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Do Party Appointments Encourage Compliance With Awards?
November 8, 2018
Party-appointed arbitrators have recently been the subject of much debate in the arbitration community. There are those who see the ability to ‘choose’ an arbitrator as one of the fundamental pillars of arbitration. For others, it is a time- and cost-consuming exercise leading to potential conflicts and an increased likelihood of arbitrator challenges, both of which undermine the arbitral process and its reputation. One arbitration textbook (which shall remain nameless) contains the comment...
November 8, 2018
Party-appointed arbitrators have recently been the subject of much debate in the arbitration community. There are those who see the ability to ‘choose’ an arbitrator as one of the fundamental pillars of arbitration. For others, it is a time- and cost-consuming exercise leading to potential conflicts and an increased likelihood of arbitrator challenges, both of which undermine the arbitral process and its reputation. One arbitration textbook (which shall remain nameless) contains the comment...
Bloomberg Law Debuts New Attorney Analytics Tool to Better Evaluate Outside Counsel
November 7, 2018
The new Attorney Analytics tool will provide stats on over 100,000 lawyers, from companies and cases they’ve represented...
November 7, 2018
The new Attorney Analytics tool will provide stats on over 100,000 lawyers, from companies and cases they’ve represented...
Two State Courts Reject Arbitration Because Clause Lacked Administrator
November 7, 2018
This post is aimed at drafters of arbitration clauses. Because if you don’t insert an administrator for your arbitration, and don’t anticipate that the administrator may just stop providing services, your arbitration clause is dead in the water. At least, that’s the holding of two new state court cases.
November 7, 2018
This post is aimed at drafters of arbitration clauses. Because if you don’t insert an administrator for your arbitration, and don’t anticipate that the administrator may just stop providing services, your arbitration clause is dead in the water. At least, that’s the holding of two new state court cases.
The Eight Big Negotiation Mistakes that Entrepreneurs Make
November 6, 2018
Entrepreneurs, whose job is to transform ideas into new products or services for which there is a market, pride themselves on creating disruption and driving innovation. But they often fumble key interactions because they don't know how to handle the negotiation challenges that almost always arise. Entrepreneurship typically entails a series of interactions between founders, partners, potential partners, investors, and others at various stages of the entrepreneurial process – from the “seed”...
November 6, 2018
Entrepreneurs, whose job is to transform ideas into new products or services for which there is a market, pride themselves on creating disruption and driving innovation. But they often fumble key interactions because they don't know how to handle the negotiation challenges that almost always arise. Entrepreneurship typically entails a series of interactions between founders, partners, potential partners, investors, and others at various stages of the entrepreneurial process – from the “seed”...
Argument Analysis: The Familiar Divide in Arbitration Cases Re-emerges
November 6, 2018
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has been consistently skeptical of arguments that individual consumers or employees who have agreed to bring their legal claims in arbitration have a right to do so on an aggregated basis, such as in a class action. At the same time, arbitration is a function of contract, meaning parties can agree to aggregated arbitrations. The main question in Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela, which involves contract language that arguably allows aggregated arbitrations, is how to reconcile...
November 6, 2018
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority has been consistently skeptical of arguments that individual consumers or employees who have agreed to bring their legal claims in arbitration have a right to do so on an aggregated basis, such as in a class action. At the same time, arbitration is a function of contract, meaning parties can agree to aggregated arbitrations. The main question in Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela, which involves contract language that arguably allows aggregated arbitrations, is how to reconcile...
Missouri Duck Boat Firm Cites Old Maritime Law, Seeks Mediation
November 5, 2018
Two companies facing multiple lawsuits over a summer tourist boat accident in Missouri that killed 17 people have invoked an 1851 law that allows vessel owners to try to avoid or limit legal damages as they also seek settlement negotiations with victims’ family members. But the filing came less than a week after attorneys for Ripley and Branson Duck Vehicles asked U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool for a 90-day extension of court filing deadlines so that they could pursue a potential...
