Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Open Access Articles

Table Of Contents - Issue 1

Journal of Dispute Resolution

No abstract provided.

Educating Law Students For The Practice: If I Had My Druthers , Solomon Oliver Jr.

Journal of Dispute Resolution

I address below those areas which I believe deserve some added attention from law schools, based on my experience with the lawyers who have appeared before me and my law clerks over more than nineteen years.

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What's Law Got To Do With It?: Why We Should Mediate, Rather Than Litigate, Cases Of Wrongful Life, Shawna Benston

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

In light of the legal and societal disfavor toward wrongful life suits, this Note examines the cultural, (bio)ethical, legal, and philosophical background of the wrongful life tort. While the disability rights movement and the pro-life strains of the abortion debate hope to silence proponents of wrongful life suits, the evolution of a legal right to die underscores the importance of autonomy and privacy for the individual. Philosophical exploration of prospective children-including the nonidentity problem, claim-rights and corresponding duties, and the subjunctive-threshold notion of harmhelps explain the confusion and moral conundrum that pervade the very notion of "wrongful life" and that …

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Family Court Mediation After The Financial Crisis: A Struggle Worth New York's Attention, Jessica G. Mayer

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note examines the effects of the recession on the use of mediation in New York State's family courts and argues that mediation ought to be used more, rather than less, to combat the effects of budget cuts. Section I discusses New York State's Family Court System, highlighting the system's rising caseload and dearth of resources. Section II briefly describes mediation and its use within the family court context. Section III describes the impact of the recession on NY State's Family Courts. In addition, detailed information is provided about the impact of the recession on the following programs: (1) the …

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From The People's Court To American Idol: The Relationship Between Reality Television And Arbitration, On-Air And Off, Jared Bloch

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

The first section discusses the background of the role of alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") in television, starting with the courtroom dramas that helped bring ADR to mainstream culture. Next, the Note will explore the regulations that helped to shape the television industry, in conjunction with a discussion of why the impact of these regulations is still being felt today. Then, the Note will discuss the effect that guilds, such as the Screen Actors Guild ("SAG") and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists ("AFTRA"), have on arbitration provisions and contracts as a whole, as well as a bigger picture analysis …

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The Savior Of Aggregate Litigation: The Giving Green Tree, Matthew Maggiacomo

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Section I of this Note summarizes the general background and fundamental aspects of present-day federal arbitration law. Section II highlights the recent developments in federal arbitration law, the rise of mandatory arbitration clauses, collective or class action waivers, and the Supreme Court's decision in Concepcion. Section III addresses the current confusion in the law, analyzing both the holdings of the Second and Ninth Circuits. Section IV provides guidance to the Supreme Court on how courts should handle claims in federal arbitration law's changing environment to ensure the validation of individuals' rights and predicts how the federal arbitration landscape will …

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Pricing Compliance: When Formal Remedies Displace Reputational Sanctions, Rachel Brewster

Faculty Scholarship

The conventional wisdom in international law is that dispute resolution institutions sharpen the reputational costs to states. This article challenges this understanding by examining how the inclusion of dispute resolution tribunals and remedy regimes can alter reputational analysis by shifting the audience¹s understanding of how mandatory a treaty's substantive obligations are. Drawing on the distinction between prices and sanctions, this article contests the assumption that the introduction of a remedy regime in international agreements will regularly increase compliance with the treaty¹s substantive terms. Instead, some remedy regimes may 'price' deviations from the treaty¹s terms and thereby facilitate breaches of the …

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The Asbca's Path To The Mega Adr In Computer Sciences Corporation, Paul Williams, Reba Ann Page

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

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Cornerstones, Curb Cuts, And Legal Education Reform , Judith Welch Wegner

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This essay seeks to contribute to this dialogue by offering both theoretical and practical observations about legal education reform. This approach reflects the judgment that current efforts to improve legal education will only get so far unless underlying impediments to change that are often invisible become better understood. The essay provides legal educators with theoretical insights from the design, organizational behavior, education, and psychology literature in order to help that process along. Theoretical insights can be hard to apply in the abstract, however. The essay therefore also offers practical recommendations about both small and large actions that might be taken …

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Reforming Legal Education To Prepare Law Students Optimally For Real-World Practice , John Lande

