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Full-Text Articles in Law

Overcoming Roadblocks To Reaching Settlement In Family Law Cases, John M. Lande Jan 2018

Overcoming Roadblocks To Reaching Settlement In Family Law Cases, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

In “litigation as usual,” settlement often comes only after adversarial posturing, the original conflict escalates, the relationships deteriorate, the process takes too long and costs too much, and nobody is really happy with the resolution. This article describes roadblocks to negotiation and ways to overcome them to reach good settlements in family law cases.


A Blatant Inequity: Contributions To The Common Benefit Fund In Multidistrict Litigation, Jack Downing Jun 2016

A Blatant Inequity: Contributions To The Common Benefit Fund In Multidistrict Litigation, Jack Downing

Missouri Law Review

This Note analyzes the nuances of this issue and offers resolutions to its fundamental problems. Part II includes an overview of the MDL litigation, the plaintiffs’ lead counsel selection process, and the function and nature of CBFs. This Part will also include the judicial justification for creating a CBF in federal MDLs. Part III examines current problems with CBFs. In particular, this Part will focus on plaintiffs’ attorneys’ ability to use work product obtained for the federal MDL in their concurrent state court cases without having to contribute any portion of their recovery in state court to the federal CBF. …


Good Pretrial Lawyering: Planning To Get To Yes Sooner, Cheaper, And Better, John M. Lande Oct 2014

Good Pretrial Lawyering: Planning To Get To Yes Sooner, Cheaper, And Better, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

Although the ostensible purpose for pretrial litigation is to prepare for trial, such preparation is inextricably intertwined with negotiation because the expected trial outcome is a major factor affecting negotiation. Indeed, since most litigated cases are settled, good litigators prepare for negotiation at least as much as trial. The lawyers interviewed for this article, who were selected because of their good reputations, described how they prepare for both possibilities. They recommend taking charge of their cases from the outset, which includes getting a clear understanding of clients and their interests, developing good relationships with counterpart lawyers, carefully investigating the cases, …


Limits Of Procedural Choice Of Law, S. I. Strong Jan 2014

Limits Of Procedural Choice Of Law, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Commercial parties have long enjoyed significant autonomy in questions of substantive law. However, litigants do not have anywhere near the same amount of freedom to decide procedural matters. Instead, parties in litigation are generally considered to be subject to the procedural law of the forum court.

Although this particular conflict of laws rule has been in place for many years, a number of recent developments have challenged courts and commentators to consider whether and to what extent procedural rules should be considered mandatory in nature. If procedural rules are not mandatory but are instead merely “sticky” defaults, then it may …


Opening Remarks, October 4, 2013 Symposium: Resolving Ip Disputes: Calling For An Alternative Paradigm, James Levin Jan 2014

Opening Remarks, October 4, 2013 Symposium: Resolving Ip Disputes: Calling For An Alternative Paradigm, James Levin

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Today, 225 years after the Constitution was drafted, we can look back and see how the protection of individual property through our patent system has helped our country grow. In 2012 alone, there were more than 576,763 U.S. patents applications filed and 276,788 patents issued. These numbers don't include the tens of thousands of patents that were bought, sold, and licensed in the private market each year. Not surprisingly, an ever-increasing number of patents are challenged through litigation. In 2012, almost 5000 patent infringement cases were filed. Litigation expenses can easily cost each party in a dispute millions of dollars, …


Case Study In Patent Litigation Transparency, A, Bernard Chao, Derigan Silver Jan 2014

Case Study In Patent Litigation Transparency, A, Bernard Chao, Derigan Silver

Journal of Dispute Resolution

By focusing on a single high profile patent case, Monsanto v. DuPont, this article explores the problem of transparency in patent litigation from two perspectives. First, this article provides metrics for understanding the nature and quantity of documents that were filed under seal in the Monsanto case. Second, this article scrutinizes particular aspects of the case to provide a more nuanced understanding of what the public cannot see. Although primarily descriptive, this article critically analyzes the sealing of so many documents by questioning the level of judicial oversight applied in decisions to seal court filings. It then goes on to …


