Law Commons^™

Structural Barriers To Inclusion In Arbitrator Pools, Nicole G. Iannarone

Washington Law Review

Critics increasingly challenge mandatory arbitration because the pools from which decisionmakers are selected are neither diverse nor inclusive. Evaluating diversity and inclusion in arbitrator pools is difficult due to the black box nature of mandatory arbitration. This Article evaluates inclusion in arbitrator pools through a case study on securities arbitration. The Article relies upon the relatively greater transparency of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) forum. It begins by describing the unique role that small claims securities arbitration plays in maintaining investor trust and confidence in the securities markets before describing why ensuring that the FINRA arbitrator pool is both …

Arbitrating Security Class Actions: The Limits Of Forum Selection Bylaws, Paul Schochet

St. John's Law Review

No abstract provided.

Adversarial Failure, Benjamin P. Edwards

Washington and Lee Law Review

Investors, industry firms, and regulators all rely on vital public records to assess risk and evaluate securities industry personnel. Despite the information’s importance, an arbitration-facilitated expungement process now regularly deletes these public records. Often, these arbitrations recommend that public information be deleted without any true adversary ever providing any critical scrutiny to the requests. In essence, poorly informed arbitrators facilitate removing public information out of public databases. Interventions aimed at surfacing information may yield better informed decisions. Although similar problems have emerged in other contexts when adversarial systems break down, the expungement process to purge information about financial professionals provides …

How Much Can It Be Bent Before Breaking? Changing The Foundations Of Arbitration In Securities Disputes, M. Saleh Jaberi, Bruno Zeller

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Following the emergence of arbitration in the stock market disputes, governments and brokers have tried to modify the arbitration procedure in order to adapt it to their needs. Consequently, the foundations of arbitration, such as freedom to enter into an arbitration agreement and selection of arbitrators, have changed in relation to rules and practice. Some of the securities arbitrations have judicialized and have lost the fundamental principles of arbitration, while others have changed only some of the traditional arbitration traits. It is important to protect the nature of arbitration; otherwise, the necessary support of courts for the arbitration procedure and …

The Customer's Nonwaivable Right To Choose Arbitration In The Securities Industry, Jill I. Gross

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

Arbitration has been the predominant form of dispute resolution in the securities industry since the 1980s. Virtually all brokerage firms include predispute arbitration agreements (PDAAs) in their retail customer contracts, and have successfully fought off challenges to their validity. Additionally, the industry has long mandated that firms submit to arbitration at the demand of a customer, even in the absence of a PDAA.

More recently, however, brokerage firms have been arguing that forum selection clauses in their agreements with sophisticated customers (such as institutional investors and issuers) supersede firms’ duty to arbitrate under FINRA Rule 12200. Circuit courts currently are …

The Great And Powerful Faa: Why Schwab’S Class Action Waiver Should Have Been Enforced Over Finra’S Rules, Clint Hale

Pepperdine Law Review

This Comment argues that recent Supreme Court precedent, circuit court decisions in contexts similar to FINRA’s oversight of the securities industry, and investors’ true interests all instruct that Schwab’s class action waiver should have been enforced over FINRA’s contrary command. Part II discusses FINRA’s role in the securities industry, the FAA and recent Supreme Court precedent interpreting the FAA, and the FINRA Rules that Schwab’s class action and joinder waiver violated. Part III analyzes why the conflict between the FAA and FINRA’s rules should have been resolved in favor of the FAA and supports this argument with discussion of federal …

The Unjustified Furor Over Securities Arbitration, Gilbert R. Serota

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Public, Not Anyone's Turf: The Unlicensed Practice Of Law In Securities Arbitration , John P. Cleary

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mexico And The Settlement Of Investment Disputes: Icsid As The Recommended Option, Bernardo Sepúlveda

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The changes that have taken place in arbitration conditions, the greater fairness in the arbitration process, and the increasingly stringent qualifications to be met by arbitrators, as well as contemporary economic realities, have been instrumental in causing Mexico's about-face on its approach to arbitration. Although in certain quarters doubts remain in Mexico as to the advantages of international arbitration, it would be ill advised to ignore a legal and political reality. In signing treaties that include an arbitration clause, Mexico has assumed rights and obligations. Politically speaking, a border has already been crossed. In the face of this indisputable fact, …

Unraveling The Mystery Of Wilko V. Swan: American Arbitration Vacatur Law And The Accidental Demise Of Party Autonomy , James M. Gaitis

