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What Do Consumers Understand About Predispute Arbitration Agreements? An Empirical Investigation, Roseanna Sommers

Articles

The results of a survey of 1,071 adults in the United States reveal that most consumers do not pay attention to, let alone understand, arbitration clauses in their everyday lives. The vast majority of survey respondents (over 97%) report having opened an account with a company that requires disputes to be submitted to binding arbitration (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, Cash App, a phone or cable company), yet most are unaware that they have, in fact, agreed to mandatory arbitration (also known as “forced arbitration”). Indeed, over 99% of respondents who think they have never entered into an arbitration agreement likely have …

Increasing Housing Stability Through State-Funded Community Mediation Delivered By The Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (Hmp) Fy2023 Evaluation Report, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (HMP) is a comprehensive statewide program that provides free housing mediation services as a tool to increase housing stability with the intention of preventing homelessness created by landlord-tenant disputes. It is administered by the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston and deploys the community mediation system infrastructure with 11 Community Mediation Centers (Centers) participating and serving all 14 counties of the Commonwealth to provide free conflict resolution services for tenants and landlords/property managers with housing disputes at any stage, from the earliest point a problem occurs, up to, and …

Addressing Barriers To Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Massachusetts Community Mediation, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Shino Yokotsuka, Karina Zeferino, Jarling Ho

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents over three years of systematically engaging, documenting and analyzing the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) needs/gaps and assets of state funded community mediation centers in Massachusetts. The report was compiled by researchers and an in-house DEI expert at the statutory state office of dispute resolution, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The office has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years.

The report is based on qualitative research that falls into the category of community based participatory research conducted through a series of community …

Addressing Barriers To Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion In Massachusetts Community Mediation, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Jarling Ho, Shino Yokotsuka, Karina Zeferino

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents over three years of systematically engaging, documenting and analyzing the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) needs/gaps and assets of state funded community mediation centers in Massachusetts. The report was compiled by researchers and an in-house DEI expert at the statutory state office of dispute resolution, the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston. The office has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years.

The report is based on qualitative research that falls into the category of community based participatory research conducted through a series of community …

Increasing Housing Stability Through State-Funded Community Mediation Delivered By The Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (Hmp) In Fy2022, Madhawa Palihapitiya, David Sulewski, Karina Zeferino, Jarling Ho

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

This report presents findings and recommendations from an evaluation of the Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (HMP) administered by the MA Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston in partnership with 11 Community Mediation Centers (Centers). The program is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and implemented in partnership with the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The program was initially part of the Governor’s Eviction Diversion Initiative (EDI), which ended in the latter half of FY2022 and is continuing as an intervention to support housing stability. The evaluation was conducted by MOPC’s research unit comprised …

To Stay Or Not To Stay? A Clash Of Arbitration And Insolvency Regimes, Darius Chan, Sidharrth B Rajagopal

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In the wake of the global Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a rise in creditorinitiated winding-up proceedings is likely to be impending in coming years (See e.g., RCMA Asia Pte. Ltd. v. Sun Electric Power Pte. Ltd. [2020] SGHC 205). At the same time, geopolitical developments, such as the scale and ambition of Belt & Road Initiative projects, have raised questions over the issue of debt sustainability. Given the prevalence of arbitration clauses in modern international commercial and project agreements, the interplay and relationship between insolvency and dispute resolution, and especially arbitration, requires careful attention. While the intersections between the …

Ai In Adjudication And Administration, Cary Coglianese, Lavi M. Ben Dor

All Faculty Scholarship

The use of artificial intelligence has expanded rapidly in recent years across many aspects of the economy. For federal, state, and local governments in the United States, interest in artificial intelligence has manifested in the use of a series of digital tools, including the occasional deployment of machine learning, to aid in the performance of a variety of governmental functions. In this paper, we canvas the current uses of such digital tools and machine-learning technologies by the judiciary and administrative agencies in the United States. Although we have yet to see fully automated decision-making find its way into either adjudication …

International Mediation And Covid-19: The New Normal?, Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

What is the SIMC COVID-19 Protocol? The Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC) has just launched the SIMC COVID-19 Protocol to provide businesses with an expedited, economical and effective route to resolve any international commercial disputes during the COVID-19 pandemic period. SIMC’s Covid-19 protocol is a great example of a leading mediation service provider reaching out to a market severely disrupted by Covid-19. The option for Singaporean and international parties to mediate online means for a highly accessible, time and cost effective path to resolve disputes that have emerged in the wake of Covid-19.

