Karl Bayer's Disputing Blog

The AIG Bonus Contracts: Legally Unconscionable?

By Victoria VanBuren - March 25, 2009

If you haven’t had enough of the AIG bonuses controversy, here is a post by Andis Kaulins from the LawPundit discussing the legal theory of unconscionability applied to the AIG employment contracts. We were surprised to learn that the standard AIG Employee Retention Plan (Bonus Contract) posted here by The New York Times contains no arbitration clauses. Also, here is a recent post from the ABA Law Journal. And here is yet another article fr

Arbitration Empirical Studies

By Victoria VanBuren - March 24, 2009

So much has been said lately about the “evils” of arbitration, but so little attention has been given to studies regarding arbitration. In this article, from the Vol. 18, No. 1 of the Alternative Resolutions newsletter, John Allen Chalk, Sr. summarizes recent studies on the subject of arbitration, including studies on arbitration participants, attorney surveys, employment arbitration, and consumer arbitration. The article concludes th

Bad Faith and Conflicts of Interest: Positive Software v. New Century

By Victoria VanBuren - March 13, 2009

We hope ya”ll survive four consecutive days of rain here in Austin. A story in today’s Texas Lawyer caught our attention. In the contested arbitration case Positive Software Solutions Inc. v. New Mortgage, et al., a U.S. District Judge issued sanctions against counsel for the defense, for acting in bad faith. The full text of the story is here.

Patent Dispute Resolution On-line Survey

By Victoria VanBuren - March 9, 2009

This post caught my attention, written by Gene Quinn from the IP Watchdog. I visited the survey and it takes only 3 minutes to complete the multiple choice questionnaire. Needless to say, this study could be an excellent avenue to promote arbitration and mediation to aid the resolution of patent-related disputes. The Alternative Patent Dispute Resolution Project (”APDRP”) at Thomas Jefferson School of Law (”TJSL”) in San Diego, California is cond

Texas Bar Blog

By Victoria VanBuren - March 3, 2009

The State Bar of Texas just launched its own blog. The blog includes a directory of Blogs by Texas Lawyers. We are proud to be listed under “New and Noteworthy.” Welcome to the legal blogosphere!

Arbitration of Attorney/Client Disputes: Webcast Post-Mortem

By Victoria VanBuren - February 19, 2009

Judge Bea Ann Smith, Chuck Herring, and Karl Bayer presented yesterday the issue of Arbitration of Attorney/Client Disputes at the TexasBarCLE. Thanks to Chuck Herring for sharing his paper with us. For more information, visit our previous posts: The Texas Perspective on Arbitration of Attorney/Client Disputes Arbitrating With Your Client? (with link to paper by Dicky Hile)

Arbitrator Accuses E-Discovery Firm of Failing to Turn Up Its Own Evidence

By Victoria VanBuren - February 18, 2009

Here is an interesting article, from the ABA Journal’s Law News Now. By Debra Cassens Weiss. An arbitrator has awarded a former employee of an e-discovery firm $300,000 after chastising her one-time employer for failing to turn up e-mails that supported her case. Cassondra Todd, the former managing director of Guidance Software Inc., claimed the company fired her in part because she was a woman. An initial round of e-discovery produced litt

Law Review Article Cites “Disputing”

By Victoria VanBuren - February 5, 2009

We recently hit an important milestone. Our blog, Disputing, has been cited in a law review article. The article is titled: Fifth Circuit Survey: Alternative Dispute Resolution, written by Donald R. Philbin Jr. and Audrey Lynn Maness, 40 Tex. Tech L. Rev. 445 (2008). As its title suggests, it provides a summary of noteworthy Fifth Circuit decisions and arbitration trend analysis. The blog posts cited by the article are: Fifth Circuit Rules on Cos

The Texas Perspective on Arbitration of Attorney/Client Disputes

By Victoria VanBuren - February 4, 2009

At Disputing, we have discussed before the issue of arbitrating with your client. Following ABA’s Opinion 02-425 which permits attorneys to include arbitration of fee and malpractice disputes in retainer agreements, the Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas has issued Opinion No. 586. This opinion resolves the question of binding arbitration clauses in lawyer-client engagement agreements under the Texas Disciplinary rules of Pr

Is Arbitration Patentable?

By Victoria VanBuren - February 3, 2009

It depends… After yesterday’s post, full of legalese, I thought it might be fun to write something a little lighter today. On January 13, 2009, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit decided Stephen W. Comiskey’s appeal relating to his patent application with the USPTO. Comiskey claimed a method and system for arbitration involving documents like wills or contracts. The court rejected the claims describing the way of conducting arbitr