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article synthesizes some of the main points of the symposium contributors. They covered a wide range of key issues and thus this symposium provides a good overview of the challenges of and options for legal education reform. Of course, given the vast scope of the problems presented, this symposium issue of the Journal of Dispute Resolution cannot provide an all-encompassing analysis nor a comprehensive set of recommendations for reform. We do, however, hope that it will be a useful contribution to the growing movement and literature designed to improve legal education in the U.S. Part II of this article …

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What Do Clients Want From Their Lawyers, Clark D. Cunningham

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This article, however, will show how the research upon which the ABA story was based–as well as substantial research with other clients ranging from large organizations to individuals–indicates that what clients want most from their lawyers is an aspect of legal services given too little attention both in legal education and professional development: effective lawyer-client communication. After reviewing extensive social science research on causes of client dissatisfaction, this article will conclude by suggesting a variety of ways–from easy to ambitious initiatives—that law schools and law firms can provide greater emphasis on the importance of effective communication with clients, teach effective …

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Out Of The Shadows: What Legal Research Instruction Reveals About Incorporating Skills Throughout The Curriculum , Barbara Glesner Fines

Journal of Dispute Resolution

The article first examines the politics of curricular reform. Before a law school will be able to increase or improve any skills instruction, the targeted skill must be important to enough to affect the curriculum. For example, sometimes law schools send inconsistent messages about the importance of legal research instruction. While external voices such as ABA accreditation standards and surveys of the practicing bar have long-recognized importance of the skills of legal research, evidence of the importance of the skill in the law school curriculum is mixed. If asked, most faculty members will agree that a given skill, such as …

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Determining Arbitrability Of The Dispute: The Clear And Unmistakable Standard For Choice Of Law In Arbitration Agreements , Kristen Sanocki

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This note will also address the "clear and unmistakable" standard adopted by the Ninth Circuit and used to determine whether or not parties have agreed to apply non-federal arbitrability law. Based on the Ninth Circuit's reasoning in Cape Flattery Ltd. v. Titan Mar., LLC, this Note concludes that the court properly extracted a standard normally used to determine whether a court decides arbitrability as applicable to determining whether parties have sufficiently contracted for non-federal arbitrability law. Lastly, this Note will address the interpretation of arbitration clauses under federal law.

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At&T Mobility And The Future Of Small Claims Arbitration, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This article focuses on small claims arbitration and examines the impact of AT&T Mobility on the legitimacy of the process. Part II of the article describes the Supreme Court’s AT&T Mobility decision, which held that the FAA preempts a California rule that declared a class arbitration waiver in a consumer contract unconscionable. Part III describes the primary features of the two options remaining for the Concepcions—small claims court and small claims arbitration, as well as their perceived advantages and disadvantages. Part IV demonstrates that courts have endorsed simplified arbitration. Part V examines whether simplified arbitration is a fair method of …

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The Politics Of International Investment Arbitrators, Catherine A. Rogers

Faculty Scholarship

Arbitrators are the lightning rod for investment arbitration’s most contentious political debates. Investment arbitration was originally conceived as a means to depoliticize international investment law. The regime was designed to extricate investment disputes from national courts and gunboat diplomacy, entrusting them instead to a neutral law-bound process. According to its critics, however, investment arbitration is neither a neutral, nor a legitimate law-bound process. They lay most of the blame with international arbitrators. Critics contend that, instead of law and appropriate policy considerations, investment arbitrators’ decisions are often the product of extra-legal factors — from their own ideology, to the nature …

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Introduction To Volume 5 Of The Yearbook On Arbitration And Mediation, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Welsh introduces Volume 5 of the Yearbook on Arbitration and Mediation.

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Litigating Toward Settlement, Christina L. Boyd, David A. Hoffman

Scholarship@WashULaw

Civil litigation typically ends when the parties compromise. While existing theories of settlement primarily focus on information exchange, we instead examine how motion practice, especially non-discovery motions, can substantially shape parties’ knowledge about their cases and thereby influence the timing of settlement. Using docket-level federal district court data, we find a number of strong effects regarding how motions can influence this process, including that the filing of a motion significantly speeds case settlement, that granted motions are more immediately critical to settlement timing than motions denied, and that plaintiff victories have a stronger effect than defendant victories. These results provide …

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In The Shadow Of The Dsu: Addressing Specific Trade Concerns In The Wto Sps And Tbt Committees, Henrik Horn, Petros C. Mavroidis, Erik Wijkström

Faculty Scholarship

The paper argues that focusing only on disputes formally raised in the WTO Dispute Settlement system underestimates the extent of trade conflict resolution within the WTO. Both the SPS and TBT Committees address a significant number of ‘specific trade concerns’ (STCs) that in the overwhelming majority of cases do not become formal disputes. The STCs address differences between Members concerning the conformity of national measures in the SPS and TBT areas with these agreements. It appears as if Committee work on STCs significantly helps defuse potential trade frictions concerning national policies in the covered areas.

