Settlement, Mediation, and Arbitration During The COVID-19 Court Crisis
The pandemic crisis has hit our judicial system. Courts have had to close their physical doors to protect the judiciary, their personnel and the public. Many are struggling to convert their technological backbones to allow employees to function remotely and to conduct at least emergency matters. During these necessary transitions, ...
DOJ Sends Merger Challenge to Arbitration
Those of us in law’s antitrust community sometimes wonder if we have silently labored in distant fields, known only to “deep-state intellectuals” in the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission. As arbitrators or mediators, we wait patiently by the phone—happily taking on a wide range of business disputes, but seldom ...
The Arbitration Clause Conundrum: What the Arbitration Clause Requires and What Counsel Want
Arbitration clauses can be a nuisance. Wait. How can it be if it is the arbitration clause itself that gives life to the arbitration? But it’s true that arbitration clauses often have terms contrary to the instincts and desires of counsel on both sides of a case. Some counsel may ...
Arbitration Business Strategy: A London School of Economics Look!
I recently completed the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) course in Business, International Relations and the Political Economy. A requirement for the course was to draft an essay on how a business continues to create value in response to a changing global environment using Professor Pankaj Ghemawat’s ...
The Reasonable Arbitrator
There are many elements that come together to make a good Arbitrator. These include particulars as to knowledge, skill and demeanor. Of all, the ability to appreciate what is reasonable is often the most critically important skill an Arbitrator should possess. Ironically, reasonableness is also the most elusive skill there ...
The Biggest Mistake in Selecting an Arbitrator
Imagine going to court and being allowed to interview the Judge to be sure he or she is a good fit for your case. Although that scenario doesn’t exist in court, it is a valuable feature of arbitration. One of the underlying principles of arbitration is party autonomy, meaning the ...
California Considers Strengthening International Arbitration Law – Will Benefit Tech Companies
Senate Bill 766, which has passed the California Senate and has had its first reading in the Assembly, and is expected to be signed into law within this year, will confirm the right of foreign lawyers to represent parties in international commercial arbitrations with situs in California. With the enactment ...
Arbitrators Are Not Judges
When I share with non-lawyers at a cocktail party what I do for a living, their response is often “Oh, like a private judge!” I usually mumble, “Yes, sort of” but the better answer is “Not really, not at all.” The distinction is particularly evident in the technology sector. Here’s ...
Dispute in Space–Arbitrate!
Google’s Street View has taken flight with a new feature that allows users the feeling of being in outer space. Street View is a technology feature in Google Maps and Google Earth that functions as an interactive virtual map. Street View displays panoramas across all seven continents and in late ...
Controlling the costs of arbitration: “fixed fees for arbitrators”
One of the most vibrant and intricate issues in international arbitration is unquestionably the costs that go along with this mechanism to solve disputes. Service providers and users across the globe seem unable to find a satisfactory framework to a binomial "cost & time-efficient" procedure with excellence. It is true ...