Blog Archives
Pandemic Pivot – ADR Poised for Prominence During Recovery
January 19, 2021
On January 1, 2020, “zoom” was a verb, a noise a car makes. Three months later, Zoom be came a noun. It happened in the blink of an eye, like when Amazon no longer referred to a river in the rainforest, and Apple was no longer a fruit. Just as suddenly, Corona isn’t a beer served with lime. No one can honestly say the legal profession was prepared for a pandemic. While some companies had a long history of team meetings via WebEx and GoToMeeting, lawyers and the judiciary were far away...
January 19, 2021
On January 1, 2020, “zoom” was a verb, a noise a car makes. Three months later, Zoom be came a noun. It happened in the blink of an eye, like when Amazon no longer referred to a river in the rainforest, and Apple was no longer a fruit. Just as suddenly, Corona isn’t a beer served with lime. No one can honestly say the legal profession was prepared for a pandemic. While some companies had a long history of team meetings via WebEx and GoToMeeting, lawyers and the judiciary were far away...
Plymouth State Pair Aim to Transform the Practice of Law with Groundbreaking Data Analytics
January 18, 2021
A pair of Plymouth State University professors are revolutionizing the practice of law by introducing the use of data analytics. Chantalle Forgues, J.D., MBA, associate professor of business law, and Daniel Lee, Ph.D., professor of economics, can identify variables that predict litigation risk and outcomes, potentially helping firms make better hires and operating decisions, avoid lawsuits, and take other cost-saving measures. Forgues and Lee’s approach, more advanced than the summary...
January 18, 2021
A pair of Plymouth State University professors are revolutionizing the practice of law by introducing the use of data analytics. Chantalle Forgues, J.D., MBA, associate professor of business law, and Daniel Lee, Ph.D., professor of economics, can identify variables that predict litigation risk and outcomes, potentially helping firms make better hires and operating decisions, avoid lawsuits, and take other cost-saving measures. Forgues and Lee’s approach, more advanced than the summary...
Divorces and Marriages Tumbled in U.S. During Covid, Study Shows
January 17, 2021
The number of Americans getting divorced plummeted last year, while the marriage rate also dropped precipitously as thousands of weddings were postponed or canceled, according to a new study. The early look at Covid-19’s effect on U.S. divorce and marriage statistics comes from Bowling Green State University’s Center for Family and Demographic Research, which analyzed five states that have released monthly numbers for much of last year. The data contradict early predictions that Covid-19...
January 17, 2021
The number of Americans getting divorced plummeted last year, while the marriage rate also dropped precipitously as thousands of weddings were postponed or canceled, according to a new study. The early look at Covid-19’s effect on U.S. divorce and marriage statistics comes from Bowling Green State University’s Center for Family and Demographic Research, which analyzed five states that have released monthly numbers for much of last year. The data contradict early predictions that Covid-19...
20 For 2020: The Legal Tech Trends that Defined the Year
January 16, 2021
But in the world of legal technology and innovation, the phrase I heard often repeated this year was “silver lining.” It was a silver lining in the form of an accelerant. The challenge to modernizing the delivery of legal services and our systems of justice, as legal futurist Richard Susskind has observed, is that you can’t change the tire on a moving vehicle. Well, this year brought that vehicle to a screeching halt. Full stop. And then presented the opportunity to reboot. As never...
January 16, 2021
But in the world of legal technology and innovation, the phrase I heard often repeated this year was “silver lining.” It was a silver lining in the form of an accelerant. The challenge to modernizing the delivery of legal services and our systems of justice, as legal futurist Richard Susskind has observed, is that you can’t change the tire on a moving vehicle. Well, this year brought that vehicle to a screeching halt. Full stop. And then presented the opportunity to reboot. As never...
Zoom Update Allows Admission of New Participants from a Breakout Room!
January 15, 2021
January 11, 2021 version 5.4.9 (59931.0110) Changes to existing features Meeting featuresHost can admit participants from the Waiting Room while within a Breakout Room Host is notified of participants in the Waiting Room, even while currently in a Breakout Room. The host can admit each participant one at a time, or all at once. If pre-assignments for breakout rooms are active, participants will be asked to join their pre-assigned breakout rooms. Otherwise, the host can assign participants...
January 15, 2021
January 11, 2021 version 5.4.9 (59931.0110) Changes to existing features Meeting featuresHost can admit participants from the Waiting Room while within a Breakout Room Host is notified of participants in the Waiting Room, even while currently in a Breakout Room. The host can admit each participant one at a time, or all at once. If pre-assignments for breakout rooms are active, participants will be asked to join their pre-assigned breakout rooms. Otherwise, the host can assign participants...
