News
Court Order Requiring Further Mediation Not Appealable
December 6, 2013
The Nevada Supreme Court concluded that a trial court’s determination that a mediation agreement had been violated and requirement that the parties return to mediation under Nevada’s foreclosure mediation program was not a final order that could be appealed. The Court explained that the lower court’s decision was not final because the mediation would again address the merits of the dispute. Further, the mediation might resolve all outstanding issues between the parties so that no appeal...
December 6, 2013
The Nevada Supreme Court concluded that a trial court’s determination that a mediation agreement had been violated and requirement that the parties return to mediation under Nevada’s foreclosure mediation program was not a final order that could be appealed. The Court explained that the lower court’s decision was not final because the mediation would again address the merits of the dispute. Further, the mediation might resolve all outstanding issues between the parties so that no appeal...
Burford Capital Gets $40M in New Capital for Litigation Funding
December 5, 2013
Burford Capital Limited, a global provider of investment capital and risk solutions for litigation, is pleased to announce that the offering of $40 million in contingent preference shares by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company has been fully subscribed. The issuance of the contingent preference shares – through which institutional investors agree on demand to provide up to $40 million in additional capital to the Company – is consistent with Burford’s prior public statements about its capital...
December 5, 2013
Burford Capital Limited, a global provider of investment capital and risk solutions for litigation, is pleased to announce that the offering of $40 million in contingent preference shares by a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company has been fully subscribed. The issuance of the contingent preference shares – through which institutional investors agree on demand to provide up to $40 million in additional capital to the Company – is consistent with Burford’s prior public statements about its capital...
Getting the Other Guy to the Negotiation Table
December 5, 2013
This just in from Harvard's Program on Negotiation: In a new study, Nour Kteily of Northwestern University and his colleagues found that low-power groups can influence powerful parties to engage with them through their framing of the proposed negotiating agenda. Specifically, across four experiments, participants in the high-power position were more willing to negotiate when a low-power group proposed negotiating less important issues before more significant areas of disagreement, rather than vice...
December 5, 2013
This just in from Harvard's Program on Negotiation: In a new study, Nour Kteily of Northwestern University and his colleagues found that low-power groups can influence powerful parties to engage with them through their framing of the proposed negotiating agenda. Specifically, across four experiments, participants in the high-power position were more willing to negotiate when a low-power group proposed negotiating less important issues before more significant areas of disagreement, rather than vice...
When Algorithms Grow Accustomed to Your Face
December 5, 2013
People often reveal their private emotions in tiny, fleeting facial expressions, visible only to a best friend — or to a skilled poker player. Now, computer software is using frame-by-frame video analysis to read subtle muscular changes that flash across our faces in milliseconds, signaling emotions like happiness, sadness and disgust. With face-reading software, a computer’s webcam might spot the confused expression of an online student and provide extra tutoring. Or computer-based games with...
December 5, 2013
People often reveal their private emotions in tiny, fleeting facial expressions, visible only to a best friend — or to a skilled poker player. Now, computer software is using frame-by-frame video analysis to read subtle muscular changes that flash across our faces in milliseconds, signaling emotions like happiness, sadness and disgust. With face-reading software, a computer’s webcam might spot the confused expression of an online student and provide extra tutoring. Or computer-based games with...
California Supreme Court Attempts to Thread the Unconscionability Needle
December 5, 2013
California’s appellate courts have had a strained relationship with the U.S. Supreme Court when it comes to enforcement of the FAA in the last few years. Illustrative of this tension is a recent decision captioned Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno, No. S174475 (Cal. Oct. 17, 2013) (“Sonic II”). The Court in Sonic II was instructed by the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling in Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno, 51 Cal. 4th 659 (2011) (“Sonic I”), which invalidated an arbitration...
December 5, 2013
California’s appellate courts have had a strained relationship with the U.S. Supreme Court when it comes to enforcement of the FAA in the last few years. Illustrative of this tension is a recent decision captioned Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno, No. S174475 (Cal. Oct. 17, 2013) (“Sonic II”). The Court in Sonic II was instructed by the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling in Sonic-Calabasas A, Inc. v. Moreno, 51 Cal. 4th 659 (2011) (“Sonic I”), which invalidated an arbitration...
