Menu
Blog Archives
Want to Exclude Something From Arbitration? Be Specific
October 14, 2014
There are a lot of pros to alternative dispute resolution, but “sometimes it is in a party’s interest to have a dispute resolution mechanism that is long, onerous and expensive,” says Shep Davidson of Burns & Levinson. So although arbitration clauses in contracts are all the rage, sometimes they should be drafted with an eye to the fact that some claims are more strategically solved through the litigation process. To do this, Davidson suggests drawing on a recent case out of the U.S. Court...
October 14, 2014
There are a lot of pros to alternative dispute resolution, but “sometimes it is in a party’s interest to have a dispute resolution mechanism that is long, onerous and expensive,” says Shep Davidson of Burns & Levinson. So although arbitration clauses in contracts are all the rage, sometimes they should be drafted with an eye to the fact that some claims are more strategically solved through the litigation process. To do this, Davidson suggests drawing on a recent case out of the U.S. Court...
To Compete or Not to Compete: Is That the Question?
October 14, 2014
A recent New York Times article highlighted an increasing trend in the areas of antitrust, competition, and employment law: the enforcement of covenants not to compete in decidedly atypical fields. Steven Greenhouse, “Noncompete Clauses Increasingly Pop Up in Array of Jobs,” N.Y. Times, June 8, 2014. For years, covenants not to compete have been used to protect the legitimate business interests of big business and in the areas of science and technology, but the past few years have seen an expansion...
October 14, 2014
A recent New York Times article highlighted an increasing trend in the areas of antitrust, competition, and employment law: the enforcement of covenants not to compete in decidedly atypical fields. Steven Greenhouse, “Noncompete Clauses Increasingly Pop Up in Array of Jobs,” N.Y. Times, June 8, 2014. For years, covenants not to compete have been used to protect the legitimate business interests of big business and in the areas of science and technology, but the past few years have seen an expansion...
Harvard’s Endowment Is Bigger Than Half the World’s Economies
October 13, 2014
Harvard University’s largest-in-the-country endowment saw returns of 15.4 percent in the last year, and now stands at $36.4 billion. That’s a lot of money. Just for fun, here’s a look at how that compares to gross domestic products worldwide. According to the International Monetary Fund, that $36.4 billion would settle in between Jordan and Latvia. That’s about smack dab in the middle of the world’s economies.
October 13, 2014
Harvard University’s largest-in-the-country endowment saw returns of 15.4 percent in the last year, and now stands at $36.4 billion. That’s a lot of money. Just for fun, here’s a look at how that compares to gross domestic products worldwide. According to the International Monetary Fund, that $36.4 billion would settle in between Jordan and Latvia. That’s about smack dab in the middle of the world’s economies.
Harvesting Data to Shape the Future of International Dispute Resolution
October 13, 2014
Among the early words of wisdom expressed by Sherlock Holmes in the first of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 novels, A Scandal...
October 13, 2014
Among the early words of wisdom expressed by Sherlock Holmes in the first of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 56 novels, A Scandal...
Increasing Stat Analysis in Lower Courts
October 13, 2014
Analytics is a multidiscipline approach to identifying meaningful patterns in data for the purposes of quantifying performance and predicting outcomes. In short, analytics could eventually change the way lawyers litigate. The professional sports industry provides a quick example of the manner in which analytics are used to obtain a competitive advantage. One of the most interesting developments involves the use of player tracking systems to evaluate individual performances in free-flowing team...
October 13, 2014
Analytics is a multidiscipline approach to identifying meaningful patterns in data for the purposes of quantifying performance and predicting outcomes. In short, analytics could eventually change the way lawyers litigate. The professional sports industry provides a quick example of the manner in which analytics are used to obtain a competitive advantage. One of the most interesting developments involves the use of player tracking systems to evaluate individual performances in free-flowing team...
Browsewrap Agreements Not Vehicles for Abritration Clauses
October 13, 2014
Businesses wanting to bind consumers to arbitration clauses should not hide them in website terms of use agreements, according to a recent post on the Socially Aware blog by Morrison Foerster partner John Delaney and Sherman Kahn of Mauriel Kapouytian Woods. The case revolved around Touchpads, which the plaintiff tried to buy online from Barnes & Noble. After ordering two, he was notified the next day by the company that they were essentially out of stock due to high demand, The plaintiff sued...
