Commercial Law Commons^™

The High Cost Of Mandatory Consumer Arbitration, Mark E. Budnitz

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Gollum, Meet Sméagol: A Schizophrenic Rumination On Mediator Values Beyond Self-Determination And Neutrality, James R. Coben

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Let me begin by declaring my biases. First, I am a dissatisfied consumer of mediation services, having represented both employment discrimination and family law clients in mediations. The mediators' rapid retreat to caucus, their tendency to incorrectly evaluate my clients' cases, and their strong push for particular settlement structures while simultaneously proclaiming process neutrality, all too frequently have left me (and my clients) disappointed and disillusioned. Second, I am a chronicler of "mediation car wrecks" - a voyeur, if you will, of those times when mediations go so badly that the parties end up disputing about them in court. Third, …

Uncitral, Its Workings In International Arbitration And A New Model Conciliation Law, William K. Slate Ii, Seth H. Lieberman, Joseph R. Weiner, Marko Micanovic

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

"The [UNCITRAL] was created by the General Assembly in 1966 to enable the United Nations to play a more active role in reducing or removing legal obstacles to the flow of international trade." The U.N. recognized that various economic and legal differences existed between States. These differences were the source of many of the problems that hindered the advancement of an integrated international trade system. "The General Assembly considered it desirable that the process of harmonization and unification of the law of international trade be substantially coordinated, systemized, accelerated, and that a broader participation by States be secured."

Valuation Averaging: A New Procedure For Resolving Valuation Disputes, Keith Sharfman

Rutgers Law School (Newark) Faculty Papers

In this Article, Professor Sharfman addresses the problem of "discretionary valuation": that courts resolve valuation disputes arbitrarily and unpredictably, thus harming litigants and society. As a solution, he proposes the enactment of "valuation averaging," a new procedure for resolving valuation disputes modeled on the algorithmic valuation processes often agreed to by sophisticated private firms in advance of any dispute. He argues that by replacing the discretion of judges and juries with a mechanical valuation process, valuation averaging would cause litigants to introduce more plausible and conciliatory valuations into evidence and thereby reduce the cost of valuation litigation and increase the …

Mass Toxic Tort Litigation And Class Action Rule Reform In The United States, Jason L. Betts

ExpressO

The paper advances the proposition that mass toxic tort litigation has been the predominant driver of class action rule reform in the Unites States. Through three distinct phases of proposals to reform Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the judicial and academic attitude to the certification of mass toxic torts has influenced the reform debate in radically different ways – initially by providing the catalyst for efforts to reform Rule 23; then as a dampener against significant reforms to Rule 23 in the wake of mass toxic tort “settlement-only” classes; and ultimately as an explanation for the …

The Problem With Arbitration Agreements, Stephen J. Choi

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Arbitration procedures today have become highly standardized. Institutions such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), and the American Arbitration Association Center for International Dispute Resolution (AAA) each have detailed provisions for administering arbitration proceedings (often involving parties of different nationalities). Parties entering into arbitration can expect to have limited discovery, a hearing, and the ability to bring attorneys to the proceedings. While typically providing less process than formal court proceedings, the standardized nature of arbitration can lead parties to view arbitration much like court proceedings--a fixed, pre-determined process to settle disputes. Thomas …

Consumer And Employment Arbitration Law In Comparative Perspective: The Importance Of The Civil Jury, Stephen J. Ware

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is The U.S. Out On A Limb? Comparing The U.S. Approach To Mandatory Consumer And Employment Arbitration To That Of The Rest Of The World, Jean R. Sternlight

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Income Tax Treaty Arbitration, William W. Park

Faculty Scholarship

Notwithstanding similar fiscal objectives, countries that conclude income tax treaties often arrive at radically different results when treaty language is applied to a practical problem. The task of resolving disagreement on treaty interpretation falls either to national courts or to joint efforts by the tax administrations to work out differences on a voluntary basis. Neither alternative is satisfactory. Judicial proceedings lack political neutrality and yield inconsistent results. And the process for "mutual agreement" among competent fiscal authorities is fraught with delays and uncertainty.

