News
In Quest of the Arbitration Trifecta, or Closed Door Litigation?: The Delaware Arbitration Program
June 24, 2013
Recently, a minor tempest has been raging over the Delaware Arbitration Program, which attempts to marry one of America’s premier business courts to the fundamentally more private consensual adjudicative alternative, binding arbitration. At a time when commercial parties face potentially long delays in underfunded courts, but harbor mixed views about arbitration, Delaware’s unique concoction ostensibly offers a veritable trifecta of procedural advantages. These include: (1) a first-rate adjudicator...
June 24, 2013
Recently, a minor tempest has been raging over the Delaware Arbitration Program, which attempts to marry one of America’s premier business courts to the fundamentally more private consensual adjudicative alternative, binding arbitration. At a time when commercial parties face potentially long delays in underfunded courts, but harbor mixed views about arbitration, Delaware’s unique concoction ostensibly offers a veritable trifecta of procedural advantages. These include: (1) a first-rate adjudicator...
IBA Adopts New Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration
June 24, 2013
Last week, the International Bar Association adopted new “IBA Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration.” The guidelines were reportedly designed to create a more uniform and equitable experience for both attorneys and arbitrators engaged in international arbitral disputes. According to the International Bar Association: The committee and its Task Force on Counsel Conduct have produced guidelines for party representation and counsel conduct in international arbitration. The...
June 24, 2013
Last week, the International Bar Association adopted new “IBA Guidelines on Party Representation in International Arbitration.” The guidelines were reportedly designed to create a more uniform and equitable experience for both attorneys and arbitrators engaged in international arbitral disputes. According to the International Bar Association: The committee and its Task Force on Counsel Conduct have produced guidelines for party representation and counsel conduct in international arbitration. The...
Mortgage Foreclosure Is Debt Collection under FDCPA
June 23, 2013
In Glazer, the Sixth Circuit held that the filing of a mortgage foreclosure action constitutes “debt collection” within the meaning of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1692, and that lawyers who meet the general definition of “debt collector” must, therefore, comply with the FDCPA when bringing a mortgage foreclosure action.
June 23, 2013
In Glazer, the Sixth Circuit held that the filing of a mortgage foreclosure action constitutes “debt collection” within the meaning of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1692, and that lawyers who meet the general definition of “debt collector” must, therefore, comply with the FDCPA when bringing a mortgage foreclosure action.
Failure Makes You a Winner
June 23, 2013
“The true test of a champion is not whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles.”—Garth Stein What quality does the Buddha share with Luke Skywalker and Joan of Arc? What links Harriet Tubman with Harry Potter? It has nothing to do with enlightenment or magic. It has to do with struggle. These heroes share a key quality: GRIT. There has been some discussion in the media recently about grit, but many people, especially parents, have been asking me what the term...
June 23, 2013
“The true test of a champion is not whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles.”—Garth Stein What quality does the Buddha share with Luke Skywalker and Joan of Arc? What links Harriet Tubman with Harry Potter? It has nothing to do with enlightenment or magic. It has to do with struggle. These heroes share a key quality: GRIT. There has been some discussion in the media recently about grit, but many people, especially parents, have been asking me what the term...
Supreme Court Confidential
June 23, 2013
All rise and download the latest iOS version of PocketJustice. If it seems like years since the debut of PocketJustice (www.pocketjustice.com) hit the iTunes store and quickly positioned itself as a top-shelf mobile multimedia resource for constitutional law, that's because it was way back in early 2010 when the Oyez Project, now at Chicago-Kent College of Law, first released the jammin' app delivering audio of Supreme Court arguments to smartphones. PocketJustice presents audio from more than...
June 23, 2013
All rise and download the latest iOS version of PocketJustice. If it seems like years since the debut of PocketJustice (www.pocketjustice.com) hit the iTunes store and quickly positioned itself as a top-shelf mobile multimedia resource for constitutional law, that's because it was way back in early 2010 when the Oyez Project, now at Chicago-Kent College of Law, first released the jammin' app delivering audio of Supreme Court arguments to smartphones. PocketJustice presents audio from more than...
