Mediation is recognised as a cost-effective form of dispute resolution. There are statistics to support this; a World Intellectual Property Organization survey found an average IP litigation case costs between $475,000 and $500,000, compared to mediation, where costs do not usually exceed $100,000. A Ministry of Justicereport on the use of judicial mediation in Employment Tribunals, meanwhile, found an average cost saving of 22%.
Ali Khan, Professor of Law at Washburn University School of Law, has published an interesting article entitled, Arbitral Autonomy, Louisiana Law Review, Vol. 74, No. 2, 2013. In his paper, Professor Khan discusses the need to minimize court challenges to arbitration in order to successfully achieve arbitral autonomy.
Here is the abstract:
This Article presents concrete proposals to amend the current arbitration law for minimizing court intervention into arbitration proceedings and enforcement...
Hybrid system is a potential tool to deal with construction engineering and management problems. This study proposes an optimized hybrid artificial intelligence model to integrate a fast messy genetic algorithm (fmGA) with a support vector machine (SVM). The fmGA-based SVM (GASVM) is used for early prediction of dispute propensity in the initial phase of public–private partnership projects. Particularly, the SVM mainly provides learning and curve fitting while the fmGA optimizes SVM parameters....
When deciding how to best resolve the case you’re handling, there are any number of factors going into the equation. One worth considering is how your client (or even an important witness) will be perceived unconsciously by a judge of jury. Might there be some irrational, unconscious aversion based on his or her looks? Could the client be perceived as an outsider, someone not part of the community? If so, that should be part of the calculations you need to make.
Negotiation and mediation...
The West Virginia Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision to deny discovery into mediation relating to settlement of class actions that was sought by those objecting to the settlements. The court held that the difference between the opening settlement offer and the final agreement was merely the normal give and take of negotiation, rather than evidence of collusion between the parties.
Allen v. Monsanto Co., No. 13-0418 (W. Va., November 22, 2013).
From SF Weekly:
A recent study from MillionaireMatch.com found that millionaire men in Silicon Valley, 82.6 percent to be exact, are most likely to seek out non-millionaire women. And get this, only 16.2 percent would insist on a prenuptial agreement.
Millionaire women, however, are quite the opposite and 86.7 percent of them prefer to date other millionaires. And 92.4 percent insist on the union between prenups and dry ink.
It sometime sometimes seems that the community of business lawyers is divided into two broad tribes: The lawyers who handle the deals, and the lawyers who handle what happens when the deals fall apart. Unfortunately, these two tribes too seldom mix. They don’t go to the same ABA meetings, their spouses don’t dine together, their kids are on different soccer teams.
Yet each has skills that the other would benefit greatly from developing. Deal lawyers have an approach to problems that...
Imagine if you could surf Facebook ... from the Middle Ages. Well, it may not be as far off as it sounds. In a fun and interesting talk, researcher and engineer Frederic Kaplan shows off the Venice Time Machine, a project to digitize 80 kilometers of books to create a historical and geographical simulation of Venice across 1000 years. (Filmed at TEDxCaFoscariU.)
Frederic Kaplan seeks to digitize vast archives of historical information to make maps that move -- through time. Full bio »
Rules UpdatePractitioners need to be aware of numerous changes to the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure that took effect January 1, 2014. Also below is information about proposed, significant changes to the Federal system.Texas Changes1. Three Day Rules: The 3 day grace period that used to be added when calendaring the due date for discovery applies only to mailed copies. It does not apply to fax, Fed Ex or other service.2. Service by Email and Commercial Delivery Service: New Rule...