Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons^™

Reimagining The Path Forward: Preparing And Promoting The Next Generation Of Arbitrators Through Innovative Mentorship, Disclosure, And Transparency, Homer C. La Rue

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The article addresses a pivotal moment for the labor-management arbitration profession. As demographic changes and the growing complexity of labor relations coincide with a decline in the number of qualified arbitration professionals, Professor La Rue emphasizes the critical role senior arbitrators play as mentors and gatekeepers for the next generation. The piece explores mentorship models, including the traditional “Legacy Method” and initiatives designed to expand opportunities for underrepresented groups, such as the Ray Corollary Initiative. The article also offers actionable recommendations to advance disclosure and transparency, including: (1) reducing barriers to entry for new arbitrators; (2) establishing a formal mentorship …

Cultural Considerations: A Discussion Of Schematic Information Processing In African Plea Bargaining, Emma Joy Mcarthy

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Plea bargaining is a prominent form of alternative dispute resolution: it is the method of resolution for nearly 98% of criminal convictions in the United States and is growing in popularity worldwide, including across the continent of Africa. In many ways, plea bargaining reflects traditional restorative justice models practiced in Africa prior to the introduction of adversarial and retributive Western practices. This comment discusses schematic information processing, exploring how cultural influences shape the schemas held by members of African nations in contrast to Western ways of thinking. A deep value for community and an emphasis on relationships is at the …

How Law Schools Can Better Cultivate A Culture Of Engagement And Dialogue, Anton Sorkin

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

For the last few years, a competing culture has developed on university campuses based on what the National Jurist called the “protest generation.” These developments have seeped into law schools, creating not only tensions with the administrations, but also tensions between student organizations seeking to participate in accordance with their mission and purpose. Given the importance of legal education and the role of attorneys in society, this article advocates for law schools to cultivate a culture of engagement and dialogue by establishing private forums where student leaders may work out their differences in a civil and constructive manner. Within these …

Arbitrating Justice: The Rise Of Mandatory Clauses, The Evolution Of Case Law, And The Future Of The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau In A Shifting Legal Landscape, Florence Shu-Blankson

Marquette Law Review

Mandatory arbitration clauses have become a common fixture in consumer and employment contracts, requiring individuals to resolve disputes through private arbitration rather than in court. These provisions often preclude class actions and limit appellate rights, raising significant concerns about transparency, fairness, and access to justice. While advocates argue that arbitration offers efficiency and cost savings, critics contend it erodes legal protection and disproportionately favors corporate interests. This Article explores the legal evolution of mandatory arbitration, focusing on key U.S. Supreme Court decisions—including Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, and Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis—that have progressively …

Lawyers' Client-Inclusive Negotiations: The "New Mediation"?, Nancy A. Welsh, Donna Shestowsky

Faculty Scholarship

When proponents initially urged the courts to institutionalize mediation for the resolution of general civil cases, they argued that the procedure would be superior to trial—and also to lawyers’ settlement negotiations—in terms of parties’ exercise of self-determination, satisfaction with outcomes, and opportunity for voice. These claims, however, rested on certain assumptions, particularly regarding the implementation of mediation and lawyers’ settlement negotiations. In mediation, the parties were to take center stage, with the mediator assisting them by facilitating their communication and negotiation so that they could reach a customized resolution. Lawyers’ settlement negotiations in general civil litigation, meanwhile, were assumed to …

Collective Judo: Ethics And Access To Justice In Mass Arbitration Companies, Michael Doman

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Over the past five years, several law firms have engaged in “mass arbitration.” This strategy involves aggregating hundreds or thousands of arbitrations and filing them all at once against a company, sometimes forcing the company to either pay huge sums to defend all the claims or settle with all the claimants. This Article discusses how mass arbitration coordinated by nonlawyers and companies should be legally protected by courts and regulators, provided that companies in this space erect specific ethical safeguards. Most notably, mass arbitration companies should implement better procedures to obtain informed consent from their customers, using technology to lower …

Revisiting “Mandatory Mediation: An Oxymoron?” Advancing Access To Civil Justice Through Mandatory Adr, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Access to civil justice, a concept integral to the rule of law, has been an enduring concern in many countries. One prominent strategy to enhance access to civil justice entails the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods prior to court adjudication. In this regard, efforts to embed ADR within the court system have intensified in both England and Wales and Singapore. In Singapore, the parties have a duty to consider ADR prior to and during civil proceedings. More significantly, the courts have been empowered to order parties to attempt ADR. In a similar vein, the English Court of Appeal …

