Need CLE credits? The University of Texas School of Law will host its 33rd Annual Page Keeton Civil Litigation Conference on October 29-30, 2009 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, Texas. Professor Tracy McCormack and Karl Bayer will present on October 30, “Effective Advocacy in Arbitration.” Arbitration: do you know when you should ask for it and what to do if you get it? Concrete instruction on advocacy in arbitration, using actual survey results from arbitrators. Analysis of the ethical issues of your skills versus your client’s needs. Find the brochure here and register here. Technorati Tags: CLE, University of Texas
Continue reading...Mark your Calendars! The Texas Bar CLE presents a new course on Business Torts, co-sponsored by the Litigation Section of the State Bar of Texas. The live conference will take place in Dallas on October 29-30, 2009. This course will provide discussions on the following areas: • Tortuous Interference • Trade Secrets & Misappropriation • Fraudulent & Negligent Misrepresentation • Breach of Fiduciary Duty in Business Litigation • Business Torts Issues in the Employment Context • Remedies Other than Damages in Business Tort Litigation Karl Bayer will be presenting the section on Arbitration on October 29th. Find the brochure here and register here. Technorati Tags: State Bar of Texas CLE
Continue reading...Luciano A. Rodriguez, an attorney past president of the Texas Association of Mediators wrote an interesting article about what he views as “mediation myths” held by attorneys who handle court-annexed mediations. Here is his list of myths: A Strong Mediator is Better Allowing the Party to Speak at the Opening Session is Always Dangerous and Should be Avoided The Opening Offer from Plaintiff Mus Be Very high in Order to Reach a Reasonable Settlement Not Making a Pre-Mediation Demand Will Lead to a higher Settlement If the Other Side is Not in Your Range, Use Brackets Let’s Meet in the Middle The Devil Made me Do It Having a Failed Mediation is Better than not Having a Mediation at All A Good Mediator Can Settle Any Case In Mediations Where the Parties Are Upset with Each Other, the Opening Statement Should be Avoided You Need to Have a Mediator with a Legal Background in the Subject Matter of the Case A Good Mediator Does Not Need Pre-Mediation Position Papers Everyone Should Dress Down for Mediation Because it Helps Everyone Relax Mediations Should Always Be Done as Possible in the Litigation Process Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Should Throw Very Hard Punches at Opening Session in Order to “Soften” the Defendants and to “Impress” the Plaintiff Complex or “High Dollar” Cases Need More than One Meditation Session Mediations Can Only Succeed When they are Done Right Check out the full description of these “mediation myths” here and let us know what you think! Technorati Tags: ADR, law, mediation
Continue reading...Professor S.I. Strong, Senior Fellow at the University of Missouri’s Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution wrote an excellent article about the international implications of class arbitration. The article is entitled “The Sounds of Silence: Are U.S. Arbitrators Creating Internationally Enforceable Awards When Ordering Class Arbitration in Cases of Contractual Silence or Ambiguity?” and appears at 30 Michigan Journal of International Law 1017 (2009). Here is an excerpt: The expansion of class arbitration into the international realm has not gone unchallenged. Instead, international defendants have already shown signs of their intent to fight tooth and nail against the development of international class arbitration, just as their U.S. counterparts did in the early days of domestic class arbitration. Many of the defenses to international class arbitration are the same as those used in domestic matters, and arbitrators are able to rely on a large and growing body of existing jurisprudence when considering those issues. However, the cross-border nature of international class arbitration gives rise to unique challenges, many of which have not yet been considered in the literature. For reasons that will be discussed more fully below, it is anticipated that (1) most international class arbitrations will be seated in the United States, at least for the foreseeable future, and (2) vigorous opposition to international class arbitration will arise at the international enforcement stage. The battle will be fought particularly fiercely in cases where the arbitration agreement is silent or ambiguous about the possibility of class treatment, with losing defendants arguing that the decision to proceed as a class was presumptively improper in the absence of the parties’ explicit agreement to that particular type of procedure. This sort of challenge will most likely be asserted as a procedural objection under Article V(1)(d) of the United Nations’ 1958 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention), and it is precisely these sort of arguments that will be the focus of this Article. The article has been cited in papers submitted to the United States Supreme Court in the upcoming case of Stolt-Nielsen SA v. AnimalFeeds Int’l Corp. which is expected to be heard by the Court around December, 2009. You may download the full article here. Read more about Stolt-Nielsen in our previous posts: GUEST-POST: Class and Consolidated Arbitration Under the Federal Arbitration Act: What Issues Will the United States Supreme Court Confront in Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. V. AnimalFeeds Int’l Co.? (August 6, 2009) GUEST-POST: The Emergence in the Last Month of an Express Judicial Recognition that Arbitration Clauses Barring Class Relief in Consumer Agreements Are Void (July 28, 2009) U.S. Supreme Court Grants Cert to Stolt-Nielsen: Class Action Arbitration Case (June 16, 2009) Sonia Sotomayor Meets Posner: Standards of Review for Arbitration Awards After Hall Street (June 2, 2009) Dead? Alive? Matter of Opinion? (Dec. 4, 2008) Technorati Tags: arbitration, ADR, law, FAA, Supreme Court, Stolt-Nielsen, class action
Continue reading...Disputing is published by Karl Bayer, a dispute resolution expert based in Austin, Texas. Articles published on Disputing aim to provide original insight and commentary around issues related to arbitration, mediation and the alternative dispute resolution industry.
To learn more about Karl and his team, or to schedule a mediation or arbitration with Karl’s live scheduling calendar, visit www.karlbayer.com.
Disputing is published by Karl Bayer, a dispute resolution expert based in Austin, Texas. Articles published on Disputing aim to provide original insight and commentary around issues related to arbitration, mediation and the alternative dispute resolution industry.
To learn more about Karl and his team, or to schedule a mediation or arbitration with Karl’s live scheduling calendar, visit www.karlbayer.com.