Blog Archives
Mandatory vs. Permissive Arbitration Clauses
March 31, 2017
In an earlier post we provided advice on how to interpret the words “may” and “must” when they appear in arbitration clauses that are to be interpreted under U.S. law. Among other things, we explained that an arbitration clause that says that a party “may” submit a dispute to binding arbitration will be viewed as mandatory in U.S. courts if any party chooses to arbitrate. That post led us to question whether those “may” and “must” words are interpreted consistently in other...
March 31, 2017
In an earlier post we provided advice on how to interpret the words “may” and “must” when they appear in arbitration clauses that are to be interpreted under U.S. law. Among other things, we explained that an arbitration clause that says that a party “may” submit a dispute to binding arbitration will be viewed as mandatory in U.S. courts if any party chooses to arbitrate. That post led us to question whether those “may” and “must” words are interpreted consistently in other...
The Busier You Are, the More You Need Quiet Time
March 30, 2017
Recent studies are showing that taking time for silence restores the nervous system, helps sustain energy, and conditions our minds to be more adaptive and responsive to the complex environments in which so many of us now live, work, and lead. Duke Medical School’s Imke Kirste recently found that silence is associated with the development of new cells in the hippocampus, the key brain region associated with learning and memory. Physician Luciano Bernardi found that two-minutes of silence inserted...
March 30, 2017
Recent studies are showing that taking time for silence restores the nervous system, helps sustain energy, and conditions our minds to be more adaptive and responsive to the complex environments in which so many of us now live, work, and lead. Duke Medical School’s Imke Kirste recently found that silence is associated with the development of new cells in the hippocampus, the key brain region associated with learning and memory. Physician Luciano Bernardi found that two-minutes of silence inserted...
Dallas’ Increase in Lawyer Billing Rates Among Highest in Country
March 30, 2017
Billing rates charged by firms in Dallas increased by 6.8 percent in 2015, compared with 2014—an increase second only to New York when considering the 25 U.S. cities with the highest volume of legal work. Rates increased by 7.9 percent in New York during the same period. According to the 2016 Real Rate Report, issued by CEB consulting company and Wolters Kluwer NV's ELM Solutions, which helps in-house legal departments manage budgets, hourly rates in the United States increased 5.4 percent in 2015...
March 30, 2017
Billing rates charged by firms in Dallas increased by 6.8 percent in 2015, compared with 2014—an increase second only to New York when considering the 25 U.S. cities with the highest volume of legal work. Rates increased by 7.9 percent in New York during the same period. According to the 2016 Real Rate Report, issued by CEB consulting company and Wolters Kluwer NV's ELM Solutions, which helps in-house legal departments manage budgets, hourly rates in the United States increased 5.4 percent in 2015...
Breaking Impasse
March 30, 2017
If your negotiation reaches an impasse, what’s your best outside option? Most business negotiators understand the value of assessing their best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA, a concept introduced in Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton’s classic negotiation text Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Knowing that you have a strong BATNA can give you the confidence you need to walk away from a subpar agreement. Beyond merely assessing your BATNA, there...
March 30, 2017
If your negotiation reaches an impasse, what’s your best outside option? Most business negotiators understand the value of assessing their best alternative to a negotiated agreement, or BATNA, a concept introduced in Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton’s classic negotiation text Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Knowing that you have a strong BATNA can give you the confidence you need to walk away from a subpar agreement. Beyond merely assessing your BATNA, there...
ABA TECHSHOW Post-Mortem: Not Your Granddaddy’s Legal Tech Conference
March 29, 2017
This year at TECHSHOW, sparks were a flyin’ everywhere, it seemed. New programming, new speakers and new features fueled a high level of energy. Yes, this was the venerable TECHSHOW, where you can still find exhibitors who’ve been there every year since 1986, but the atmosphere felt as fresh and energetic as at any contemporary conference. Credit for this goes to the planning board and its chair this year, Adriana Linares. Not without opposition, Linares pushed through several initiatives...
March 29, 2017
This year at TECHSHOW, sparks were a flyin’ everywhere, it seemed. New programming, new speakers and new features fueled a high level of energy. Yes, this was the venerable TECHSHOW, where you can still find exhibitors who’ve been there every year since 1986, but the atmosphere felt as fresh and energetic as at any contemporary conference. Credit for this goes to the planning board and its chair this year, Adriana Linares. Not without opposition, Linares pushed through several initiatives...