Arbitration As An Alternative To Judicial Settlement: Some Selected Perspectives, Mashall E. Lippman

Maine Law Review

The increasing interest in arbitration as a means of judicial reform has been largely due to the fact that arbitration provides a forum for dispute settlement apart from the traditional judicial system. In other words, arbitration is regarded as a useful reform measure primarily because it affords potential litigants a forum other than the already over-burdened courts. Little consideration has been given to the possibility that in some areas arbitration may in fact be both a better forum and a better method of resolving disputes than the traditional judicial system. This article will discuss three areas, areas which are susceptible …

Heirs' Property Disputes: Evaluating Adr Forums To Change The Status Quo, Karina Grobman

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Heirs’ property—a form of communal ownership passed down through generations—is a symbol of family legacy in the South. Disputes between families and developers create a disparate loss of land among Black families in the South, often through court-ordered partition actions. Although some states adopted the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act (UPHPA) to reform partition sales, most courts still force sales of the entire property rather than more equitable divisions. This Comment explores various alternative dispute resolution (ADR) forums as a more just and efficient path to resolve heirs’ property disputes. Although the multi-party nature of heirs’ property disputes makes …

A Uniform, National Body Of Law To Govern The Enforcement Of Arbitration Agreements, Imre S. Szalai

American University Business Law Review

The heart of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) is section 2, which contains a federal mandate that arbitration agreements are valid, irrevocable, and enforceable; the FAA's remaining provisions help carry out this mandate.

Bringing Section 7 Into The Next Century, Amy J. Schmitz, David M. Brodsky

American University Business Law Review

In 1925, Congress passed a historic piece of legislation, the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), that attempted to change the American judiciary's hostility towards enforcing arbitration agreements and awards. This hostility was rooted in English common law and migrated to the American civil justice system. But in 1925, Congress gave life to the broad use of executory agreements to enforce compliance with contracts through arbitration.

The Right To Arbitrate(?): Integrating Consumer Protection Into Judicial Review Of The Mccarran-Ferguson Act And The New York Convention, Rachel Bamberger

American University Business Law Review

International commercial arbitration has grown increasingly popular as an alternative method of dispute resolution. This Comment explores the struggle courts face when they must determine whether to apply the New York Convention, an international treaty that recognizes and compels arbitration agreements, or a federal statute known as the McCarran-Ferguson Act, which delegates authority to the states to regulate insurance. Conflict arises when foreign insurers seek to compel arbitration under the New York Convention in states with antiarbitration insurance laws, and courts must choose between upholding domestic state laws or honoring the Treaty.

This Comment examines the method of analysis used …

Repeal The Federal Arbitration Act's "Arising Out Of" Requirement, Stephen J. Ware

American University Business Law Review

Suppose Pfizer and CVS agree to arbitrate not only any disputes that might arise out of their contract containing an arbitration agreement but also any disputes that might arise out of any of the many earlier contracts between these two large corporations. Or Apple and Samsung agree to arbitrate any patent infringement claims either has against the other for the next five years. Or FedEx and UPS agree to arbitrate any tort claims either has against the other due to any collision of their vehicles in the next ten years. Or members of the Walton (Walmart) family agree to arbitrate …

Section 4 -- Jury, Trial: A Misnomer In The Faa, Tracey B. Frisch

American University Business Law Review

The purpose of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), according to the Supreme Court, was not merely to reverse judicial hostility towards arbitration by placing agreements to arbitrate on the same footing as other contracts but to actively promote the use of arbitration on a national scale. It is not surprising then that most provisions of the FAA envision limited court intervention into the arbitration process.

The Problem Of Unreasoned Reasoned Awards And The Judicial Failure To Remedy It: Statutory And Rule Solutions, John B. Mcarthur, Mark Travis

American University Business Law Review

American arbitrators have long been choosing between two common forms of awards: "reasoned awards" and "standard awards" with no reasons enumerated. Yet neither arbitration rules nor statutes define "reasoned award." This lack of guidance has gotten arbitration in trouble and threatens its ability to satisfy users' needs.

