ADR Prof Blog

Harges on Louisiana ADR Laws

Jen Reynolds — Fri, 11 May 2012 16:10:29 +0000

Bobby Harges (Loyola New Orleans) has published The Handbook on Louisiana Alternative Dispute Resolution Laws, available here. Professor Harges’s description:

This book is intended to serve as a handbook that presents a broad overview of the laws governing the assorted Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes as they are used in Louisiana. The main objective of this handbook is to serve as a guide to the law, application, and practice of ADR in Louisiana, with the purpose of providing practitioners with a clear understanding of the processes and their implications. More specifically, the book provides an analysis of the wide variety of Louisiana statutes, rules, and regulations pertaining to ADR and settlement, and addresses the different types of ADR processes utilized in Louisiana such as mediation, arbitration, medical review panels, and certified public accountant review panels.

Strong on the Arbitration of Internal Trust Disputes

Jen Reynolds — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:08:58 +0000

Stacie Strong (Missouri) has published three articles on the arbitration of internal trust disputes:

“Arbitration of Trust Disputes: Two Bodies of Law Collide” (abstract)

“Mandatory Arbitration of Internal Trust Disputes: Improving Arbitrability and Enforceability Through Proper Procedural Choices” (abstract)

“Empowering Settlors: How Proper Language Can Increase the Enforceability of a Mandatory Arbitration Provision in a Trust” (abstract)

The Haggler on Concepcion

Paul Kirgis — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:33:47 +0000

In Sunday’s New York Times, David Segal, who authors The Haggler column on consumer issues and negotiation, took issue with Concepcion and its fall-out. Segal highlighted the case of a veteran owed a $400 refund under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act on an aborted car lease. The veteran became the lead plaintiff in a class action against Nissan on behalf of similarly situated service members. But because his lease contained an arbitration agreement with a class action waiver, he was out of luck, and so are the many other servicemembers who don’t even know they are entitled to such refunds and would have been members of the class.

Segal’s column breaks no new ground, particularly for readers of this blog, but it does a good job of humanizing the damage Concepcion does and the radical pro-business bias of this Supreme Court. It is the kind of reporting that must happen more if fundamental rights to civil justice are to be restored.

Call for Papers — AALS 2013

Jen Reynolds — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:43:57 +0000

Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR) is a next-generation dispute resolution field that brings together environmental/natural resources/energy law, public policy, multilateral bargaining, ADR, and litigation. In January 2013, the AALS Section on ADR will present a panel discussion: “Environmental Conflict Resolution (ECR): A Report Card.” We have a star panel: Larry Susskind (MIT), Irma Russell (Montana), Sean Nolon (Vermont), Jill Gross (Pace), Joe Feller (Arizona State), and Adell Amos (Oregon).

We are seeking another panelist; please see our Call for Papers. All panel proceedings will be published by the Journal of Environmental Law & Litigation. Please consider submitting something — it would be great to get additional ADR perspectives on these issues, particularly with respect to multilateral bargaining, and we are open to non-traditional formats — and please forward to anyone you think would be interested. The deadline to submit papers is September 6, 2012.

Thank you!

Symposium at Pace on Engaged Legal Scholarship

Jill Gross — Sat, 05 May 2012 14:57:37 +0000

The blog has featured a few posts lately on the role and purpose of ADR Law Prof’s scholarship (e.g., here, here and here). Yesterday, at the New York State Judicial Institute at Pace Law School, Professor John Nolon, Director of Pace’s Kheel Center on the Resolution of Environmental Interest Disputes and the rest of his planning committee (Elizabeth Burleson and Lin Harmon of Pace; Keith Hirokawa of Albany, and Uma Outka of Kansas) produced and hosted an invitation-only symposium on Engaged Scholarship. The Symposium was a follow-up to last year’s highly successful “Practically Grounded” conference on engaged teaching sponsored by Pace’s Land Use Law Center. Twenty scholars from law schools across the country gathered for a series of small group discussions on how we can better produce engaged scholarship that informs and is integrated with our teaching, engages with students, and tackles the critical problems of the day. The innovative format combined with the energy in the room led to productive and stimulating conversations about the role of engaged scholarship in the legal academy. Many of those conversations directly related to the role of both engaged teaching and engaged scholarship in teaching our students to be practical problem-solvers, a goal I suspect many of us share.

I am proud to have been part of the important conversation.