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Mediation 2016: Trends
November 9, 2016
Cost-consciousness and mitigation on the part of corporations have been the driving forces behind the development of mediation over the past year. As companies increasingly look to resolve conflicts cost-effectively and efficiently, mediation has grown to become a valuable alternative to costly and lengthy litigation and arbitration proceedings. Although it has not yet reached the heights and prominence that its practitioners believe it merits, they are in no doubt that the practice area has a bright...
November 9, 2016
Cost-consciousness and mitigation on the part of corporations have been the driving forces behind the development of mediation over the past year. As companies increasingly look to resolve conflicts cost-effectively and efficiently, mediation has grown to become a valuable alternative to costly and lengthy litigation and arbitration proceedings. Although it has not yet reached the heights and prominence that its practitioners believe it merits, they are in no doubt that the practice area has a bright...
Article on the Limits of the Federal Arbitration Act
November 9, 2016
David Horton recently published an Article entitled, The Limits of Testamentary Arbitration, 58 Fla. L. Rev. Forum (2016). Provided below is an abstract of the Article: This is an invited reply to Professor E. Gary Spitko's provocative and creative article, The Will as an Implied Unilateral Arbitration Contract. Professor Spitko argues that arbitration clauses in wills are enforceable because there is a "donative freedom contract" between the state and property owners. As a result, Professor Spitko...
November 9, 2016
David Horton recently published an Article entitled, The Limits of Testamentary Arbitration, 58 Fla. L. Rev. Forum (2016). Provided below is an abstract of the Article: This is an invited reply to Professor E. Gary Spitko's provocative and creative article, The Will as an Implied Unilateral Arbitration Contract. Professor Spitko argues that arbitration clauses in wills are enforceable because there is a "donative freedom contract" between the state and property owners. As a result, Professor Spitko...
All Eyes on AI: The New Focus of Legal Tech?
November 8, 2016
The phrase “put your money where your mouth is” is taking on new meaning in law. For a while vendors, technologists and forward-thinking operational professionals have been espousing the virtues and precautions around artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal workflow for the better part of a year, as everyone from investors to the professionals charged with making good use of their money are looking at AI as the next big thing. While still worlds away from the billions invested in financial...
November 8, 2016
The phrase “put your money where your mouth is” is taking on new meaning in law. For a while vendors, technologists and forward-thinking operational professionals have been espousing the virtues and precautions around artificial intelligence (AI) in the legal workflow for the better part of a year, as everyone from investors to the professionals charged with making good use of their money are looking at AI as the next big thing. While still worlds away from the billions invested in financial...
New Study IDs Brain Cells That Help Us Learn by Watching Others
November 8, 2016
From infancy, we learn by watching other people, and new research has pinpointed the individual neurons that support this observational learning. In the study, each person took turns choosing cards on his or her own and then watched two other players draw cards from the same decks. By learning from the results of their own and the other players’ choices, the participants quickly zeroed in on the deck containing better cards. The research team was surprised to discover that individual neurons...
November 8, 2016
From infancy, we learn by watching other people, and new research has pinpointed the individual neurons that support this observational learning. In the study, each person took turns choosing cards on his or her own and then watched two other players draw cards from the same decks. By learning from the results of their own and the other players’ choices, the participants quickly zeroed in on the deck containing better cards. The research team was surprised to discover that individual neurons...
30 Years Behind and the Road Ahead for the Widespread Use of Mediation
November 8, 2016
Professor Lela P. Love, Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution and Director of the Cardozo Mediation Clinic...
November 8, 2016
Professor Lela P. Love, Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution and Director of the Cardozo Mediation Clinic...
Payday Loan Customers Ask Texas Supreme Court to Consider Individual Arbitration Order
November 7, 2016
A group of payday loan customers has asked the Supreme Court of Texas to intervene after the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio ordered the putative class to individually arbitrate their claims against a payday lender that filed criminal complaints against its defaulting customers. In Henry v. Cash Biz, LP, No. 16-0854, payday lender Cash Biz provided short-term loans to individuals in exchange for a fee that was paid upfront using post-dated checks. As part of the company’s agreement to do provide...
November 7, 2016
A group of payday loan customers has asked the Supreme Court of Texas to intervene after the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio ordered the putative class to individually arbitrate their claims against a payday lender that filed criminal complaints against its defaulting customers. In Henry v. Cash Biz, LP, No. 16-0854, payday lender Cash Biz provided short-term loans to individuals in exchange for a fee that was paid upfront using post-dated checks. As part of the company’s agreement to do provide...
Property Tax Arbitrations – Texas Comptroller Data
November 7, 2016
Here is how arbitrators on the Texas Comptroller's arbitration roster ruled over the past decade: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwfxgg6CajePNUZZREFJdUwwdG8/view?usp=sharing Here...
November 7, 2016
Here is how arbitrators on the Texas Comptroller's arbitration roster ruled over the past decade: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bwfxgg6CajePNUZZREFJdUwwdG8/view?usp=sharing Here...
Judicial Disagreement Over Contract Ambiguity: When Are Things OBVIOUS?
November 7, 2016
We've been talking about contract interpretation in my Contracts class lately and I'm always struck by how many cases involve a lower court ruling of ambiguity and then an appellate court reversal of that ruling, because it always strikes me as such a funny thing. The very definition of ambiguity would seem to be "multiple people disagreeing on the meaning of the word," but the appellate court decisions in those cases necessarily have to dismiss the reasonableness of the lower court's understanding...
November 7, 2016
We've been talking about contract interpretation in my Contracts class lately and I'm always struck by how many cases involve a lower court ruling of ambiguity and then an appellate court reversal of that ruling, because it always strikes me as such a funny thing. The very definition of ambiguity would seem to be "multiple people disagreeing on the meaning of the word," but the appellate court decisions in those cases necessarily have to dismiss the reasonableness of the lower court's understanding...
Using Machine Learning To Predict Outcomes In Tax Law
November 6, 2016
Benjamin Alarie, Anthony Niblett & Albert Yoon (Toronto), Using Machine Learning to Predict Outcomes in Tax Law: Recent...
November 6, 2016
Benjamin Alarie, Anthony Niblett & Albert Yoon (Toronto), Using Machine Learning to Predict Outcomes in Tax Law: Recent...
Thomas Jefferson on Plain English Drafting
November 6, 2016
The call for plain English drafting has a long history. After Thomas Jefferson drafted a bill to establish elementary schools in Virginia, he forwarded a copy to legislator Joseph Cabell and included this sardonic comment: I should apologize, perhaps, for the style of this bill. I dislike the verbose and intricate style of the English statutes .... You, however, can easily correct this bill to the taste of my brother lawyers, by making every other word a "said" or "aforesaid," and saying everything...
November 6, 2016
The call for plain English drafting has a long history. After Thomas Jefferson drafted a bill to establish elementary schools in Virginia, he forwarded a copy to legislator Joseph Cabell and included this sardonic comment: I should apologize, perhaps, for the style of this bill. I dislike the verbose and intricate style of the English statutes .... You, however, can easily correct this bill to the taste of my brother lawyers, by making every other word a "said" or "aforesaid," and saying everything...