Cure For Collusive Settlements: The Case For A Per Se Prohibition On Pay-For-Delay Agreements In Pharmaceutical Patent Litigation, A , Michael Owens Nov 2013

Cure For Collusive Settlements: The Case For A Per Se Prohibition On Pay-For-Delay Agreements In Pharmaceutical Patent Litigation, A , Michael Owens

Missouri Law Review

This Comment will examine how the particulars of the Hatch-Waxman Act, the regulatory scheme that governs generic competition in pharmaceutical industry, gives rise to reverse settlements in infringement litigation; review existing analysis of the pay for delay problem in judicial decisions, in academic commentary, and amongst antitrust enforcement bodies; and finally, draw upon a decision theoretic framework to propose per se illegality as the appropriate antitrust rule for pay-for-delay settlements.


Class Action's Last Hope: The Argument For Federal Statutory Rights Preemption Of The Federal Arbitration Act: In Re American Express Merchants' Litigation, Matthew Reddish Jul 2013

Class Action's Last Hope: The Argument For Federal Statutory Rights Preemption Of The Federal Arbitration Act: In Re American Express Merchants' Litigation, Matthew Reddish

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This note will examine the history behind several recent federal decisions on class arbitration as well as federal antitrust laws and how antitrust laws should be enforced in the shadow of the FAA.


Lost Options For Mutual Gain? The Layperson, The Lawyer, And Dispute Resolution In Early America, Carli N. Conklin Jan 2013

Lost Options For Mutual Gain? The Layperson, The Lawyer, And Dispute Resolution In Early America, Carli N. Conklin

Faculty Publications

In 1786, legal reform activist Benjamin Austin undertook a campaign to promote the use of arbitration over litigation as the primary method of dispute resolution in Massachusetts. Although supported by a groundswell of anti-lawyer sentiment, Austin ultimately failed in securing the triumph of arbitration. Exploring Austin's pamphlet campaign in its historical context not only provides us with a snapshot of the arguments for and against dispute resolution in early America, but also serves as a corrective to the prevailing accounts of arbitration in American legal history. This article explores the context and content of Austin's pamphlet campaign and its implications …


Interim Measures , Marianne Roth Jul 2012

Interim Measures , Marianne Roth

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Traditionally, requests for interim relief have been a construct of courts. However, arbitrators are increasingly being asked to make such rulings themselves. Requesting interim relief from an arbitrator, as opposed to the court, is particularly appealing in international arbitration, where parties often engage in arbitration as a way of avoiding local courts and any home court advantage that may be associated with them. Sometimes, though, interim relief may be unavailable from the arbitral tribunal; for example, when coercion is associated with the requested measure. In such situations, the powers to grant interim measures are shared between arbitral tribunals and courts. …


Chinese Assault Rifles, Giant Pandas, And Perpetual Litigation: The Rights Without Remedies Dead-End Of The Fsia, J. F. Hulston Apr 2012

Chinese Assault Rifles, Giant Pandas, And Perpetual Litigation: The Rights Without Remedies Dead-End Of The Fsia, J. F. Hulston

Missouri Law Review

This Note will examine whether execution immunity under the FSIA may be considered sua sponte by a district court judge and the broad judicial considerations in preserving the narrow and restrictive view of the FSIA to the attachment of assets of a foreign state. To do this, this Note will review the facts and holding of Walters. This Note will then survey the legal background of sovereign immunity, the adoption of the "restrictive immunity" principle in the U.S., and the creation of the FSIA and the decisions of three appellate courts to adopt the uniform holding that district courts have …


Shooting Suspect's Release Revives The Right To A Speedy Trial In Missouri, A, Clayton Thompson Jun 2011

Shooting Suspect's Release Revives The Right To A Speedy Trial In Missouri, A, Clayton Thompson

Missouri Law Review

This Note will examine the history of the Sixth Amendment's speedy trial clause, highlighting its development within the last twenty years. It will attempt to explain the rationale behind the court's decision to dismiss the indictment of a possibly violent criminal. It will take the position that in future cases where the government is to blame for an unusually slow prosecution, the outcome of this case must be repeated to maintain the integrity of the right to a speedy trial and our criminal justice system.