Mediator Certification in California
December 5, 2013
Over the past year, I participated in a committee formed by the Southern California Mediation Association, and chaired by SCMA past president Barbara Brown, to study the question of mediator certification or regulation. We started our work without any preconceived agenda, knowing only that our organization had opposed a proposal to have mediators regulated by the California State Bar. We were against that, but we did not yet know what we were for. We knew that there were a wide range of views on this...
December 5, 2013
Over the past year, I participated in a committee formed by the Southern California Mediation Association, and chaired by SCMA past president Barbara Brown, to study the question of mediator certification or regulation. We started our work without any preconceived agenda, knowing only that our organization had opposed a proposal to have mediators regulated by the California State Bar. We were against that, but we did not yet know what we were for. We knew that there were a wide range of views on this...
Why Unpaid Interns Are Suing Employers
December 4, 2013
Eric Glatt was in the library at Georgetown Law Center when he got the call last summer. On the other end of the line was his lawyer Juno Turner, an associate at New York's Golden & Outten. We won, she said. With those two words, Glatt, who holds an MBA from Case Western University and is now working toward a law degree, became the unconventional hero for unpaid interns everywhere. Nearly two years earlier, Glatt and coplaintiff Alexander Footman had filed a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight...
December 4, 2013
Eric Glatt was in the library at Georgetown Law Center when he got the call last summer. On the other end of the line was his lawyer Juno Turner, an associate at New York's Golden & Outten. We won, she said. With those two words, Glatt, who holds an MBA from Case Western University and is now working toward a law degree, became the unconventional hero for unpaid interns everywhere. Nearly two years earlier, Glatt and coplaintiff Alexander Footman had filed a lawsuit against Fox Searchlight...
Improving Arbitration-Award Making and Enforcement by Faithfully Implementing the Purposes and Objectives of the Federal Arbitration Act, Part II
December 4, 2013
Part II: A Consent-Based Framework for Enforcing Arbitration Awards Enforcing Arbitration Agreements to Promote Arbitration The purposes and objectives of the FAA are the same whether the question is whether arbitration should be compelled, litigation should be stayed or an award confirmed or vacated. The cornerstone of the FAA is the enforcement mandate of Section 2, which says: “A written provision in any maritime transaction or a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce to settle...
December 4, 2013
Part II: A Consent-Based Framework for Enforcing Arbitration Awards Enforcing Arbitration Agreements to Promote Arbitration The purposes and objectives of the FAA are the same whether the question is whether arbitration should be compelled, litigation should be stayed or an award confirmed or vacated. The cornerstone of the FAA is the enforcement mandate of Section 2, which says: “A written provision in any maritime transaction or a contract evidencing a transaction involving commerce to settle...
Fifth Circuit Invalidates NLRB Order Prohibiting Clauses In Covered Employment Agreement Waiving Class/Collective Claims and Requiring Individual Arbitration
December 4, 2013
In the controversial case of D.R. Horton v. National Labor Relations Board (No. 12-60031, Dec. 3, 2013), the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit today vacated, in a 2-1 decision, orders of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) invalidating an employee arbitration agreement that waived class and collective procedures and compelled individual arbitration. This case, along with sister cases in other Circuits, is likely to come before the US Supreme Court in due course. In the meantime,...
December 4, 2013
In the controversial case of D.R. Horton v. National Labor Relations Board (No. 12-60031, Dec. 3, 2013), the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit today vacated, in a 2-1 decision, orders of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) invalidating an employee arbitration agreement that waived class and collective procedures and compelled individual arbitration. This case, along with sister cases in other Circuits, is likely to come before the US Supreme Court in due course. In the meantime,...
Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements Validated in NLRB Loss in the Fifth Circuit
December 4, 2013
A decision handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans Tuesday upheld the use of class or collective action waivers in arbitration agreements. The decision in D.R. Horton Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, argued before the court back in February, overturned the NLRB’s previous decision, which held that the massive Texas-based residential building company was violating the National Labor Relations Act when it required employees to sign a waiver that prevents...
December 4, 2013
A decision handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans Tuesday upheld the use of class or collective action waivers in arbitration agreements. The decision in D.R. Horton Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board, argued before the court back in February, overturned the NLRB’s previous decision, which held that the massive Texas-based residential building company was violating the National Labor Relations Act when it required employees to sign a waiver that prevents...