The False and the Furious: People are more disturbed by others’ false beliefs than by differences in beliefs
January 14, 2021
We propose an alternative account to the conventional theory of belief homophily--that people have an intrinsic distaste for encountering differences in beliefs. We argue that when people face others who hold beliefs different from their own, they do not find these encounters disturbing because others hold different beliefs per se, but because they are convinced that others hold false beliefs. In five pre-registered studies (N = 2,835, MTurk) featuring self-recalled personal experiences and vignette...
January 14, 2021
We propose an alternative account to the conventional theory of belief homophily--that people have an intrinsic distaste for encountering differences in beliefs. We argue that when people face others who hold beliefs different from their own, they do not find these encounters disturbing because others hold different beliefs per se, but because they are convinced that others hold false beliefs. In five pre-registered studies (N = 2,835, MTurk) featuring self-recalled personal experiences and vignette...
Case Study: Bexar County’s First Virtual Jury Trials
January 13, 2021
The San Antonio Bar Association was pleased to host Civil District Court Judges and attorneys from Bexar County's first virtual jury trials. SABA President and moderator David M. Evans joined with our panelists Judge Antonia Arteaga, 57th District Court, Judge Angélica Jiménez, 408th District Court, Tabor Dorsey, Susan L. Florence & Associates, Kelly Kelly, Anderson & Associates, and Ron A. Sprague, Gendry...
January 13, 2021
The San Antonio Bar Association was pleased to host Civil District Court Judges and attorneys from Bexar County's first virtual jury trials. SABA President and moderator David M. Evans joined with our panelists Judge Antonia Arteaga, 57th District Court, Judge Angélica Jiménez, 408th District Court, Tabor Dorsey, Susan L. Florence & Associates, Kelly Kelly, Anderson & Associates, and Ron A. Sprague, Gendry...
NADN Conducts “The Customer is Always Right(?)” Survey of Litigators on Remote Mediation
January 12, 2021
The National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (“NADN”) recently conducted a survey of litigators titled “The Customer Is Always Right(?)”. The September 2020 survey asked litigators across the United States about their online dispute resolution (“ODR”) experiences and preferences. Of the 500 litigators who responded, only two percent of respondents participated in a remote mediation or arbitration via videoconferencing software such as Zoom prior to March 2020. ...
January 12, 2021
The National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals (“NADN”) recently conducted a survey of litigators titled “The Customer Is Always Right(?)”. The September 2020 survey asked litigators across the United States about their online dispute resolution (“ODR”) experiences and preferences. Of the 500 litigators who responded, only two percent of respondents participated in a remote mediation or arbitration via videoconferencing software such as Zoom prior to March 2020. ...
Mediating with Empathy – for Yourself
January 11, 2021
Christmas is a holiday and a time for reflection and relaxation for many around the world, so in this blog post I won’t focus on mediation as it is practiced and trained. Instead I make two recommendations for films to watch, both of which are centered around the theme of empathy. Both touched me and gave me much to think about. The second film is a feature film entitled Faith under Fire, which a friend of mine sent me a couple of weeks ago on DVD after I told her that I was holding a series...
January 11, 2021
Christmas is a holiday and a time for reflection and relaxation for many around the world, so in this blog post I won’t focus on mediation as it is practiced and trained. Instead I make two recommendations for films to watch, both of which are centered around the theme of empathy. Both touched me and gave me much to think about. The second film is a feature film entitled Faith under Fire, which a friend of mine sent me a couple of weeks ago on DVD after I told her that I was holding a series...
AALS Section on Litigation Panel on the Growth of Third-Party Litigation Finance: Opportunities and Challenges
January 10, 2021
At the online 2021 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, the AALS Section on Litigation program will be the "The Growth of Third-Party Litigation Finance: Opportunities and Challenges": Over the last decade, third-party litigation finance in the United States has quickly grown into a $10 billion industry. Third-party litigation finance has been praised for increasing access to justice and reducing variations in litigant resources and risk tolerance, but concerns have...
January 10, 2021
At the online 2021 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Law Schools, the AALS Section on Litigation program will be the "The Growth of Third-Party Litigation Finance: Opportunities and Challenges": Over the last decade, third-party litigation finance in the United States has quickly grown into a $10 billion industry. Third-party litigation finance has been praised for increasing access to justice and reducing variations in litigant resources and risk tolerance, but concerns have...