Android Apps in One Hour
June 23, 2013
Attorneys often find themselves operating in separate camps, such as plaintiff-defendant, prosecution-defense, civil-criminal, private-public and, perhaps most contentiously, Android-iPhone. While both iPhones and Androids deliver a smartphone experience that keeps attorneys connected wherever they go, each platform takes a unique and sometimes idiosyncratic approach to features and capabilities. These differences have helped build strong user loyalties in both camps. Yet times are changing....
June 23, 2013
Attorneys often find themselves operating in separate camps, such as plaintiff-defendant, prosecution-defense, civil-criminal, private-public and, perhaps most contentiously, Android-iPhone. While both iPhones and Androids deliver a smartphone experience that keeps attorneys connected wherever they go, each platform takes a unique and sometimes idiosyncratic approach to features and capabilities. These differences have helped build strong user loyalties in both camps. Yet times are changing....
Why Are We So Bad at Detecting Lies?
June 23, 2013
People are pretty lousy lie detectors. In ordinary social interactions, when all we have to go by is what the other persons are saying and how they are saying it, our judgments of whether someone is lying or telling the truth are correct only a little more often than chance. My colleague Charlie Bond and I discovered that when we summarized the results of all of the studies that had ever been done on the topic, in which more than 24,000 people had participated. By chance, accuracy would have...
June 23, 2013
People are pretty lousy lie detectors. In ordinary social interactions, when all we have to go by is what the other persons are saying and how they are saying it, our judgments of whether someone is lying or telling the truth are correct only a little more often than chance. My colleague Charlie Bond and I discovered that when we summarized the results of all of the studies that had ever been done on the topic, in which more than 24,000 people had participated. By chance, accuracy would have...
The Mental Fortitude Necessary to Practice Law
June 22, 2013
From the moment you start practicing law, people are going to tell you that you aren’t very good at your job. Sometimes they will be right. Sometimes they will be trying to intimidate you. Sometimes they will just be jerks. If you aren’t prepared for this (because your law school artificially boosted your GPA, for example), you won’t be very good at being a lawyer. It is crucial for law students — would-be lawyers, that is — to learn to deal with people telling them they aren’t...
June 22, 2013
From the moment you start practicing law, people are going to tell you that you aren’t very good at your job. Sometimes they will be right. Sometimes they will be trying to intimidate you. Sometimes they will just be jerks. If you aren’t prepared for this (because your law school artificially boosted your GPA, for example), you won’t be very good at being a lawyer. It is crucial for law students — would-be lawyers, that is — to learn to deal with people telling them they aren’t...
Few Federal Courts Use Social Media, Survey Says
June 22, 2013
To what extent do federal courts use social media to communicate with the public or for other purposes? Not much, concluded a recent survey of federal court clerks. The survey found that out of the 135 courts that responded, just 21 (15.6%) used social media. Seventeen others said that they planned to start using social media at some point in the future. The survey was sent to clerks of court in the federal system, including circuit courts of appeal, district courts, bankruptcy courts and special...
June 22, 2013
To what extent do federal courts use social media to communicate with the public or for other purposes? Not much, concluded a recent survey of federal court clerks. The survey found that out of the 135 courts that responded, just 21 (15.6%) used social media. Seventeen others said that they planned to start using social media at some point in the future. The survey was sent to clerks of court in the federal system, including circuit courts of appeal, district courts, bankruptcy courts and special...
Android or iOS Phone?
June 22, 2013
Attorneys often find themselves in? separate camps, such as plaintiff/defendant, civil/criminal, prosecution/device, and, perhaps most contentiously, Android/iOS smartphone. While Apple Inc.'s and Google Inc.'s smartphones keep attorneys connected, each takes a sometimes idiosyncratic approach to features and capabilities, building strong user loyalties. Both phones have changed over the past year, prompting some to switch camps to take advantage of improvements, such as a larger display or stronger...
June 22, 2013
Attorneys often find themselves in? separate camps, such as plaintiff/defendant, civil/criminal, prosecution/device, and, perhaps most contentiously, Android/iOS smartphone. While Apple Inc.'s and Google Inc.'s smartphones keep attorneys connected, each takes a sometimes idiosyncratic approach to features and capabilities, building strong user loyalties. Both phones have changed over the past year, prompting some to switch camps to take advantage of improvements, such as a larger display or stronger...