Comparing The International Commercial Courts Of China With The Singapore International Commercial Court, Zhengxin Huo, Yip Man

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The article critically reviews the litigation framework of the Chinese International Commercial Court("CICC') using a comparative approach, taking as a benchmark the Singapore International Commercial Court ("SICC')--another Asian international commercial court situated within the Belt and Road Initiative ("BRI') geography. It argues that the CICC, despite being lauded as a visionary step toward an innovative, efficient and trustworthy dispute resolution system, does not live up to those grand claims on closer scrutiny. The discussion shows that the CICC is in many respects insular and conservative when compared with the SICC. The distinctions between the two litigation frameworks may be explained …

The Circulation Of Judgments Under The Draft Hague Judgments Convention, Ronald A. Brand

Articles

The 2018 draft of a Hague Judgments Convention adopts a framework based largely on what some have referred to as “jurisdictional filters.” Article 5(1) provides a list of thirteen authorized bases of indirect jurisdiction by which a foreign judgment is first tested. If one of these jurisdictional filters is satisfied, the resulting judgment is presumptively entitled to circulate under the convention, subject to a set of grounds for non-recognition that generally are consistent with existing practice in most legal systems. This basic architecture of the Convention has been assumed to be set from the start of the Special Commission process, …

Siac-Simc's Arb-Med-Arb Protocol, Aziah Hussin, Claudia Kuck, Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In conjunction with its launch on 5 November 2014, the Singapore International MediationCentre (SIMC), in collaboration with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), introduced the Arbitration-Mediation-Arbitration (Arb-Med-Arb) Protocol (the AMA Protocol), aprocess that aims at combining the benefits of these two most prominent alternative dispute resolution tools.

Slides: The Columbia River Basin, Barbara Cosens

Coping with Water Scarcity in River Basins Worldwide: Lessons Learned from Shared Experiences (Martz Summer Conference, June 9-10)

Presenter: Barbara Cosens, Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty, University of Idaho College of Law, Waters of the West Interdisciplinary Program

16 slides

The Resolution Of Disputes Before The Singapore International Commercial Court, Man Yip

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The jurisdictional framework of the Singapore courts has become more nuanced with the establishment of the Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) on 5 January 2015 and the signing of the Hague Convention on the Choice of Court Agreements 2005 (Hague Convention) on 25 March 2015. Although the Hague Convention has yet to be incorporated in domestic law, it is expected this will happen in the near future. The SICC project, on the other hand, is part of Singapore's strategy to promote the jurisdiction as an international dispute resolution hub. In essence, the SICC is a domestic specialist court established to …

An Innovative Matrix For Dispute Resolution: The Dubai World Tribunal And The Global Insolvency Crisis, Jayanth K. Krishnan, Harold Koster

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This study examines a legal experiment that occurred during the height of the global financial crisis. As markets from the United States to Europe to the Global South shook, one country – the United Arab Emirates – found itself on the brink of economic collapse. In particular, in 2009 the U.A.E’s Emirate of Dubai was contemplating defaulting on $60 billion of debt it had amassed. Recognizing that such a default would have cataclysmic reverberations across the globe, Dubai’s governmental leaders turned to a small group of foreign lawyers, judges, accountants, and business consultants for assistance. Working in a coordinated fashion, …

Mediation Goes Global In Singapore, George S. C. Lim, Eunice Chua

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Singapore has positioned itself as an international dispute resolution hub in Asia by providing a complete suite of services for international arbitration, international litigation and mediation through the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”), the Singapore International Commercial Court (“SICC”) and the Singapore International Mediation Centre (“SIMC”). SICC and SIMC build on Singapore’s reputation for quality legal services, including its status as the most preferred seat of arbitration in Asia and the third most preferred seat of arbitration in the world.[1] They bring more options to parties facing cross-border disputes who need tailored solutions that meet their needs.

