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There Are No Do-Overs in Mediation
July 23, 2015
Evaluate what the lawsuit is worth by using a decision tree. With every new offer or demand, the client is faced with...
July 23, 2015
Evaluate what the lawsuit is worth by using a decision tree. With every new offer or demand, the client is faced with...
An Open Letter from Seyfarth’s New Chief Strategy Officer – Joshua Kubicki
July 22, 2015
Why Strategy Now? To Address the Mid-term Emerging and Evolving Needs of our Clients In recent decades, firms in the AmLaw200 have become chained to the short-term. They think, plan, and make choices with this fiscal year in mind, narrowly focusing on inorganic pathways to growth such as lateral recruitment, acquisitions, and mergers. One way in which Seyfarth has differentiated itself, particularly in the last decade — since the inception of its efforts to apply Lean principles to the practice...
July 22, 2015
Why Strategy Now? To Address the Mid-term Emerging and Evolving Needs of our Clients In recent decades, firms in the AmLaw200 have become chained to the short-term. They think, plan, and make choices with this fiscal year in mind, narrowly focusing on inorganic pathways to growth such as lateral recruitment, acquisitions, and mergers. One way in which Seyfarth has differentiated itself, particularly in the last decade — since the inception of its efforts to apply Lean principles to the practice...
SCOTUS to Hear Appeal on Enforceability of Arbitration in CA
July 22, 2015
The United States Supreme Court has granted DIRECTV’s petition for Writ of Certiorari and will hear the following question presented: Whether the California Court of Appeal erred by holding, in direct conflict with the Ninth Circuit, that a reference to state law in an arbitration agreement governed by the Federal Arbitration Act requires the application of state law preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. As reported here previously, DIRECTV had moved to dismiss or stay a class action litigation...
July 22, 2015
The United States Supreme Court has granted DIRECTV’s petition for Writ of Certiorari and will hear the following question presented: Whether the California Court of Appeal erred by holding, in direct conflict with the Ninth Circuit, that a reference to state law in an arbitration agreement governed by the Federal Arbitration Act requires the application of state law preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act. As reported here previously, DIRECTV had moved to dismiss or stay a class action litigation...
Picture It Settled Featured in 60 Apps in 60 Minutes
July 22, 2015
Picture It Settled Lite helps you visualize the negotiation dance and calculate your next steps Analyzes your position and develops successful negotiation strategies
July 22, 2015
Picture It Settled Lite helps you visualize the negotiation dance and calculate your next steps Analyzes your position and develops successful negotiation strategies
LexPredict Agreement Database – For Research or Building Commercial Applications
July 21, 2015
The LexPredict Agreement Database is the only solution that can provide high-quality, machine-readable, and industry-spanning...
July 21, 2015
The LexPredict Agreement Database is the only solution that can provide high-quality, machine-readable, and industry-spanning...
Why Cooperate?
July 21, 2015
A short piece in the New York Times by Harvard economists and Yale psychologists has a suggestion that may surprise you – or maybe not – about people’s motivation to cooperate. The authors focus on the “tragedy of the commons” which is the situation “where individuals acting independently and rationally according to each’s self-interest behave contrary to the best interests of the whole group by depleting some common resource.” They argue that for people faced with a choice...
July 21, 2015
A short piece in the New York Times by Harvard economists and Yale psychologists has a suggestion that may surprise you – or maybe not – about people’s motivation to cooperate. The authors focus on the “tragedy of the commons” which is the situation “where individuals acting independently and rationally according to each’s self-interest behave contrary to the best interests of the whole group by depleting some common resource.” They argue that for people faced with a choice...
Arbitration: The Underused Alternative for Oil and Gas Disputes
July 21, 2015
Arbitration clauses are a staple in international energy contracts and oil and gas cases are the largest category of cases filed with ICSID, the World Bank's arbitration division (26 percent of recent cases filed, 39 percent counting other energy cases). Likewise, oil and gas cases frequently come before panels of all major international arbitration institutions. Yet the oil and gas industry too often avoids arbitration. Two widely used oil and gas form contracts—the AAPL Joint Operating Agreement...
July 21, 2015
Arbitration clauses are a staple in international energy contracts and oil and gas cases are the largest category of cases filed with ICSID, the World Bank's arbitration division (26 percent of recent cases filed, 39 percent counting other energy cases). Likewise, oil and gas cases frequently come before panels of all major international arbitration institutions. Yet the oil and gas industry too often avoids arbitration. Two widely used oil and gas form contracts—the AAPL Joint Operating Agreement...
Labor and Employment Law in a World of Automated Systems
July 20, 2015
We may still be decades away from true artificial intelligence, but intelligent systems and new technologies are adding challenges to the modern workplace. The computing systems and programs currently pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence (AI) may still be a long way off from self-awareness (the hallmark of true AI), but they are creating very real challenges for human society. Chief among these are the implications on historic and societal underpinnings of how humans work. Presently,...
July 20, 2015
We may still be decades away from true artificial intelligence, but intelligent systems and new technologies are adding challenges to the modern workplace. The computing systems and programs currently pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence (AI) may still be a long way off from self-awareness (the hallmark of true AI), but they are creating very real challenges for human society. Chief among these are the implications on historic and societal underpinnings of how humans work. Presently,...
Robin Williams Estate Dispute Seeks Resolution
July 20, 2015
The dispute over the estate of Robin Williams centers around the definition of certain bequest in the will of various personal items and serves as a good example of why greater specificity is needed in some wills. In terms of the overall estate, the property each party is contesting in proportionally small but they are items of great personal significance to more than one person. Whenever there is a potential conflict over things that might be desired by multiple parties, the client should be advised...
July 20, 2015
The dispute over the estate of Robin Williams centers around the definition of certain bequest in the will of various personal items and serves as a good example of why greater specificity is needed in some wills. In terms of the overall estate, the property each party is contesting in proportionally small but they are items of great personal significance to more than one person. Whenever there is a potential conflict over things that might be desired by multiple parties, the client should be advised...
Can a Court Order a Party Not to Request an Arbitration Remedy the Arbitrator May Not Grant?
July 20, 2015
In appropriate circumstances, Courts can vacate under Federal Arbitration Act Section 10(a)(4) an award that does not draw its essence from the parties’ agreement but instead was based on the arbitrators’ own notions of economic justice. In Benihana, Inc. v. Benihana of Tokyo, LLC, ___ F.3d ___, No. 14-841, slip op. (2d Cir. April 28, 2015), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was faced with a different issue: whether before an award was made a court can enjoin a party from asking...
July 20, 2015
In appropriate circumstances, Courts can vacate under Federal Arbitration Act Section 10(a)(4) an award that does not draw its essence from the parties’ agreement but instead was based on the arbitrators’ own notions of economic justice. In Benihana, Inc. v. Benihana of Tokyo, LLC, ___ F.3d ___, No. 14-841, slip op. (2d Cir. April 28, 2015), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was faced with a different issue: whether before an award was made a court can enjoin a party from asking...
