Menu
Blog Archives
SCOTUS Denies Cert in CA Representative Arbitration Case
January 27, 2015
The US Supreme Court denied certiorari in CLS Transportation v. Iskanian, which dealt with a "representative" rather than class arbitration in the California State Courts. In the case below (327 P.3d 129 (Ca. 2014)), the Supreme Court of California had allowed a large-scale representative action under the California Private Attorney Generals Act (PAGA) to go forward, although a class action under the National Labor Relations Act was barred due to the existence of a waiver of class arbitration. In...
January 27, 2015
The US Supreme Court denied certiorari in CLS Transportation v. Iskanian, which dealt with a "representative" rather than class arbitration in the California State Courts. In the case below (327 P.3d 129 (Ca. 2014)), the Supreme Court of California had allowed a large-scale representative action under the California Private Attorney Generals Act (PAGA) to go forward, although a class action under the National Labor Relations Act was barred due to the existence of a waiver of class arbitration. In...
When Family Business Disputes Require Conflict Resolution
January 27, 2015
Unfortunately, disputes—and the need for conflict resolution—can be common when family members do business together. In their March 2006 Negotiation Briefings article All in the Family: Managing Business Disputes with Relatives, Harvard Law School professors Frank E.A. Sander and Robert C. Bordone recommend that family members who are thinking about doing business together take the following precautions, any and all of which might help the Kings resolve their dispute: 1. Prepare for complications. By...
January 27, 2015
Unfortunately, disputes—and the need for conflict resolution—can be common when family members do business together. In their March 2006 Negotiation Briefings article All in the Family: Managing Business Disputes with Relatives, Harvard Law School professors Frank E.A. Sander and Robert C. Bordone recommend that family members who are thinking about doing business together take the following precautions, any and all of which might help the Kings resolve their dispute: 1. Prepare for complications. By...
Neutral, Biased, or Both? Discursive Construction of a Mediator’s Dual Role
January 27, 2015
Within a theoretical and methodological framework based on critical discourse analysis and the principle of the objective, and using recordings from a civil case concerning an inheritance dispute, this article explores how a mediator in China employed various discursive strategies to foster conflict resolution and construct a dual role. On the one hand, he tried to maintain an impartial stance, but on the other he violated neutrality by acting selectively against one party. I suggest that the mediator,...
January 27, 2015
Within a theoretical and methodological framework based on critical discourse analysis and the principle of the objective, and using recordings from a civil case concerning an inheritance dispute, this article explores how a mediator in China employed various discursive strategies to foster conflict resolution and construct a dual role. On the one hand, he tried to maintain an impartial stance, but on the other he violated neutrality by acting selectively against one party. I suggest that the mediator,...
Constructive Discharge Claim Accrues When Employer Retaliates
January 26, 2015
A constructive discharge claim accrues on the last date the employer commits an adverse employment action and not when the employee actually quits his or her job, according to the court in Green v. Donahoe. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s decision furthers a circuit split regarding the claim accrual date. The accrual date is critical because it starts Title VII’s clock on a claimant’s deadline to satisfy the administrative procedures required by the Equal Employment...
January 26, 2015
A constructive discharge claim accrues on the last date the employer commits an adverse employment action and not when the employee actually quits his or her job, according to the court in Green v. Donahoe. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit’s decision furthers a circuit split regarding the claim accrual date. The accrual date is critical because it starts Title VII’s clock on a claimant’s deadline to satisfy the administrative procedures required by the Equal Employment...
Toronto Students Use Watson for Predictive Legal Research
January 26, 2015
Helping lawyers reduce research time is key to the functioning of Ross, the students said. All teams were given access to Watson on the cloud, which allowed them to feed the computer program large amounts of text from Ontario corporate law decisions and statutes as reference material. The super computer Watson then processed that information and the students’ application, Ross, made that data accessible to lawyers and legal researchers. Ross can, for example, predict the outcome of court cases,...
January 26, 2015
Helping lawyers reduce research time is key to the functioning of Ross, the students said. All teams were given access to Watson on the cloud, which allowed them to feed the computer program large amounts of text from Ontario corporate law decisions and statutes as reference material. The super computer Watson then processed that information and the students’ application, Ross, made that data accessible to lawyers and legal researchers. Ross can, for example, predict the outcome of court cases,...
Google and Apple in $415m ‘Non-Poaching’ Settlement Offer
January 26, 2015
Four of the world's biggest tech giants - Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe - have agreed to a new settlement of $415m (£273.5m)...
January 26, 2015
Four of the world's biggest tech giants - Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe - have agreed to a new settlement of $415m (£273.5m)...
Bringing Us Closer to the Blueprints of the Brain
January 25, 2015
I’ve got a piece in today’s Observer about the amazing science of doing functional brain imaging and behavioural studies with babies while they are still in the womb to see the earliest stages of neurocognitive development. Brain development during pregnancy is key for future health, which is why it gets checked so thoroughly during prenatal examinations. But neuroscientists have become increasingly interested in how the activity of the brain becomes progressively integrated and synchronised...
January 25, 2015
I’ve got a piece in today’s Observer about the amazing science of doing functional brain imaging and behavioural studies with babies while they are still in the womb to see the earliest stages of neurocognitive development. Brain development during pregnancy is key for future health, which is why it gets checked so thoroughly during prenatal examinations. But neuroscientists have become increasingly interested in how the activity of the brain becomes progressively integrated and synchronised...
Why Dieting Is So Hard
January 25, 2015
New year, new you. For many people, a new you really means a new diet, shorn of white carbs, fried foods and ice cream. (Losing weight is, by far, the most popular New Year’s resolution.) Alas, the new you has to struggle against the habits of the old you, which knows perfectly well how delicious French fries taste. Most diets fail because the old you wins. Why is the new you so weak? A recent study in Psychological Science by Deborah Tang, Lesley Fellows and Alain Dagher at McGill University...
January 25, 2015
New year, new you. For many people, a new you really means a new diet, shorn of white carbs, fried foods and ice cream. (Losing weight is, by far, the most popular New Year’s resolution.) Alas, the new you has to struggle against the habits of the old you, which knows perfectly well how delicious French fries taste. Most diets fail because the old you wins. Why is the new you so weak? A recent study in Psychological Science by Deborah Tang, Lesley Fellows and Alain Dagher at McGill University...
Long-Held Belief About How Memory Works Challenged by Exciting New Research
January 25, 2015
It should be possible to restore the memories of people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, scientists at UCLA have announced. This is because long-term memory is not stored at the synapses — the connections between brain cells which are destroyed in Alzheimer’s disease — as neuroscientists have long thought. Professor David Glanzman, who led the study, said: “Long-term memory is not stored at the synapse. That’s a radical idea, but that’s where the evidence leads. The...
January 25, 2015
It should be possible to restore the memories of people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, scientists at UCLA have announced. This is because long-term memory is not stored at the synapses — the connections between brain cells which are destroyed in Alzheimer’s disease — as neuroscientists have long thought. Professor David Glanzman, who led the study, said: “Long-term memory is not stored at the synapse. That’s a radical idea, but that’s where the evidence leads. The...
TEDx Talk on “The Dark Side of Free Will”
January 24, 2015
Gregg Caruso on "The Dark Side of Free Will"
January 24, 2015
Gregg Caruso on "The Dark Side of Free Will"
