Thanks to our 2012 Disputing contributors!

Over the course of the past year, we were honored with contributions from a number of the most esteemed law professors and practitioners we know. Some wrote guest-posts, others submitted comments via e-mail, while others made sure we never missed important developments in ADR. We would like to thank our blog contributors for improving Disputing‘s legal scholarship!

Special thanks to our regular blogger Holly Hayes, and 2012 interns Renée Kolar and Jeremy Clare.

Check out our 2012 blog contributors:

S.I. Strong

Currently a Fellow of the Supreme Court of the United States for the 2012-13 term, S.I. Strong is Associate Professor of Law at the University of Missouri and Senior Fellow at the award-winning Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution, having previously taught law at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining the faculty at Missouri, Dr Strong was Counsel specializing in international dispute resolution at Baker & McKenzie LLP and a dual-qualified practitioner (U.S.-England) in the New York and London offices of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Dr Strong has acted in arbitral proceedings under a wide range of institutional rules and is listed as a neutral on various national and international rosters. Dr Strong is the author of numerous works on international arbitration, including the award-winning article, The Sounds of Silence: Are U.S. Arbitrators Creating Internationally Enforceable Awards When Ordering Class Arbitration in Cases of Contractual Silence or Ambiguity? 30 Michigan Journal of International Law 1017 (2009), as well as the books Research and Practice in International Commercial Arbitration: Sources and Strategies (2009) and Class Arbitration and Collective Arbitration: Mass Claims in the National and International Sphere (forthcoming), both from Oxford University Press. Dr Strong, who is qualified as a lawyer at the New York and Illinois bars and as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, holds a Ph.D. in law from the University of Cambridge, a D.Phil. from the University of Oxford, a J.D. from Duke University, an M.P.W. from the University of Southern California and a B.A. from the University of California.

Find Professor Strong’s contributions here.

Allan Scott Rau

Alan Scott Rau is the Mark G. and Judy G. Yudof Chair Professor of Law at The University of Texas at Austin School of Law. He received his BA and LLB from Harvard University. Professor Rau teaches and writes in the areas of Contracts and Alternative Dispute Resolution (particularly Arbitration). He is co-author of Processes of Dispute Resolution: The Role of Lawyers (3rd ed., 2002); ADR and Arbitration: Statutes and Commentary (West, 1998), and Cases and Materials on Contracts (West, 2nd ed. 1992), and the author of several articles, including most recently “The Arbitrability Question Itself” (American Review of International Arbitration, 1999); “La Contractualisation de l’Arbitrage: Le Modele Americain” (Revue de l’Arbitrage, 2001), and “All You Need to Know About Separability in Seventeen Simple Propositions” (American Review of International Arbitration, 2003). He serves on the Commercial and International Panels of the American Arbitration Association, and has been a visiting faculty member at the University of Toronto, China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, Willamette University College of Law, the University of Geneva; and the Universities of Paris-I and Paris-II. Some of Professor Rau’s scholarly papers may be downloaded at the Social Science Research Network.

Professor Rau’s posts are here.

Peter S. Vogel

Peter S. Vogel is a trial partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP where he is Chair of the Electronic Discovery Group and Co-Chair of the Technology Industry Team. Before practicing law he worked as a computer programmer, received a Masters in Computer Science, and taught graduate courses in information systems. For 12 years he served as the founding Chair of the Texas Supreme Court on Judicial Information Technology which is responsible for helping automate the Texas court system and putting Internet on the desktops of all 3,200 judges. Peter has taught courses on the Law of eCommerce at the SMU Dedman School of Law since 2000. Many of Peter’s topics are discussed on his blog www.vogelitlawblog.com.

Read Peter’s posts here.

Don Philbin

Don Philbin, J.D., M.B.A., LL.M., is an AV-rated attorney-mediator and adjunct professor of law. Philbin has extensive experience and education in the fields of business, law, negotiation, and mediation, and mediates individual and class matters in a range of substantive areas. He teaches academic and professional skill courses at Pepperdine Law’s top-rated Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and in other programs.