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Restituting Nazi-Looted Art: Domestic, Legislative, And Binding Intervention To Balance The Interests Of Victims And Museums, Katharine N. Skinner

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The Nazis engaged in widespread art looting from Holocaust victims, either taking the artwork outright or using legal formalities to effect a transfer of title under duress. Years later, US museums acquired some of these pieces on a good-faith basis. Now, however, they face lawsuits by the heirs of Holocaust victims, who seek to have the museums return the artwork. Though good title cannot pass to the owner of stolen property under US law, unfavorable statutes of limitations, high financial hurdles, or discovery problems, among other obstacles, bar many of these claimants from seeking recovery. Though some museums have amicably …

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Recent Developments In Third-Party Funding, Victoria Sahani

Faculty Scholarship

This article addresses recent developments in third-party funding that occurred during late 2012 and early 2013 in the three leading jurisdictions: Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The most important developments are the following. On 22 April 2013, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) issued regulatory guidelines clarifying the status of funders with respect to ASIC’s regulations and detailing how funders should manage conflicts of interest and handle certain provisions of their funding arrangements. In the United Kingdom, the Jackson Reforms took effect on 1 April 2013, bringing sweeping changes to the allowable fee agreements, discovery rules …

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A Presumptively Better Approach To Arbitrability, John A. E. Pottow, Jacob Brege, Tara J. Hawley

Articles

One of the most complex problems in the arbitration field is the question of who decides disputes over the scope of an arbitrator's purported authority. Courts in Canada and the United States have taken different approaches to this fundamental question of "arbitrability" that necessarily arises when one party disputes the contractual validity of the underlying "container" contract carrying the arbitration clause. If arbitration is a creature of contract, and contract is a product of consensual agreement, then any dispute that impugns the underlying consent of the parties to the container contract implicates the arbitration agreement itself (i.e., no contract, no …

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Drafting Arbitration Agreements: A Practioner's Guide For Consumer Credit Contracts, Nicole F. Munro, Peter L. Cockrell

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

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Embodied Conflict Resolution: Resurrecting Roleplay-Based Curricula Through Dance, Nadja Alexander, Michelle Lebaron

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Moving on from the authors’ seminal 2009 critique of the overuse of role-plays in negotiation teaching, "Death of the Role-Play" (chapter 13 in Rethinking Negotiation Teaching), Alexander and LeBaron have taken the rapidly increasing enthusiasm for experiential learning in a new direction: multiple intelligences. Their particular interest is in a use of experiential learning that focuses on kinesthetic intelligence, employing actual physical movement, particularly dance, to unlock creativity in other mental domains, as well as to encourage authentic participation by people whose skills are not primarily verbal or mathematical. Those who may be inclined to be skeptical should note that …

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Regulation Of Dispute Resolution In The United States Of America: From The Formal To The Informal To The ‘Semi-Formal’, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The story of ADR in the US is one of ‘co-optation’ of what was to be a serious challenge to formalistic and legalistic approaches to legal and social problem solving and is now highly institutionalized by its more formal use in courts. At the same time, use of private forms of dispute resolution in mediation, arbitration and newly hybridised forms of dispute resolution among disputants who can choose (and afford) to leave the formal justice system (in both large commercial matters and private family matters) has resulted in claims of increased privatization of justice, with consequences for access to …

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The U.N. Security Council's Duty To Decide, Anna Spain

Publications

When faced with a global crisis within the scope of its mandate, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC or Council) has no obligation to decide whether or not to take action. This Article argues that it should. The UNSC is the only governing body with the legal authority to authorize binding measures necessary to restore peace and security, yet neither the United Nations Charter nor the UNSC's own rules clarify the extent of its obligations. Unlike courts, the UNSC lacks a procedural rule establishing that it has a duty to decide. Unlike the United States Congress, which accepts its practical …

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Hong Kong’S New Year’S Resolution: A Single Mediator Accreditation Body, Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In this post on the Kluwer Mediation Blog, the establishment of a single body for accrediting mediators in Hong Kong is discussed.