Zimmerman on Bellwether Settlements
March 29, 2017
Adam Zimmerman has posted his new article "Bellwether Settlements" to SSRN. The abstract is below: This Article examines the use of bellwether mediation in mass litigation. Bellwether mediations are different from “bellwether trials,” a practice where parties choose a representative sample of cases for trial to determine how to resolve a much larger number of similar cases. In bellwether mediations, the parties instead rely on a representative sample of settlement outcomes overseen by judges...
March 29, 2017
Adam Zimmerman has posted his new article "Bellwether Settlements" to SSRN. The abstract is below: This Article examines the use of bellwether mediation in mass litigation. Bellwether mediations are different from “bellwether trials,” a practice where parties choose a representative sample of cases for trial to determine how to resolve a much larger number of similar cases. In bellwether mediations, the parties instead rely on a representative sample of settlement outcomes overseen by judges...
Exploring the Interplay between Mediation, Evaluation and Arbitration in Commercial Cases
March 29, 2017
Thomas Stipanowich, Academic Director for the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution, and Professor of Law at Pepperdine University School of Law, and Veronique Fraser, Group for the Prevention and Resolution of Disputes (G-PRD) and Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Sherbrooke, have published “The International Task Force on Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution: Exploring the Interplay between Mediation, Evaluation and Arbitration in Commercial...
March 29, 2017
Thomas Stipanowich, Academic Director for the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, William H. Webster Chair in Dispute Resolution, and Professor of Law at Pepperdine University School of Law, and Veronique Fraser, Group for the Prevention and Resolution of Disputes (G-PRD) and Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Sherbrooke, have published “The International Task Force on Mixed Mode Dispute Resolution: Exploring the Interplay between Mediation, Evaluation and Arbitration in Commercial...
IBM’s Watson Makes New Inroads Into Legal With Discovery, Business Research Offerings
March 28, 2017
IBM's announced expansion of Watson Discovery Service and the launch of Watson Company Profiler looks to further the AI platform's e-discovery and search technology. IBM's artificial intelligence-powered cognitive computing platform Watson has come a long way from its days playing "Jeopardy." Deployed last year for legal professionals as the engine behind legal research platform ROSS , Watson has recently made further inroads into the legal space with the December 2016 launch of Watson Discovery...
March 28, 2017
IBM's announced expansion of Watson Discovery Service and the launch of Watson Company Profiler looks to further the AI platform's e-discovery and search technology. IBM's artificial intelligence-powered cognitive computing platform Watson has come a long way from its days playing "Jeopardy." Deployed last year for legal professionals as the engine behind legal research platform ROSS , Watson has recently made further inroads into the legal space with the December 2016 launch of Watson Discovery...
Supreme Court May Preserve EDTX Grip on Patent Cases
March 28, 2017
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday did not appear eager to upset the patent litigation landscape by drastically limiting where infringement lawsuits can be filed. The court heard arguments in the closely watched TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods Group Brands, touted as one of the most important IP cases of the decade. That is in part because of the sharp rise in patent suits filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, home of allegedly plaintiff-friendly federal judges. Roughly...
March 28, 2017
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday did not appear eager to upset the patent litigation landscape by drastically limiting where infringement lawsuits can be filed. The court heard arguments in the closely watched TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods Group Brands, touted as one of the most important IP cases of the decade. That is in part because of the sharp rise in patent suits filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, home of allegedly plaintiff-friendly federal judges. Roughly...
How Well Do You Take Criticism?
March 28, 2017
We all need to learn from our mistakes, but we may be making mistakes without realizing it. Accepting and using criticism to improve ourselves is an art. It may be the difference between being stuck in a rut or being able to perform better professionally and personally. It’s easy to become defensive when hearing criticism or discrediting the source. We may come up with excuses for results that are less than optimal. The Muse has these suggestions for not taking criticism personally, finding...
March 28, 2017
We all need to learn from our mistakes, but we may be making mistakes without realizing it. Accepting and using criticism to improve ourselves is an art. It may be the difference between being stuck in a rut or being able to perform better professionally and personally. It’s easy to become defensive when hearing criticism or discrediting the source. We may come up with excuses for results that are less than optimal. The Muse has these suggestions for not taking criticism personally, finding...