October 13, 2014
Businesses wanting to bind consumers to arbitration clauses should not hide them in website terms of use agreements, according to a recent post on the Socially Aware blog by Morrison Foerster partner John Delaney and Sherman Kahn of Mauriel Kapouytian Woods. The case revolved around Touchpads, which the plaintiff tried to buy online from Barnes & Noble. After ordering two, he was notified the next day by the company that they were essentially out of stock due to high demand, The plaintiff sued...
Don’t Fear Arbitration—Embrace and Control the Process
October 13, 2014
In his address to the annual meeting of the American Arbitration Association in 2010, the Association’s then-president, William Slate, raised eyebrows when in his keynote address he challenged AAA neutrals and corporate counsel attending the conference to be more aggressive in taking charge of the arbitration process, which many believed had become too cumbersome, expensive and lengthy—in short, too much like federal litigation. Slate promised that the AAA would enact new rules to combat these...
October 13, 2014
In his address to the annual meeting of the American Arbitration Association in 2010, the Association’s then-president, William Slate, raised eyebrows when in his keynote address he challenged AAA neutrals and corporate counsel attending the conference to be more aggressive in taking charge of the arbitration process, which many believed had become too cumbersome, expensive and lengthy—in short, too much like federal litigation. Slate promised that the AAA would enact new rules to combat these...
IBM Launches Watson Tool for Business Clients
October 12, 2014
IBM is rolling out a cognitive tool powered by its Watson supercomputer that uses companies’ internal data to answer questions about performance and efficiency and predict outcomes. IBM said the tool — the latest in a series of Watson products — will make more widely available data analytics capabilities long reserved for research scientists. The move is part of IBM’s effort to shift resources away from a slumping hardware sector into more profitable fields like cloud computing and analytics. In...
October 12, 2014
IBM is rolling out a cognitive tool powered by its Watson supercomputer that uses companies’ internal data to answer questions about performance and efficiency and predict outcomes. IBM said the tool — the latest in a series of Watson products — will make more widely available data analytics capabilities long reserved for research scientists. The move is part of IBM’s effort to shift resources away from a slumping hardware sector into more profitable fields like cloud computing and analytics. In...
Women and Negotiation: When Identities Clash—or Click
October 12, 2014
Female bosses in the United Kingdom earn only three-quarters as much as their male colleagues, despite the fact that the Equal Pay Act outlawed inequitable pay between men and women more than 40 years ago, the British daily newspaper the Guardian reported in August. A study by the Chartered Management Institute found that the salary gap between men and women increases as they age and get moved up the professional ladder. Women executives were also found to earn significantly lower bonuses than...
October 12, 2014
Female bosses in the United Kingdom earn only three-quarters as much as their male colleagues, despite the fact that the Equal Pay Act outlawed inequitable pay between men and women more than 40 years ago, the British daily newspaper the Guardian reported in August. A study by the Chartered Management Institute found that the salary gap between men and women increases as they age and get moved up the professional ladder. Women executives were also found to earn significantly lower bonuses than...
Powerful Conflict Resolution Games To Help You Teach Negotiation
October 12, 2014
From complicated negotiation strategies to artful subterfuge, conflict resolution games are one of the very best ways to prepare for the challenges of real-world negotiation. Games that employ a Prisoner’s Dilemma structure (where rational parties may not cooperate despite their best interests) enable participants to analyze negotiations, make strategic decisions, and anticipate their counterpart’s next move. Drawing on a wide-range of disciplines including game theory, microeconomics, social...
October 12, 2014
From complicated negotiation strategies to artful subterfuge, conflict resolution games are one of the very best ways to prepare for the challenges of real-world negotiation. Games that employ a Prisoner’s Dilemma structure (where rational parties may not cooperate despite their best interests) enable participants to analyze negotiations, make strategic decisions, and anticipate their counterpart’s next move. Drawing on a wide-range of disciplines including game theory, microeconomics, social...