Helping Good Lawyers Help Clients Make Good Decisions About Dispute Resolution, John M. Lande Oct 2010

Helping Good Lawyers Help Clients Make Good Decisions About Dispute Resolution, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

Counseling clients about dispute resolution options is easier said than done. These can be complex and difficult decisions, and lawyers may not have appropriate resources to help lawyers counsel clients in choosing dispute resolution options. While establishing rules requiring this kind of training may help to remedy this shortcoming, perhaps the most promising involves using dispute systems design (DSD) procedures to establish better ways of training lawyers to counsel clients.


A Decision-Theoretic Rule Of Reason For Minimum Resale Price Maintenance, Thom Lambert Jan 2010

A Decision-Theoretic Rule Of Reason For Minimum Resale Price Maintenance, Thom Lambert

Faculty Publications

This article evaluates these approaches from the perspective of decision theory and, finding each lacking, proposes an alternative approach to structuring the rule of reason governing RPM. Part II sets forth the decision-theoretic perspective, which seeks to maximize the net benefits of liability rules by minimizing the sum of decision and error costs. Part III then evaluates, from the standpoint of decision theory, the proposed approaches to evaluating instances of RPM. Part IV proposes an alternative evaluative approach that is more consistent with decision theory’s insights.


Is It The Real Thing: How Coke's One-Way Binding Arbitration May Bridge The Divide Between Litigation And Arbitration, Suzette M. Malveaux Jan 2009

Is It The Real Thing: How Coke's One-Way Binding Arbitration May Bridge The Divide Between Litigation And Arbitration, Suzette M. Malveaux

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article is comprised of six parts. Part I introduces the topic. Part II examines the growing prevalence of compulsory pre-dispute arbitration agreements in employment contracts and the problems with such agreements. Part III describes the challenges employees face in the federal court system: higher pleading thresholds for intentional discrimination claims, the federal judiciary's current antagonism toward employee claims of discrimination (as demonstrated by recent empirical studies), and a beleaguered EEOC. Part IV describes how Coke adopted one-way binding arbitration and explores the ways in which this alternative is preferable to both mandatory arbitration and civil litigation for employees, employers, …


Split On Sanctioning Pro Se Litigants Under 28 U.S.C. 1927: Choose Wisely When Picking A Side, Eighth Circuit, The, Kelsey Whitt Nov 2008

Split On Sanctioning Pro Se Litigants Under 28 U.S.C. 1927: Choose Wisely When Picking A Side, Eighth Circuit, The, Kelsey Whitt

Missouri Law Review

In recent years, an increasing number of pro sel litigants have appeared in federal courts. Between October 2003 and September 2004, federal district courts had over 20,000 cases filed by pro se litigants. In fact, "pro se litigants appeared in thirty-seven percent of all cases.' The increase of pro se litigation is attributed to several factors, including the rising cost of litigation combined with the decrease of funding for legal services, the negative public perception of lawyers, and the rise of do-it-yourself legal resources. Once pro se litigants enter the federal court system, their presence multiplies the resources spent by …


Practical Insights From An Empirical Study Of Cooperative Lawyers In Wisconsin, John M. Lande Jan 2008

Practical Insights From An Empirical Study Of Cooperative Lawyers In Wisconsin, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

This article reports on a study of members of the Divorce Cooperation Institute (DCI), a group of Wisconsin lawyers who use a "Cooperative" process to provide a constructive and efficient negotiation process in divorce cases. The study involved in-depth telephone interviews and several surveys of DCI members. Although DCI members use this process only in divorce cases, it can be readily adapted for other types of cases.DCI's approach generally involves an explicit process agreement at the outset, based on principles of: (1) acting civilly, (2) responding promptly to reasonable requests for information, (3) disclosing all relevant financial information, (4) obtaining …


