Law Commons^™

Helfstein V. Eighth Jud. Dist. Ct., 131 Nev. Adv. Op. 91 (Dec. 3, 2015), Heather Caliguire

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Nevada Supreme Court determined that the six-month deadline to set aside a voluntary dismissal or settlement agreement found within NRCP 60(b) could not be extended, despite an allegation of fraud.

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 …

Advising Clients To Apologize, Jonathan R. Cohen

Jonathan R. Cohen

The article argues that lawyers should consider the possibility of advising clients to apologize for harms they commit, as in some cases apology may best serve their client's interests. The articles discusses some of the pros and cons to apology in the legal setting, as well as barriers that may inhibit apologies.

The Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Country Judgments And Arbitral Awards: A North-South Perspective, Michael Quilling

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

When Peace Is Not The Goal Of A Class Action Settlement, D. Theodore Rave

D. Theodore Rave

On the conventional account, a class action settlement is a vehicle through which the defendant buys peace from the class action lawyer. That single transaction will preclude future litigation by all class members. But peace, at least through preclusion, may not always be the goal. In a recent Fair Credit Reporting Action (FCRA) case, In re Trans Union Privacy Litigation, the parties agreed to a class action settlement that did not preclude individual claims. The 190 million class members surrendered only their rights to participate in a future class or aggregate action; they remained free to march right back into …

Family Lawyering With Planned Early Negotiation, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

Whether you know it or not, you may already be using planned early negotiation (PEN). As the term suggests, this process involves planning to negotiate your cases at the earliest appropriate time. Normally you can be ready to negotiate long before you are ready for trial.

This article summarizes PEN procedures based on interviews with excellent lawyers about how they handle their cases. For example, one lawyer said that he “prepares for settlement from day one of the lawsuit” and that he engages in a “constant process of evaluating the claim” throughout the litigation. Planning to negotiate from the outset …