The District Court for the Southern District of New York has awarded attorney's fees to a party who incurred those expenses responding to a motion to vacate an arbitration award, upon a finding that the motion was brought without any legal basis, and constituted "a largely dilatory effort."...
At the ABA Annual Meeting this week I will be privileged and honored to be entrusted with the Chair of the Dispute Resolution Committee of the Business Law Section for a three-year term. The Committee is growing in size and influence, and will be associated with several CLE offerings. ...
Karol Denniston of Schiff Hardin has brought our attention to recently enacted legislation in California requiring mediation, in most instances, before a municipality may seek protection under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy laws. The new law (Assembly Bill 506) requires a municipality to either participate in a 60-day "neutral evaluation process"...
Amid the confusion of various holdings on arbitrability, and who decides arbitrability, and how parties decide who decides arbitrability, comes a lucid and calm opinion from the Superior Court of New Jersey Appellate Division in Merrill Lynch v. Cantone Research....
Tom Stipanowich has called the recent Supreme Court arbitration rulings the "Third Trilogy." The Circuit Courts of Appeals appear to be having trouble interpreting these influential holdings, and are coming up with awkward and inconsistent guidance. Courts of Appeal for at least six Circuits have weighed in during the past 60-90...
Bob Mnookin of Harvard's Program on Negotiation has a buddy named Spock. Spock is available to Bob whenever, like Faust, Bob meets the Devil and is enticed to cut a deal with him. In his 2010 volume, Bargaining With the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight, we get the opportunity...
The final paper from a student in the International Commercial Dispute Resolution course at New York Law School discusses the present state of commercial mediation, conciliation and arbitration in selected jurisdictions in Africa. The author also identifies certain political and commercial attributes that are missing in the region and that,...