Business Conflict Blog

One of the most interesting sessions at the ABA Dispute Resolution meeting in Washington was a report on an initiative of the Straus Institute at Pepperdine and the Dickerson School of Law at Penn State:  A National Roundtable on Consumer and Employment Dispute Resolution. 

Consumer and employment arbitration is a difficult topic upon which to find rational discourse.  It seems that folks tend to follow Pogo’s advice: “Don’t let the facts get in the way of your research.”  Yet here are Co-Chairs Tom Stipanowich and Nancy Welsh forming a Planning Committee comprising Lisa Bingham, Larry Mills and Homer LaRue to invite 30 scholars, advocates, representatives, policymakers and ADR professionals to have a rational conversation on the topic last February.  The session was conducted under “Chatham House Rules“  and a summary report reveals not only the topics discussed, but a work plan coming out of the initiative.

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Tags: ADR, Arbitration, Employment, Mediation, Public Policy

Prof. Thomas Stipanowich writes a lot and writes well — two gifts that don’t always go together.  His most recent article, for the Kansas Law Review, addresses the concern he has always had that arbitration be — and be perceived to be — fair.  Stipanowich is worried that recent Supreme Court rulings may permit (and even reward) unfair arbitration schemes, and he proposes a solution that is both old and new.

Click here for the full article, which proposes an “Arbitration Index.”

Tom Prolific:       

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Tags: Arbitration, Employment

At the IBA in Dubai last week, a three-hour session was held on “The Rise of Multiculturalism and Resulting Challenges of Managing Diversity in the Workplace.”  While the subjects discussed were fascinating, the subjects not discussed might have been even more so.   Read more »

Tags: Culture, Employment, Public Policy

Hans Peter Frick, General Counsel of Nestlé, once offered this guidance for business mediators:  You can either make what you think is a good candy bar and convince people that they “ought to” buy it, or you could go out and ask people what kind of candy bar they want, and go back and make it.

At the IBA in Vancouver, Jane Player of Bird & Bird gave attendees a chance to learn from global companies what kind of candy bar they like: How they consider ADR to add value (or not) in their businesses.  Representatives of General Electric, Swiss Re, Coca-Cola and E.I. duPont spent three hours in conversation among themselves and a the audience of a packed hall discussing relationship management, conflict avoidance, mediation, risk assessment, early case assessment and litigation management as ways to add value to their shareholders.

Candy, anyone?                                  Read more »

Tags: conflict management, Employment, Mediation, systems design