Mr. Philbin’s most recent venture is Picture It Settled®, which develops software to help litigants analyze positions and develop successful concession strategies in negotiation. The free app, Picture It Settled® Lite, is currently available on Apple, Android and BlackBerry smartphones. The empirical research arising from this large collection of negotiation patterns also informs his mediation practice, teaching and writing.

Don Philbin was one of three Texas mediators listed in the inaugural edition of The International Who’s Who of Commercial Mediation (2011; one of five Texas mediators in the 2012 edition), was recognized as the 2011 Outstanding Lawyer in Mediation by the San Antonio Business Journal, and is repeatedly listed in: The Best Lawyers in America, Texas Super Lawyers, The Best Lawyers in San Antonio, and the U.S. News and Best Lawyers “Best Law Firm” survey. Don Philbin is a charter and executive committee member of the Texas Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, and an elected fellow of the International Academy of Mediators and the American Academy of Civil Trial Mediators. In addition, Philbin was one of the first U.S. mediators certified under the international standards established by the International Mediation Institute.

Don’s posts are here.

Rustaum Dubash

Rustam Dubash is the head of Penningtons’ commercial dispute resolution team and also head of the India group. He has been a partner at Penningtons since 1998 and has over 25 years of commercial dispute resolution experience. He has been involved in high value UK and cross border litigation and international arbitration as well as mediations resulting in early resolution of disputes. He also advises clients on pre action strategy, again with the aim of resolving disputes early on. Rustam continues to represent several well known Indian corporates, banks, high net worth individuals and their families. Penningtons is a member of the UK India Business Council and its India group is ranked in the India/foreign firms category in the latest edition of The Asia Pacific Legal 500.

Saionton Basu

Saionton Basu is a partner in the corporate team and jointly heads the India group with Rustam Dubash. He is an experienced mergers, acquisitions and projects lawyer and advises on international corporate and commercial activities involving a wide range of industries and jurisdictions. His particular areas of specialisation are structuring and executing domestic and cross-border transactions as well as projects focusing on Public Private Partnerships. He advises international clients who are active in India, including banks, corporations, foreign governments and financial institutions as well as Indian companies doing business in the UK and Europe.

Saionton was previously the law clerk to the Chief Justice of India, V N Khare. He featured in the up and coming Indian lawyers under 35 list in the India Report 2010 of a leading industry publication. He was also invited to judge the UK Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court National Finals 2011. Saionton has recently spoken on the legal and regulatory considerations of doing business in the UK/Europe-India corridor at the International Trade Forum and UKTI. He is also involved with the work of the charity CRY (Child Rights and You), which focuses on education sector projects for underprivileged children in India.

Contributions by Rustam and Saionton are here.

Richard J. Webb

Richard J. Webb writes the Healthcare Neutral Blog. Mr. Webb is a graduate of Yale University (B.A., cum laude, 1975) and the Duke University School of Law (J.D. 1978). His additional alternative dispute resolution training currently amounts to 177 hours of classroom time, including 60 hours of advanced mediation courses at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. He has received a peer review rating of AV from Martindale-Hubbell, and has been recognized as a New Jersey SuperLawyer in the field of healthcare law.

Find Richard’s posts here.

Laura A. Kaster

Laura A. Kaster is a mediator and arbitrator in Princeton, New Jersey, working in the wider NY metropolitan area. She is the Chair of the NJSBA Dispute Resolution Section and Co-editor in Chief of the NYSBA’s Dispute Resolution Lawyer. She is a CEDR Accredited and IMI certified mediator and an adjunct professor at Seton Hall Law School and regularly presents for the NJSBA, NYSBA, ABA and PLI. From 1997–2006 Chief Litigation Counsel for AT&T Corporation. Until 1997 she was a partner in the Chicago law firm of Jenner & Block. From 1973 to 1975 she was law clerk to Judge Frank M. Coffin of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. More information is available at http://www.AppropriateDisputeSolutions.com.

Laura’s posts are here.