jurisprudence related to legal malpractice, the article discusses why the “remedy” portion of this definition is unavailable for many victims of legal malpractice. This discussion considers the different stages of a legal malpractice case, including the challenges that injured persons face in retaining experienced counsel to represent them, the anatomy of the legal malpractice case, and the difficulties in collecting judgements or settlements. The discussion will consider how “capture” and “judicial bias” contribute to the “disappearing legal malpractice …

Submission Regarding Amendments To The Icsid Arbitration Rules, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In March 2017, CCSI submitted comments to the ICSID Secretariat regarding proposed revisions to ICSID’s arbitration rules. CCSI’s submission provided illustrative suggestions for amendments regarding the following issues: recognizing and safeguarding of the rights and interests of non-parties; improving transparency of the dispute resolution process; promoting transparency of ownership over investments; preventing actual and apparent conflicts of interest; addressing concerns raised by third-party funding; ensuring legitimacy of settlement agreements; and ensuring legitimacy of the rule revision process itself.

What Difference Does Adr Make? Comparison Of Adr And Trial Outcomes In Small Claims Court, Lorig Charkoudian, Deborah Thompson Eisenberg, Jamie Walter

Faculty Scholarship

This study compares the experience of small claims litigants who use alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) to those who proceeded to trial without ADR. ADR had significant immediate and long-term benefits, including improved party attitudes toward and relationship with each other, greater sense of empowerment and voice, increases in parties taking responsibility for the dispute, and increases in party satisfaction with the judiciary. Cases that settled in ADR also were less likely to return to court for an enforcement action within the next year.

Collective Bargaining And Dispute System Design, Rafael Gely

Faculty Publications

This article seeks to reestablish the conversation between collective bargaining and dispute system design scholars. Part II provides a brief description of the system of collective bargaining by focusing on the three key steps of union organizing, contract negotiation, and contract administration. Part III does the same for the literature on dispute system design by identifying some of the seminal literature in the field as well as other work particularly relevant to workplace dispute resolution systems. In Part IV, the article seeks to achieve one modest goal and one that is more ambitious. As to the modest goal, this article …

Using The Terms Integrative And Distributive Bargaining In The Classroom: Time For Change, Rishi Batra

Faculty Articles

The terms "integrative bargaining" and "distributive bargaining" have been with us in the dispute resolution literature since at least the 1960s, when A Behavioral Theory of Labor Negotiations was first published in 1965 by Richard Walton and Robert McKersie. While the terms were popularized by these two authors, the authors themselves acknowledged the long line of predecessors, including Mary Parker Follett, who led them to promote these categories. Since that time, "integrative" and "distributive" have been with us and have captured the imagination of scholars, trainers, and practitioners while remaining popular in the dispute resolution literature today. Despite the proliferation …

When Worldviews Collide—Strategic Advocacy V. A Mediator’S Ethical Obligations, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

The provocative headline “Judge Orders Preservation of Mediation Notes In Gender Bias Suit Against Proskauer” sparks the topic of this Ethical Compass discussion. What should be done when a lawyer’s litigation strategy collides with a mediator’s ethical standards of practice? There is growing concern by dispute professionals, including this author, that this collision is diluting the benefits of mediation and re-shaping mediation into quasi-adjudicative dispute resolution procedure. Others hear this as a clarion call from litigators to the mediation community to realize that mediation ideals are just that, and will not deflate litigation advocacy strategies. These polarized perspectives present …

Inside The Arbitrator's Mind, Chris Guthrie, Susan D. Franck, Anne Van Aaken, James Freda, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Arbitrators are lead actors in global dispute resolution. They are to global dispute resolution what judges are to domestic dispute resolution. Despite its global significance, arbitral decision making is a black box. This Article is the first to use original experimental research to explore how international arbitrators decide cases. We find that arbitrators often make intuitive and impressionistic decisions, rather than fully deliberative decisions. We also find evidence that casts doubt on the conventional wisdom that arbitrators render “split the baby” decisions. Although direct comparisons are difficult, we find that arbitrators generally perform at least as well as, but never …

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, …

The Continuing Evolution Of U.S. Judgments Recognition Law, Ronald A. Brand

Articles

The substantive law of judgments recognition in the United States has evolved from federal common law, found in a seminal Supreme Court opinion, to primary reliance on state law in both state and federal courts. While state law often is found in a local version of a uniform act, this has not brought about true uniformity, and significant discrepancies exist among the states. These discrepancies in judgments recognition law, combined with a common policy on the circulation of internal judgments under the United States Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause, have created opportunities for forum shopping and litigation strategies that …