Health Courts?, Philip G. Peters Jr. Jan 2008

Health Courts?, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

This article undertakes the first detailed critique of the proposal from Common Good and the Harvard School of Public Health to replace medical malpractice jury trials with adjudication before specialized health courts. Professor Peters concludes that the modest benefits likely to be produced by the current health court proposal are matched by the risks of bias and overreaching that these courts would also present. Missing from the plan is the doctrinal change mostly likely to improve patient safety - hospital enterprise liability. Without enterprise liability, the health court proposal is unlikely to achieve its patient safety goals and, as a …


State Legislative Update, Melissa Blair, Michael Benton, Jessica Gunder, David Lefevre Jul 2006

State Legislative Update, Melissa Blair, Michael Benton, Jessica Gunder, David Lefevre

Journal of Dispute Resolution

As of December 1, 2006, twenty-eight states have enacted some type of right to cure legislation. On April, 28, 2006, Georgia, one of the twenty-eight, amended its construction defect dispute resolution procedures to clarify the responsibilities of the parties. Pennsylvania attempted to become the twenty-ninth, the bill having passed both houses of the legislature, but the Governor vetoed the bill on March 17. Right to cure legislation was considered in South Dakota, but it was deferred to the 36th Legislative Day on February 8, 2006.


Introduction To Vanishing Trial Symposium, John M. Lande Jan 2006

Introduction To Vanishing Trial Symposium, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

This symposium shows that "vanishing trial" phenomena touch an extremely broad range of issues including transformations of society, courts, dispute resolution procedures, and even the nature of knowledge. These phenomena relate to decisions by litigants in particular cases, court systems, national policy, and international relations. This subject is too large and complex for any symposium to analyze fully, especially at this early stage of analysis. This symposium makes an important contribution to this study, with theories and evidence about the existence, nature, and extent of reductions in trials and similar proceedings. It elaborates a range of theories about possible causes …


What We Know And What We Should Know About American Trial Trends, Margo Schlanger Jan 2006

What We Know And What We Should Know About American Trial Trends, Margo Schlanger

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This brief essay first summarizes some of that knowledge-in particular, the chief features we know about the shrinking civil trial docket in federal district courts. Next, it proposes four areas of future investigation necessary to understand the contours of the trend and to assess its causes. Then, I bring together the causal hypotheses that have already been proposed, none of which has yet been securely tested. Finally, in an appended bibliography, I list data sources, reports, and scholarly analyses that will be useful to those doing future work.


Convicting The Innocent: Aberration Or Systemic Problem?, Rodney J. Uphoff Jan 2006

Convicting The Innocent: Aberration Or Systemic Problem?, Rodney J. Uphoff

Faculty Publications

In practice, the right to adequate defense counsel in the United States is disturbingly unequal. Only some American criminal defendants actually receive the effective assistance of counsel. Although some indigent defendants are afforded zealous, effective representation, many indigent defendants and almost all of the working poor are not. The quality of representation a defendant receives generally is a product of fortuity, of economic status, and of the jurisdiction in which he or she is charged. For many defendants, the assistance of counsel means little more than counsel's help in facilitating a guilty plea. With luck, money, and location primarily determining …


Enforcement Of Arbitral Awards Against Foreign States Or State Agencies, S. I. Strong Jan 2006

Enforcement Of Arbitral Awards Against Foreign States Or State Agencies, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Britain's Lord Denning once said that “as a moth is drawn to the light, so is a litigant drawn to the United States.” Certainly, as a pro-arbitration state and a signatory to various international conventions concerning the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, the United States seems a natural place to bring an action to enforce an arbitral award against a foreign state or state agency. However, suing a sovereign has not traditionally been a simple task in the United States or elsewhere. Most nations grant foreign states the presumption of immunity, thus denying that their domestic courts have jurisdiction to …


Introduction To Vanishing Trial Symposium, John Lande Jan 2006

Introduction To Vanishing Trial Symposium, John Lande

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This symposium in the Journal of Dispute Resolution takes the next step. It includes some analysis of trial court phenomena in the U.S. and expands the focus with greater emphasis on (1) investigation of trial trends outside U.S. courts, (2) explanations of the causes of changing trial patterns, (3) speculations about possible effects of changing litigation patterns, and (4) recommendations to improve the operation of the legal system.


