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Socratic Artificial Intelligence Is Changing The Face Of Legal Knowledge
February 9, 2018
Christopher Columbus Langdell initiated both the case method and the Socratic method of teaching law in his Harvard Law class 150 years ago. Langdell’s goal was to induce the legal reasoning of actual cases through a series of specific questions (the Socratic method) that would expose the biases and preconceptions of the law student. In a common law system, this original source-first focus properly centralized the primacy of case law study over lecturing about a generalized legal subject, allowing...
February 9, 2018
Christopher Columbus Langdell initiated both the case method and the Socratic method of teaching law in his Harvard Law class 150 years ago. Langdell’s goal was to induce the legal reasoning of actual cases through a series of specific questions (the Socratic method) that would expose the biases and preconceptions of the law student. In a common law system, this original source-first focus properly centralized the primacy of case law study over lecturing about a generalized legal subject, allowing...
NBA Team Agrees to Mediation in Proposed Class Action Case Over Smartphone App
February 9, 2018
The Golden State Warriors professional basketball team has reportedly agreed to engage in private mediation with a fan who filed a proposed class action lawsuit claiming the team recorded her private conversations using a smartphone app. The app at issue was designed to send game notifications to users who are within range of beacons located at the Golden State Warriors stadium. According to the plaintiff in the case, the method used by the app to listen for the beacons violates the Electronic...
February 9, 2018
The Golden State Warriors professional basketball team has reportedly agreed to engage in private mediation with a fan who filed a proposed class action lawsuit claiming the team recorded her private conversations using a smartphone app. The app at issue was designed to send game notifications to users who are within range of beacons located at the Golden State Warriors stadium. According to the plaintiff in the case, the method used by the app to listen for the beacons violates the Electronic...
Behavioral Probability
February 8, 2018
Throughout their long history, humans have worked hard to tame chance. They adapted to their uncertain physical and social...
February 8, 2018
Throughout their long history, humans have worked hard to tame chance. They adapted to their uncertain physical and social...
Dallas COA Upholds Confirmation of FINRA Arbitration Panel’s Award
February 8, 2018
Texas’ Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas has affirmed a lower court’s order confirming an arbitration award in a securities case. In Craig v. Southwest Securities, Inc., No. 05-16-01378-CV (December 18, 2017), a woman, Craig, instituted arbitration proceedings against a financial company, Southwest Securities, over the company’s purported mismanagement of her retirement investments. Following a hearing, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) arbitration panel...
February 8, 2018
Texas’ Fifth District Court of Appeals in Dallas has affirmed a lower court’s order confirming an arbitration award in a securities case. In Craig v. Southwest Securities, Inc., No. 05-16-01378-CV (December 18, 2017), a woman, Craig, instituted arbitration proceedings against a financial company, Southwest Securities, over the company’s purported mismanagement of her retirement investments. Following a hearing, a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) arbitration panel...
Family Law & Empirical Legal Studies
February 7, 2018
Clare Huntington (Fordham University School of Law) has posted The Empirical Turn in Family Law (Columbia Law Review, Vol. 118, No. 227, 2018) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Historically, the legal system justified family law’s rules and policies through morality, common sense, and prevailing cultural norms. In a sharp departure, and consistent with a broader trend across the legal system, empirical evidence increasingly dominates the regulation of families. There is much to celebrate in this...
February 7, 2018
Clare Huntington (Fordham University School of Law) has posted The Empirical Turn in Family Law (Columbia Law Review, Vol. 118, No. 227, 2018) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Historically, the legal system justified family law’s rules and policies through morality, common sense, and prevailing cultural norms. In a sharp departure, and consistent with a broader trend across the legal system, empirical evidence increasingly dominates the regulation of families. There is much to celebrate in this...
Back to Arbitration Basics: Recent Federal Decisions (and a SCOTUS Preview)
February 7, 2018
Now that we’ve run through those reminders on issues that arise frequently in arbitration law, let’s talk about some unsettled issues. SCOTUS today is considering two cases involving delegation clauses and how lower courts should put its Rent-a-Center, West decision into practice: New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira — this case comes from the First Circuit and raises the question whether the court should determine that the FAA applies before enforcing a delegation clause. Why does that...