November 5, 2018
Two companies facing multiple lawsuits over a summer tourist boat accident in Missouri that killed 17 people have invoked an 1851 law that allows vessel owners to try to avoid or limit legal damages as they also seek settlement negotiations with victims’ family members. But the filing came less than a week after attorneys for Ripley and Branson Duck Vehicles asked U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool for a 90-day extension of court filing deadlines so that they could pursue a potential...
Argument Analysis: Justices Signal Opposition to Vague Exceptions That Would Limit Enforceability of Arbitration Agreements
November 5, 2018
The November argument session brought the justices back once again to the Federal Arbitration Act, with a pair of cases on the topic — Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer & White Sales Inc. and Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela. As these things go, the issue in Henry Schein is straightforward: When one party wants to take a dispute to arbitration but the other party disagrees, how do courts decide whether a particular dispute should be decided by a court or sent to arbitration? The problem commonly...
November 5, 2018
The November argument session brought the justices back once again to the Federal Arbitration Act, with a pair of cases on the topic — Henry Schein Inc. v. Archer & White Sales Inc. and Lamps Plus Inc. v. Varela. As these things go, the issue in Henry Schein is straightforward: When one party wants to take a dispute to arbitration but the other party disagrees, how do courts decide whether a particular dispute should be decided by a court or sent to arbitration? The problem commonly...
Oligarch a Step Closer to Losing $585 Million Divorce Battle
November 4, 2018
Farkhad Akhmedov, a Russian billionaire that made his fortune from natural gas, claims that the 2016 divorce decree from his wife Tatiana Akhmedova is invalid because he divorced her 16 years ago in Russia. The London court where Tatiana won her claim awarded her 41% of Farkhad's fortune, totalling $585 million. The Moscow City Court has rejected an appeal by the businessman seeking to prove the existence of that divorce. In the London case, Akhmedov’s lawyers produced "official" documents confirming...
November 4, 2018
Farkhad Akhmedov, a Russian billionaire that made his fortune from natural gas, claims that the 2016 divorce decree from his wife Tatiana Akhmedova is invalid because he divorced her 16 years ago in Russia. The London court where Tatiana won her claim awarded her 41% of Farkhad's fortune, totalling $585 million. The Moscow City Court has rejected an appeal by the businessman seeking to prove the existence of that divorce. In the London case, Akhmedov’s lawyers produced "official" documents confirming...
Artificial Intelligence now being used to predict the Next Big Earthquake!
November 4, 2018
The New York Times reported that “with the help of artificial intelligence, a growing number of scientists say changes in the way they can analyze massive amounts of seismic data can help them better understand earthquakes, anticipate how they will behave, and provide quicker and more accurate early warnings.” The October 26, 2018 article entitled “A.I. Is Helping Scientists Predict When and Where the Next Big Earthquake Will Be” included these comments: The new A.I.-related earthquake...
November 4, 2018
The New York Times reported that “with the help of artificial intelligence, a growing number of scientists say changes in the way they can analyze massive amounts of seismic data can help them better understand earthquakes, anticipate how they will behave, and provide quicker and more accurate early warnings.” The October 26, 2018 article entitled “A.I. Is Helping Scientists Predict When and Where the Next Big Earthquake Will Be” included these comments: The new A.I.-related earthquake...
The Musical Performance “Sight Machine” Reveals What Artificial Intelligence Is “Thinking” About Us
November 3, 2018
Last year, Facebook created two chatbots and asked them to begin talking to each other, practicing their negotiation skills. The bots, it turns out, were pretty good at negotiating—but they did it using their own made-up language that was incomprehensible to humans. This is where the world is going. Computers are creating content for each other, not us. Pictures are being taken by computers, for other computers to view and interpret. It's all happening quietly, often without our knowledge...
November 3, 2018
Last year, Facebook created two chatbots and asked them to begin talking to each other, practicing their negotiation skills. The bots, it turns out, were pretty good at negotiating—but they did it using their own made-up language that was incomprehensible to humans. This is where the world is going. Computers are creating content for each other, not us. Pictures are being taken by computers, for other computers to view and interpret. It's all happening quietly, often without our knowledge...