Should The Law Ignore Commercial Norms? A Comment On The Bernstein Conjuncture And Its Relevance For Contract Law Theory And Reform, Jason Scott Johnston

Michigan Law Review

Professor Bernstein's study of the interaction between private law and norms in the cotton industry is the latest installment in her ongoing investigation into the relationship between law and norms in trades ranging from the diamond market to grain and feed markets. Her incredibly detailed and thorough exploration of private lawmaking and commercial norms - and their interaction - stands as one of the most significant contributions to contract and commercial law scholarship made in the last half-century. The cotton industry study upon which I focus in this Comment not only reports fascinating findings about dispute resolution practices, but also …

Private Commercial Law In The Cotton Industry: Creating Cooperation Through Rules, Norms, And Institutions, Lisa Bernstein

Michigan Law Review

The cotton industry has almost entirely opted out of the public legal system, replacing it with one of the oldest and most complex systems of private commercial law. Most contracts for the purchase andsale of domestic cotton, between merchants or between merchants andmills, are neither consummated under the Uniform Commercial Code("Code") nor interpreted and enforced in court when disputes arise. Rather, most such contracts are concluded under one of several privately drafted sets of contract default rules and are subject to arbitration in one of several merchant tribunals. Similarly, most international sales of cotton are governed neither by state-supplied legal …

International Judicial Practice And The Written Form Requirement For International Arbitration Agreements, Jing Wang

Washington International Law Journal

The requirement that international commercial arbitration agreements must be made in writing is well accepted in most countries and has become a uniform practice in international commercial arbitration law. This is due in large part to the widespread acceptance of the Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards ("New York Convention"). Article II (1) provides that "each Contracting State shall recognize an agreement in writing." The term "agreement in writing" is defined in Article 11 (2) of the Convention as "an arbitral clause in a contract or an arbitration agreement, signed by the parties or contained in an …

Reinventing The Deal: A Sequential Approach To Analyzing Claims For Enforcement Of Modified Sales Contracts, Irma S. Russell

Faculty Works

This article explores the legal and economic complexities surrounding the enforcement of modified sales contracts under Section 2-209 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC). While contract modification allows parties to adapt agreements to changing circumstances, courts have struggled with the absence of a consistent standard for determining when such modifications should be enforced. The discussion critiques the ambiguity of the UCC’s “good faith” requirement and the unpredictability it creates in judicial decision-making. To address these issues, the article proposes a “sequential approach” that examines each stage of the modification process, requiring the initiating party to demonstrate reasonable grounds for seeking …

International Commercial Arbitration And Information Technology, Ganesh Chandru

Student Works (2000-2009)

The thesis is divided into six chapters and it endeavors to describe the interface between International Commercial Arbitration and Information Technology. The use of computers, e-mail, online conferences and the Internet have two-fold impact on arbitration. On the one hand it sets new standards in International Commerce. Electronic Commerce is an example. Intellectual Property issues also arise over the Internet. The issues at stake with respect to arbitration are, can arbitration be a means of dispute resolution in this context? After a general introduction in the first chapter, the kinds of disputes that may arise over Internet and in Electronic …

Public Policy Defense In International Commercial Arbitration, Mingqiang Qian

LLM Theses and Essays

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how public policy defense functions in international commercial arbitration and whether it will block the development of international commercial arbitration. Chapter II deals with the role of public policy in international private law. This chapter examines the origins of public policy in common law countries and its functions in international private law. It is difficult to evaluate public policy as a precise concept because of its relative nature. Nevertheless, to limit its application in international private law, legal scholars have tried to clarify differences between domestic public policy, international public policy, and …

Commercial Arbitration In The U.S.: The Arbitrability Of Disputes Arising From Statute-Based Claims, Sylvie Frankignoul

LLM Theses and Essays

A leading contemporary expert in arbitration has explained: "The concept of arbitrability determines the point at which the experience of contractual freedom ends and the public mission of adjudication begins. In effect, it establishes a dividing line between the transactional pursuit of private rights and courts' role as custodians and interpreters of the public interest." 1 A major part of the arbitrability doctrine deals with the kind of claims that can fall within the scope of agreements for private dispute resolution. Arbitration clauses are an integral part of the parties' transactions. Nevertheless, the American judiciary historically has refused to enforce …

Awarding Costs And Attorneys' Fees In International Commercial Arbitrations, John Yukio Gotanda

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article examines the practice of awarding costs and fees in international commercial arbitrations. Part I reviews the history of awarding costs and fees and the approaches that countries have adopted to resolve these claims. It concludes that an overwhelming number of countries permit such awards and follow the principle that the losing party should reimburse the prevailing party for expenses incurred in connection with the arbitration, including attorneys' fees. Part II examines the approaches used by international arbitral tribunals in resolving claims for costs and fees and finds that they are inadequate. Part Ill proposes a new model for …

The Protection Of International Investment At The Start Of The Twenty-First Century: Will Anachronistic Notions Of Business Render Irrelevant The Oecd's Multilateral Agreement On Investment, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1201 (1998), Michael P. Avramovich

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Interpretation Of The Remedial Provisions Of The Cisg, Evelina Wilhelmina Innocentia Visser