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article begins with a brief description of what the Wilko Court said with respect to the vacatur of arbitral awards and how federal and state appellate courts have construed that language. Traditional American arbitration vacatur law, including but not limited to the cases relied upon by the Wilko Court, are then reviewed in depth such that the Wilko decision and the Wilko Court's choice of language may be placed in context and fully examined. The intent and proper operation of the FAA are then discussed based on both the legislative history of the FAA and other authorities that consistently …

International Rule Of Law And Constitutional Justice In International Investment Law And Arbitration, Ernst-Ulrich Petersmann

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Judicial administration of justice through reasoned interpretation, application and clarification of legal principles and rules is among the oldest paradigms of constitutional justice. The principles of procedural justice underlying investor-state arbitration remain controversial, especially if confidentiality and party autonomy governing commercial arbitration risk neglecting adversely affected third parties and public interests. There are also concerns that rule-following and formal equality of foreign investors and home states may not ensure substantive justice in the settlement of investment disputes unless arbitrators and courts take more seriously their customary law obligation of settling disputes in conformity with human rights obligations of governments and …

The Unclear "Clear And Unmistakable" Standard: Why Arbitrators, Not Courts, Should Determine Whether A Securities Investor's Claim Is Arbitrable, Guy Nelson

Vanderbilt Law Review

When an individual investor opens an account with a securities broker, the customer often must sign a standard-form contract as a precondition of conducting business with the broker. This non- negotiable contract, referred to as a Customer Agreement, generally contains an arbitration clause under which the parties agree to submit any future disputes to arbitration conducted by one of the securities industry's self-regulatory organizations ("SROs"). Proceedings initiated under the broad and inclusive arbitration clause are subject to the arbitration guidelines established by the SROs, a group which includes all the major stock exchanges. Virtually all brokers are members of an …

The Securities Arbitrators' Nightmare, Constantine N. Katsoris

Fordham Urban Law Journal

Securities arbitration panels have arisen to deal with the rising tide of securities litigation. However, the application of arbitration procedure to securities claims has caused problems with clashes of procedure and enforcement issues. The United States Arbitration Act was passed to The Supreme Court addressed some of those issues in Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. v. Byrd, but did not determine whether Wilko v. Swan's effective repeal of the Arbitration Act as it applies to securities claims brought under the Securities Act of 1933 also covered securities claims brought under the Securities Act of 1934. The author eventually determines that because …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

THE UNITED STATES MAY EXERCISE JURISDICTION OVER PERSONSON A "STATELESS" VESSEL WITHOUT SHOWING A NEXUS BETWEEN THE VESSEL AND THE UNITED STATES--United States v. Pinto-Mejia, 720 F.2d 248 (2d Cir. 1983).

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ALIEN RETAINS RIGHT TO DEPORTATION PROCEEDING AFTER RETURNING FROM AUTHORIZED DEPARTURE NOTWITHSTANDING THAT IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE PERMISSION TO DEPART WAS STYLED AS AN "ADVANCE PAROLE"--Joshi v. District Director, Immigration and Naturalization Serv., 720 F.2d 799 (1983).

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NO VIOLATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW WHEN EQUIPMENT LOCATED IN UNITED STATES RECORDS TRANSNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS--United States v. Romano, 706 F.2d 370 (2d Cir. 1983).

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UNITED STATES MANUFACTURERS HAVE A CAUSE …

Recent Decisions, Anne Markey, James F. Maddox, Thomas C. Eklund, Thomas F. Taylor, Ralph Vinciguerra, Clark Mervis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Admiralty--Damages in a Maritime Collision or Stranding Caused by Mutual Fault Must be Apportioned According to the Comparative Negligence of the Parties

Anne Markey

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Admiralty--Wrongful Death--General Maritime Law Provides Remedy for Pain and Suffering of Decedent Incurred in Wrongful Death on High Seas but not for Funeral Expenses

James F. Maddox

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Arbitration--Securities Regulation--In International Sale of Securities, Arbitration Agreement is Binding not Withstanding Non-Waiverability of Judicial Remedy of Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Thomas C. Eklund

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IMMIGRATION--ALIEN COMMUTERS, BOTH DAILY AND SEASONAL, WHO HAVE ONCE OBTAINED THE STATUS OF IMMIGRANTS ARE PROPERLY CLASSIFIED AS SPECIAL IMMIGRANTS LAWFULLY …