Towards The Faa's Next Century: Clarifying Disclosure Requirements In Arbitration, Andrea K. Schneider, Brian Farkas

American University Business Law Review

In the summer of 2024, all eyes were on Paris. Thousands of athletes from over 200 countries competed in over 300 sports. The Olympics is nationalism at its healthiest: cheering for one's own nation, while recognizing the fundamentally transnational human values of pluralism, diversity, and aspiration.

Facilitating Trust Arbitration By Amending The Federal Arbitration Act, S. I. Strong

American University Business Law Review

Over the last few years, a new dispute resolution procedure has burst onto the domestic and international stage: trust arbitration, which allows an arbitration provision located in a trust to trigger arbitration of "internal" trust disputes arising either between trust beneficiaries or between beneficiaries and the trustee.

Is Parenting Authority A Usurpation Of Judicial Authority? Harmonizing Authority For, Benefits Of, And Limitations On This Legal-Psychological Hybrid, Joi T. Montiel

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

A “Parenting Coordinator” assists high-conflict parents in resolving disputes that arise in the parents’ efforts to jointly parent their children after a divorce. The Parenting Coordinator simultaneously educates the parents so as to minimize the degree and frequency of future conflict. While Parenting Coordination is not mediation or arbitration, it is also not counseling. Instead, Parenting Coordination is a “legal-psychological hybrid.” A trial court’s delegation to one in this hybrid role the power to determine a fit parent’s access to her child is arguably an improper delegation of judicial authority. While thirteen states have comprehensive schemes setting out their Parenting …

The Adr Movement: Theoretical Aspects And Practical Potential, Craig A. Mcewen

Maine Law Review

My mission in this paper is to draw upon what we know from the active and lively domestic dispute resolution movements in the United States, Canada, and beyond to identify some of the prospects for and potential problems in developing a dispute resolution system for Canadian-United States trade disputes. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is flourishing in the 1980's. Increasing numbers of individuals as well as public and private programs identify their work as alternative dispute resolution. These include private mediation practitioners, ADR partners in major law firms, private organizations such as EnDispute, which will arrange mini-trials and other dispute resolution …

Privatizing Dispute Resolution Under The Free Trade Agreement: Truth Or Fancy?, Leon E. Trakman

Maine Law Review

Replete with evidence of extensive forum shopping, unending discovery procedures, and countless delays in the formal adjudicatory process, the case for an alternative, more specialized medium for the resolution of trade disputes between the United States and Canada has grown more pressing. The problem, however, is in being convinced that the alternative, embodied in the proposed Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, addresses the deficiencies in the existing medium for dispute resolution without introducing greater social and personal costs of its own. A government, in distancing itself from dispute resolution, also separates itself from the process through which social problems are …

Dispute Resolution Provisions Of The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement, David P. Cluchey

Maine Law Review

Dispute resolution is a major focus of the recently signed Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. This focus was heavily influenced by two factors. The first is a significant continuing concern about the dispute resolution procedures and mechanisms under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The second factor is the general Canadian perception that trade proceedings under United States law are substantially influenced by political concerns and that under a trade agreement, Canadian businesses would need some protection from United States trade regulation. The general dispute resolution provisions of the Free Trade Agreement, which are found primarily in Chapter …

Dispute Settlement Mechanisms Under The Free Trade Agreement, Ton J.M. Zuijdwijk

Maine Law Review

The purpose of this paper is to review the dispute settlement mechanisms that are contained in the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. The two countries reached agreement on the main features of the Free Trade Agreement on October 3, 1987. Thereafter, the elements of the Agreement were converted into the legal text of the Free Trade Agreement and signed by Prime Minister Mulroney and President Reagan on January 2, 1988. Legislation implementing the Free Trade Agreement has been introduced in the Parliament of Canada and in the United States Congress. In Canada the ordinary rules for legislative enactments will apply. …

Canadian Acceptance Of International Commercial Arbitration, John E.C. Brierly

Maine Law Review

A few years ago it would have been impossible to speak of Canadian "acceptance" of international commercial arbitration. Canada had not adhered to any international convention on arbitration, and Canadian legislation did not specifically regulate arbitration in commercial dealings or when it involved some non-national element. There was no federal enactment on the subject. Canadian provincial legislation, whether the civil law of Quebec or the common law of the rest of Canada, had not greatly evolved from the 19th century position expressed in legislation based upon the legal traditions of France and the United Kingdom of the same period. No …