LLM Theses and Essays

The drafting process of the most successful international uniform law of the last decades, the 1980 United Nations Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) reflected that in order to become a set of "well-balanced subsidiary rules," international uniform must be drafted and implemented carefully. It is essential that an international uniform law is adapted to diverse cultures. The different needs and demands of the varied socio-economic systems and legal structures, perceptions, procedures, and cultures of the distinct legal systems of this world are a main and omnipresent consideration and must be capable of absorbing the unified law. Either …

Time To Try Mediation Of International Commercial Disputes, Harold Abramson

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Aspects Of The Uncitral Regimes For Procurement And For International Commercial Arbitration, And Government International Commercial Contracts In The Commonwealth Caribbean, Hugh A. Rawlins

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Enforcement Of International Arbitral Awards, Davd Levon Shahzadeyan

LLM Theses and Essays

The primary objective of this thesis is to show the proposals that have been made in order to amend the New York Convention. This study tries to analyze the problems that the proposed modifications seek to eliminate. In general these proposals were aimed at amending the Convention in order to widen the scope of application of the Convention and to eliminate the difficulties with the enforcement of arbitral awards in national courts Chapter two of this study gives a historical overview of the multilateral enforcement conventions prior to the New York Convention and a brief drafting history of the New …

Resolving Economic Disputes In Russia's Market Economy, Karen Halverson

Michigan Journal of International Law

The purpose of this paper is to examine the recent transformation of state arbitrazh into economic courts along with the development of commercial arbitration in Russia, and to consider the relative utility of these mechanisms for resolving disputes in Russia's evolving market economy. Part I describes state arbitrazh and details its evolution into the existing system of economic courts. Part II discusses the past and recent development of commercial arbitration in Russia as an alternative to litigating domestic disputes. Part III considers various social and historic factors that hinder genuine reform.

Globalisation Of Contract Law: Rules For Commercial Contracts In The 21st Century, Whitmore Gray

Articles

This is a paper given at the Asia-Pacific Lawyers Association meeting held in Bangkok in November 1995. The author describes the principles of international commercial contracts published in 1994 by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law. Professor Gray sees a new era of harmonisation of contract law. An appendix gives an abstract of a contract law decision given by an Austrian Court in 1994.

Arbitration Of Disputes Between Consumers And Financial Institutions: A Serious Threat To Consumer Protection, Mark E. Budnitz

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

American Conflicts Scholarship And The New Law Merchant, Friedrich K. Juenger

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Professor Juenger argues that both the unilateralist and the multilateralist schools of thought share a fixation on the idea that law must emanate from the power of a sovereign state. The author points out that such a view of law is a historic; that, in the past, merchants relied on a substantive body of supranational rules that transcended national borders. This Article discusses the contemporary significance of the law merchant for law professors, law students, and practitioners.

The author explains how the practices of contemporary transnational commercial enterprises, as well as the opinions of contemporary scholars , support the idea …

Predisposed With Integrity: The Elusive Quest For Justice In Tripartite Arbitrations, Deseriee A. Kennedy

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments In Inter-American Commercial Arbitration, Charles Robert Norberg

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Arbitration has become an effective procedure for resolving international commercial disputes in the Western Hemisphere. A framework of treaties exists, establishing substantive law and procedure for that purpose. The United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (1958) has been ratified by sixteen Western Hemisphere countries. The Inter-American Convention on International Commercial Arbitration (1975) has been ratified by thirteen countries. Furthermore, the World Bank's Convention establishing the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes has been ratified by four Latin American countries and six anglophobe Western Hemisphere countries and it has been signed but not …

Non-Lawyers In International Commercial Arbitration: Gathering Splinters On The Bench, James E. Meason, Alison G. Smith

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In light of the frequent appearance of arbitration clauses in international contracts, and the volume of litigation handled in this manner, international commercial arbitration' has become a favorite subject of commentators who have primarily focused on the relative benefits of arbitration versus litigation and cross-institutional rules comparisons. One area that has received scant attention is the factors concerning the actual selection of particular individuals to serve as arbitrators. This article looks at how arbitrators are chosen today within the institutional context. Following this are general discussions of selected professions for indications of their members' inherent suitability for and adaptability to …

The International Arbitrator: From The Perspective Of The Icc International Court Of Arbitration, Stephen R. Bond

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In short, an arbitrator must have what Professor Pierre Lalive has called the "ability to judge," which implies a capacity to evaluate conflicting statements of law and/or fact and to have the wisdom, courage and expertise to reach and render a decision in such a way that the parties - and perhaps most of all the losing party - will recognize both the essential fairness of the procedure and the futility of efforts to overturn the award or oppose its execution. Only when this occurs, as happens in about ninety percent of ICC cases, can arbitration truly achieve the relative …