Mediation Goes Global In Singapore, George S. C. Lim, Eunice Chua

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Singapore has positioned itself as an international dispute resolution hub in Asia by providing a complete suite of services for international arbitration, international litigation and mediation through the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”), the Singapore International Commercial Court (“SICC”) and the Singapore International Mediation Centre (“SIMC”). SICC and SIMC build on Singapore’s reputation for quality legal services, including its status as the most preferred seat of arbitration in Asia and the third most preferred seat of arbitration in the world.[1] They bring more options to parties facing cross-border disputes who need tailored solutions that meet their needs.

Improving Lawyers’ Judgment: Is Mediation Training De-Biasing?, Douglas N. Frenkel, James H. Stark

All Faculty Scholarship

When people are placed in a partisan role or otherwise have an objective they seek to accomplish, they are prone to pervasive cognitive and motivational biases. These judgmental distortions can affect what people believe and wish to find out, the predictions they make, the strategic decisions they employ, and what they think is fair. A classic example is confirmation bias, which can cause its victims to seek and interpret information in ways that are consistent with their pre-existing views or the goals they aim to achieve. Studies consistently show that experts as well as laypeople are prone to such biases, …

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program: Fiscal Year 2014 Report & Evaluation, Susan Jeghelian, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Kaila O. Eisenkraft

Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration Publications

The Community Mediation Center Grant Program, funded by the commonwealth and administered by the state’s office of dispute resolution, was established to “promote the broad use of community mediation in all regions of the state” by awarding operating grants to eligible community mediation centers. This annual report describes the progress made in broadening access to community mediation by the grant program under the challenge of reduced state funding in FY 2014. Due to the funding cut, fewer centers were funded in FY 2014 compared to FY 2013, which reduced the quantity of services provided. However, the amount of money per …

The Truth-Justice Tradeoff: Perceptions Of Decisional Accuracy And Procedural Justice In Adversarial And Inquisitorial Legal Systems, Justin Sevier

Scholarly Publications

Two studies provide empirical support for Thibaut and Walker’s (1978) theory that inquisitorial and adversarial dispute resolution systems are associated with different psychological values: the pursuit of truth and the pursuit of justice. Study 1 suggests that, in civil and criminal disputes, the adversarial system is perceived to produce less truth than it does justice, and less truth than does the inquisitorial system. Conversely, the inquisitorial system is perceived to produce less justice than it does truth, and less justice than does the adversarial system. Study 2 examines how legal outcomes moderate litigants’ perceptions of the truth and justice produced …

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The CMC Grant Program was established in FY 2013 to provide state operational funding to community mediation centers that provide services through trained volunteers to primarily low-income citizens for a wide-range of family, neighborhood and community conflicts.

Recourse Against An International Arbitration Award Made In Singapore, Darius Chan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In Astro Nusantara International BV v PT Ayunda Prima Mitra [2012] SGHC 212, the Singapore High Court set out the available recourse against an international arbitration award made in Singapore. This case has significant implications for Singapore as a seat of arbitration, and this note contrasts the position between Singapore and Hong Kong against the backdrop of this case. In October 2008, after a failed joint venture, the Claimants, which belonged to the Astro group of companies of Malaysia, commenced arbitration in Singapore against the Respondents, which belonged to the Lippo group of companies of Indonesia. In May 2009, the …

Ma Forest Futures Visioning Process, Loraine Della Porta, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) initiated the Forest Futures Visioning Process to develop a long-term strategy for managing the 308,000 acres of lands in the State and Urban Parks system. The Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration at UMass Boston designed and facilitated this year-long collaborative visioning process which culminated in a set of consensus recommendations for a 100 year vision for the forests of Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Community Mediation Centers Program, Madhawa Palihapitiya, Massachusetts Office Of Public Collaboration, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

As part of the public service mission of UMASS Boston, the MA Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) partnered with the Community Mediation Coalition of Massachusetts in compiling a research study and design for a Community Mediation Centers Grant Program to increase sustainability, scope and quality of Massachusetts community dispute resolution as a mechanism for increasing access to justice for all Massachusetts communities.