Designer Trials, Elizabeth Thornburg Jan 2006

Designer Trials, Elizabeth Thornburg

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article is a thought experiment, or maybe a nightmare, about the intersection of freedom of contract and the trials that have not vanished. Could contracting parties effectively agree in advance of a dispute that any litigation of the case will comply with certain rules? Would such an agreement be enforced even in a contract of adhesion? If so, parties with sufficient bargaining leverage could design away many of the characteristics of litigation that they find unappealing without the need to resort to private processes. The result: a designer trial with the procedural deck stacked in favor of the party …


World Without Trials, A, Marc Galanter Jan 2006

World Without Trials, A, Marc Galanter

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Imagine some friendly visitors to America-from Europe or Asia or even from Mars-who are seeking to comprehend the American legal system. Our Martian visitors would have seen A Civil Action and The Runaway Jury at the Red Canal multiplex and surely they have seen syndicated episodes of the ubiquitous Law and Order. Upon arrival they turn on the TV news in their hotel room and scan the newspaper slipped under the door and find both saturated with accounts of square-jawed wife murderers, egomaniacal corporate executives, and freakish entertainers on trial. Unsurprisingly, our visitors readily conclude that the trial is the …


Shifting The Focus From The Myth Of "The Vanishing Trial" To Complex Conflict Management Systems, Or I Learned Almost Everything I Need To Know About Conflict Resolution From Marc Galanter, John M. Lande Apr 2005

Shifting The Focus From The Myth Of "The Vanishing Trial" To Complex Conflict Management Systems, Or I Learned Almost Everything I Need To Know About Conflict Resolution From Marc Galanter, John M. Lande

Faculty Publications

To say that The Vanishing Trial is a myth is not to suggest that the facts or analysis in Professor Marc Galanter's seminal report on the vanishing trial are fictional or inaccurate. Indeed, he marshals a massive amount of data to show that the number of trials and the trial rates have been declining for the past four decades, particularly in the federal courts. The report documents an apparent paradox: the proportion of cases going to trial has dropped sharply during the past forty years despite substantial increases in many other legal indicators including the number of lawyers, the number …


Maternity Leave Under The Fmla: An Analysis Of The Litigation Experience , Rafael Gely, Timothy D. Chandler Jan 2004

Maternity Leave Under The Fmla: An Analysis Of The Litigation Experience , Rafael Gely, Timothy D. Chandler

Faculty Publications

We begin with a brief description of trends in female labor force participation and the presence of dual-earner households in the U.S. labor market, conditions which likely led to the need for family and medical leave legislation. We then review various practices that business and government organizations have implemented to balance work and family conflicts, as well as related features of the FMLA, particularly those pertaining to childbirth and adoption. With this background in place, we introduce a framework for examining FMLA litigation. We then review cases litigated in federal court under the FMLA involving requests for family leave due …


Relations Between Lawyer And Client In Damages: Model, Typical, Or Dysfunctional?, Rodney J. Uphoff Jan 2004

Relations Between Lawyer And Client In Damages: Model, Typical, Or Dysfunctional?, Rodney J. Uphoff

Faculty Publications

This essay begins, therefore, by briefly examining the question of what constitutes good lawyering. The essay acknowledges the difficulty of defining precisely what is good lawyering. In fact, scholars, judges, and lawyers often disagree markedly when they characterize lawyer behavior using the term. Not surprising, then, even though academic commentators routinely trumpet the importance of establishing a meaningful attorney-client relationship as an important aspect of good lawyering, not all in the legal profession embrace that view.8Indeed, the debate about the importance of a good lawyer-client relationship largely reflects contrasting attitudes within the legal profession about the client's role in the …


Damages: The Litigation Environment, Stephen D. Easton Jan 2004

Damages: The Litigation Environment, Stephen D. Easton

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Damages' is, at least in part, the story of a lawsuit. In some ways, it is a fairly typical lawsuit. In other ways, it is rather unusual, due to the significant damages potential of the suit. Therefore, some of the lessons to be learned from the story of this lawsuit may be applicable to lawsuits in general or, at least, to "typical" civil suits, while others may not.