A Canadian Perspective On U.S. Administered Protection And The Free Trade Agreement, Alan M. Rugman

Maine Law Review

The negotiation of the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement over the 1986-1988 period builds upon over 130 years of bilateral trade and investment policy. With Canada's economy being roughly one-tenth the size of that of the United States, the negotiation of commercial arrangements to govern the bilateral trade and investment relationship assumes great importance in the smaller partner. The size asymmetry means that Canada, as the smaller nation, needs to secure a rules-based system rather than a power-based system in its trading relationship with the United States, which accounts for nearly 80% of its exports. Canada is also the largest …

The Reception Of Arbitration In United States Law, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Maine Law Review

The willingness of any national legal system to endorse the process of arbitral adjudication can be measured by whether its governing statutory law and accompanying case law sustain the validity of arbitration agreements and limit judicial supervision of arbitral proceedings and awards—in effect, whether the laws of a nation establish a cooperative relationship between the courts and the arbitral process. On both scores, United States law on arbitration evinces a clear determination to support the process. The development of the law has given the framework of arbitral adjudication its necessary systemic autonomy. Since 1970, when the United States ratified the …

Alternative Dispute Resolution In International Trade And Business, Thomas E. Carbonneau

Maine Law Review

This workshop, which was held at the University of Maine School of Law on May 27, 1987, consisted of an informal discussion among an interdisciplinary group of experts. The purpose of the workshop was to generate ideas and recommendations regarding the utility of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in international trade and business, with special reference to Canadian-United States trade relations. The discussion also explored the possible commonalties of domestic and international dispute resolution in the hope of developing a basis for a generic alternative dispute resolution methodology.

Foreword, Charles S. Colgan

Maine Law Review

The Free Trade Agreement concluded between the United States and Canada, and signed on January 2, 1988, has a number of features that distinguish it among the trade agreements of the United States. It eliminates all tariffs, reduces restrictions on business travel, and establishes ground rules for trade in services and for foreign investment. In this latter respect, the Agreement is unique among major international trade agreements of the world. But one of the most enduring aspects of the Agreement is likely to be the provisions establishing a series of dispute settlement mechanisms. This last observation would probably surprise almost …

Introduction To Symposium: Alternative Dispute Resolution In Canada-United States Trade Relations, George J. Mitchell

Maine Law Review

The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) movement in law arose domestically as the pressures on our court system threatened to deprive individual citizens of their "day in court." Maine is a leader in the development and elaboration of the principles and practicalities that must be mastered for ADR mechanisms to function. The University of Maine School of Law symposium examining the application of ADR principles to international disputes focuses specifically on the trade relationship between the United States and Canada. But its examination of both the innovations and limitations of ADR to the resolution of international disputes is broader than this …

Fitting The Communication Forum To The Mediation Fuss: Choosing The Appropriate Communication Mode For Mediation In The Post-Pandemic World, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, mediations have shifted dramatically from face-to-face settings to the virtual realm, resulting in the widespread acceptance of using virtual communication channels, including videoconferencing, audio calls, and text messaging. With the waning of the pandemic, mediators and parties presently face a plethora of choices in fitting their mediation to the appropriate communication channel. Thus, having an accurate, evidence-based understanding of different communication modes’ impact on mediation is necessary to design an optimal mediation process. Some decades ago, Sander and Goldberg formulated the phrase “fitting the forum to the fuss” to describe the process of choosing the most …

From Hunch To Analysis: Risk Management In Tiered Dispute Resolution Processes, Troy L. Harris

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The dispute resolution is process is filled with risk that decision-makers must identify, analyze, and manage. Risks can include unclear and conflicting objectives and uncertainties regarding strategic alternatives. While many litigators are adept at identifying these risks, systematic analysis and management of them is not typically part of lawyers’ education or training. And yet there is a rich body of management scholarship devoted to risk analysis and decision-making based upon multiple criteria. This article brings the insights of this management literature to bear upon a phenomenon commonly found in relational contracting, the “tiered” dispute resolution process. The article demonstrates that …