Structured Notes Fiasco In The Courts: A Study Of Relevant Judgments In Taiwan Between 2009 And 2010, Christopher Chao-Hung Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The purpose of this article is to analyse relevant judicial decisions in Taiwan regarding structured notes sold to retail investors. Regarding pre-sale disputes, one issue was that investors failed to read contractual documents properly before signing contracts, so there was a question whether they could later claim a bank’s violation of its duty to explain. This article favours the view that an investor’s signature may exempt a bank’s duty, provided that investors are made aware of relevant warnings. In addition, for suitability assessment, relevant judgments show that customers were too easily classified as active investors based on a simple questionnaire. …

The Machinery Of Criminal Justice, Stephanos Bibas

All Faculty Scholarship

Two centuries ago, the American criminal justice was run primarily by laymen. Jury trials passed moral judgment on crimes, vindicated victims and innocent defendants, and denounced the guilty. But over the last two centuries, lawyers have taken over the process, silencing victims and defendants and, in many cases, substituting a plea-bargaining system for the voice of the jury. The public sees little of how this assembly-line justice works, and victims and defendants have largely lost their day in court. As a result, victims rarely hear defendants express remorse and apologize, and defendants rarely receive forgiveness. This lawyerized machinery has purchased …

The Rome I Regulation Rules On Party Autonomy For Choice Of Law: A U.S. Perspective, Ronald A. Brand

Articles

This chapter was presented at a conference in Dublin on the (then) new Rome I Regulation of the European Union in the fall of 2009. It contrasts the Rome I rules on party autonomy with those in the United States. In particular, it considers the rules in the Rome I Regulation that ostensibly protect consumers by discouraging party agreement on a pre-dispute basis to the law governing a consumer contract. These rules are compared with the absence of private international law restrictions on choice of forum and choice of law in the United States, even in consumer contracts. The result …

For Both Love And Money: Viviana Zelizer's "The Purchase Of Intimacy", Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

Viviana Zelizer’s recent book, The Purchase of Intimacy (2005) presents an innovative theory of how social and legal actors negotiate rights and obligations when money changes hands in intimate relationships--a perspective that could change how we understand many things, from valuations of homemaking labor to the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. This essay describes Zelizer’s critique of the reductionist “Hostile Worlds” and “Nothing But” approaches to economic exchange in intimate relationships, then explains her more three-dimensional approach, “Connected Lives.” While Zelizer focuses on family law, the essay goes beyond that context, extending Zelizer’s approach to transfers of genetic material, and concluding …

Wikitruth Through Wikiorder, David A. Hoffman, Salil K. Mehra

All Faculty Scholarship

How does large-scale social production coordinate individual behavior to produce public goods? Hardin (1968) denied that the creation of public goods absent markets or the State is possible. Benkler (2006), Shirky (2008), Zittrain (2008), and Lessig (2008) recently countered that the needed coordination might emerge though social norms. However, the means to this coordination is under-theorized. Focusing on Wikipedia, we argue that the site’s dispute resolution process is an important force in promoting the public good it produces, i.e., a large number of relatively accurate public encyclopedia articles. We describe the development and shape of Wikipedia’s existing dispute resolution system. …

Private Rights And Collective Governance: A Functional Approach To Natural Resources Law, Eric T. Freyfogle

The Future of Natural Resources Law and Policy (Summer Conference, June 6-8)

4 pages.

"Eric T. Freyfogle, Max L. Rowe Professor of Law, University of Illinois College of Law"

Law, Culture, And Conflict: Dispute Resolution In Postwar Japan, Eric Feldman

All Faculty Scholarship

The 1963 publication of Takeyoshi Kawashima’s “Dispute Resolution in Contemporary Japan” has indelibly influenced the study of law and conflict in postwar Japan. A mere nineteen text pages of Arthur Taylor von Mehren’s seven hundred–page volume, Law in Japan: The Legal Order in a Changing Society, Kawashima’s observations about the infrequency of litigation in Japan, and his emphasis on the sociocultural context of conflict, continue to resonate. As a noted scholar of Japanese law has succinctly written, “Virtually every scholarly work [about Japanese law] in the last thirty-five years has been framed in some way or another by the conceptual …