February 7, 2018
Now that we’ve run through those reminders on issues that arise frequently in arbitration law, let’s talk about some unsettled issues. SCOTUS today is considering two cases involving delegation clauses and how lower courts should put its Rent-a-Center, West decision into practice: New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira — this case comes from the First Circuit and raises the question whether the court should determine that the FAA applies before enforcing a delegation clause. Why does that...
Overcoming Roadblocks to Reaching Settlement in Family Law Cases
February 6, 2018
In “litigation as usual,” settlement often comes only after adversarial posturing, the original conflict escalates, the relationships deteriorate, the process takes too long and costs too much, and nobody is really happy with the resolution. This article describes common roadblocks to negotiation and ways to overcome them to reach good settlements. Although some dynamics described in this article are specific to family law cases, most apply in virtually any type of litigation.
February 6, 2018
In “litigation as usual,” settlement often comes only after adversarial posturing, the original conflict escalates, the relationships deteriorate, the process takes too long and costs too much, and nobody is really happy with the resolution. This article describes common roadblocks to negotiation and ways to overcome them to reach good settlements. Although some dynamics described in this article are specific to family law cases, most apply in virtually any type of litigation.
A Neuro-Linguist’s Toolbox – A Starting Point and Building Rapport
February 6, 2018
What can one pace? Most of us seek to establish commonality via content. We will talk to someone and make a connection through the people we know, the schools we have attended, the books we have read, the places we have lived, the experiences we’ve had, etc. And that is absolutely fine. Content-based rapport is useful in social settings where we have the luxury of time to explore these matters. However, there are many other aspects of the human “be-ing” (again misspelling deliberate) that...
February 6, 2018
What can one pace? Most of us seek to establish commonality via content. We will talk to someone and make a connection through the people we know, the schools we have attended, the books we have read, the places we have lived, the experiences we’ve had, etc. And that is absolutely fine. Content-based rapport is useful in social settings where we have the luxury of time to explore these matters. However, there are many other aspects of the human “be-ing” (again misspelling deliberate) that...
A Blueprint for Online Dispute Resolution System Design
February 5, 2018
Amy Schmitz, Elwood L. Thomas Missouri Endowed Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law, has published an interesting journal article titled “A Blueprint for Online Dispute Resolution System Design,” 21 Journal of Internet Law 3-11, Forthcoming; University of Missouri School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2018-07. In her publication, Professor Schmitz offers suggestions for creating an online dispute resolution system that is beneficial to both consumers and businesses. Here...
February 5, 2018
Amy Schmitz, Elwood L. Thomas Missouri Endowed Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law, has published an interesting journal article titled “A Blueprint for Online Dispute Resolution System Design,” 21 Journal of Internet Law 3-11, Forthcoming; University of Missouri School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2018-07. In her publication, Professor Schmitz offers suggestions for creating an online dispute resolution system that is beneficial to both consumers and businesses. Here...
Article on Inheritance on the Fringes of Marriage
February 5, 2018
Adam J. Hirsch recently posted an Article entitled, Inheritance on the Fringes of Marriage, Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law eJournal (2017). Provided below is an abstract of the Article: This Article explores the inheritance rights of individuals situated at the fringes of marital relationships—fiancés, spouses who are in the process of divorcing, and permanently separated spouses. The Article examines whether these categories of individuals ought to enjoy rights to forced shares of an estate...
February 5, 2018
Adam J. Hirsch recently posted an Article entitled, Inheritance on the Fringes of Marriage, Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law eJournal (2017). Provided below is an abstract of the Article: This Article explores the inheritance rights of individuals situated at the fringes of marital relationships—fiancés, spouses who are in the process of divorcing, and permanently separated spouses. The Article examines whether these categories of individuals ought to enjoy rights to forced shares of an estate...