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The Restatement Of The U.S. Law Of International Commercial Arbitration: An Interim Report, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

Despite its title, the American Law Institute's Restatement (Third) of the U.S. Law of International Arbitration is the ALI's first Restatement ever on the subject of international commercial arbitration. The ALI commissioned this Restatement not merely because the subject has become so important in international commerce, but because the American law on the subject is deeply unsettled. After all, the purpose of Restatements is to bring clarity and coherence and, where necessary, improvement to the law. Historically, Restatements have concentrated on state rather than federal law subjects precisely because of the discrepancies among the laws of the several states on …

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Multilateral Environmental Agreements In The Wto: Silence Speaks Volumes, Henrik Horn, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship

This study contributes to the debate concerning the appropriate role of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in in WTO dispute settlement. Its distinguishing feature is that it seeks to address this relationship in light of the reason why the parties have chosen to separate their obligations into two bodies of law without providing an explicit nexus between them. The basic conclusion is that legislators’ silence concerning this relationship should speak volumes to WTO adjudicating bodies: MEAs should not be automatically understood as imposing legally binding obligations on WTO Members, but could be used as sources of factual information.

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Full-Text Articles in Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Table Of Contents - Issue 1

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Educating Law Students For The Practice: If I Had My Druthers , Solomon Oliver Jr.

Journal of Dispute Resolution

What's Law Got To Do With It?: Why We Should Mediate, Rather Than Litigate, Cases Of Wrongful Life, Shawna Benston

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Family Court Mediation After The Financial Crisis: A Struggle Worth New York's Attention, Jessica G. Mayer

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

From The People's Court To American Idol: The Relationship Between Reality Television And Arbitration, On-Air And Off, Jared Bloch

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

The Savior Of Aggregate Litigation: The Giving Green Tree, Matthew Maggiacomo

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Pricing Compliance: When Formal Remedies Displace Reputational Sanctions, Rachel Brewster

Faculty Scholarship

The Asbca's Path To The Mega Adr In Computer Sciences Corporation, Paul Williams, Reba Ann Page

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Cornerstones, Curb Cuts, And Legal Education Reform , Judith Welch Wegner

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Reforming Legal Education To Prepare Law Students Optimally For Real-World Practice , John Lande

Journal of Dispute Resolution

What Do Clients Want From Their Lawyers, Clark D. Cunningham

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Out Of The Shadows: What Legal Research Instruction Reveals About Incorporating Skills Throughout The Curriculum , Barbara Glesner Fines

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Determining Arbitrability Of The Dispute: The Clear And Unmistakable Standard For Choice Of Law In Arbitration Agreements , Kristen Sanocki

Journal of Dispute Resolution

At&T Mobility And The Future Of Small Claims Arbitration, Jill I. Gross

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The Politics Of International Investment Arbitrators, Catherine A. Rogers

Faculty Scholarship

Introduction To Volume 5 Of The Yearbook On Arbitration And Mediation, Nancy A. Welsh

Faculty Scholarship

Litigating Toward Settlement, Christina L. Boyd, David A. Hoffman

Scholarship@WashULaw

In The Shadow Of The Dsu: Addressing Specific Trade Concerns In The Wto Sps And Tbt Committees, Henrik Horn, Petros C. Mavroidis, Erik Wijkström

Faculty Scholarship

Restituting Nazi-Looted Art: Domestic, Legislative, And Binding Intervention To Balance The Interests Of Victims And Museums, Katharine N. Skinner

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Recent Developments In Third-Party Funding, Victoria Sahani

Faculty Scholarship

A Presumptively Better Approach To Arbitrability, John A. E. Pottow, Jacob Brege, Tara J. Hawley

Articles

Drafting Arbitration Agreements: A Practioner's Guide For Consumer Credit Contracts, Nicole F. Munro, Peter L. Cockrell

Journal of Business & Technology Law

Embodied Conflict Resolution: Resurrecting Roleplay-Based Curricula Through Dance, Nadja Alexander, Michelle Lebaron

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Regulation Of Dispute Resolution In The United States Of America: From The Formal To The Informal To The ‘Semi-Formal’, Carrie Menkel-Meadow

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The U.N. Security Council's Duty To Decide, Anna Spain

Publications

Hong Kong’S New Year’S Resolution: A Single Mediator Accreditation Body, Nadja Alexander

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Restatement Of The U.S. Law Of International Commercial Arbitration: An Interim Report, George A. Bermann

Faculty Scholarship

Multilateral Environmental Agreements In The Wto: Silence Speaks Volumes, Henrik Horn, Petros C. Mavroidis

Faculty Scholarship