There may be some serious ADR practitioners who have not heard of Tom Stipanowich's recent articles analyzing the results of the CCA survey on trends in commercial arbitration. And for those few folks, I copy Tom's note to me, along with the links:...
The recent confluence of my Conflict Transformation work with the New York Yearly Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and the richly rewarding session offered by David Hoffman at the April 2014 Meeting of the ABA Dispute Resolution Section have made me increasingly aware of the moral component of...
Jean-Claude Najar has labored in the fields for General Electric in such onerous assignments as Florence and Paris. He nevertheless maintained his good cheer, and from his new position as international counsel at Curtis, Mallet-Provost, Colt & Mosle he has contributed a terse and sane statement of best practices, appearing...
A recently posted paper, reporting on the results of an empirical study, reveals unsettling facts about consumer understanding of arbitration contracts. Titled "Whimsey Little Contracts" With Unexpected Consequences: An Empirical Analysis of Consumer Understanding of Arbitration Agreements, the paper explores the extent to which consumers are aware of, and understand...
Following up on a prior post, two recent cases have tested the enforceability of "agreements" that one party unilaterally propounded and the other party had no idea existed. Though the Ninth Circuit found both to be non-binding, the logic in both cases implies that knowing consent -- an element of...
The College of Commercial Arbitrators is perhaps the definitive authoritative body for best practices in commercial arbitration from the perspective of practitioner arbitrators. Its promulgated standards are widely respected and its leaders are leaders of leaders. It is therefore with great satisfaction that I note that the CCA has selected its...
As recently as 1995, the Supreme Court observed, in First Options of Chicago v. Kaplan, that arbitration was a creature of contract: "[A] party who has not agreed to arbitrate will normally have a right to a court's decision about the merits of its dispute." Yet what constitutes an agreement to...