http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog Conflict Management Expertise from F. Peter Phillips Mon, 21 May 2012 11:36:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I was privileged to be included in the recent European Users' Council Symposium at Tylney Hall, near Basingstoke, England, and organized by the London Court of International Arbitration. Present were international practitioners and arbitrators; inside council of global corporations who regularly use international arbitration; professors of international dispute resolution; ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/05/the-very-cutting-edge-of-international-arbitration/ 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 ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/05/national-roundtable-on-consumeremployment-dispute-resolution/ No sooner had Colin Rule addressed my students at New York Law School but we met each other again in Washington, DC, where he was on a panel on online dispute resolution at the Annual Meeting of the ABA's Section on Dispute Resolution.  Colin's seven years with EBay/Paypal, combined with ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/04/odr-and-napoleon-world-conquest/ For the past ten years (and counting), Dr. Ivan Sutter and Oxford Health Plans have been engaged in a dispute arising from a 1998 agreement pursuant to which Dr. Sutter would provide health services to Oxford's members and Oxford would compensate the doctor at a predetermined rate. Seeking quick, efficient resolution of ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/04/third-circuit-permits-class-arbitration-distinguishes-stolt-nielsen/ J. Michael Hand didn't like the Walnut Valley Sailing Club's storage shed.  A member of the club, though not disabled himself, Mr. Hand thought the structure didn't comply with the accessibility requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  So he sued. The Walnut Valley Sailing Club didn't like being sued, and ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/04/violate-mediation-confidentiality-case-dismissed/ I remember attending the first meeting of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association, in Boston, in 1999. I was on a panel discussing Y2K, and absolutely everybody I had ever met in ADR was in attendance. Y2K has since moved on, but the ABA Dispute Resolution Section ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/04/aba-dispute-resolution-meeting-april-18-21/ An attorney keeps her client files on the hard drive of her laptop.  These files include confidential and sensitive client information, and attorney-client communications.  Leaving a dentist appointment, she discovers that her car's windows have been smashed and that the property inside the car -- including her GPS and her laptop -- have been ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/03/new-apps-new-tech-new-ethics/ This post continues a discussion of some recent court opinions concerning the enforceability of settlement agreements reached during mediation, but subsequently disowned by one of the parties. In Williamson v. Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals (N.J. App. Div. A-6291-10T1, March 12, 2012), plaintiff sought damages from her employer for alleged violations of the New ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/03/challenging-mediated-settlement-agreements-pt-2/ It is uncomfortable for all concerned when a party to a mediation disowns the "settlement" purported to have been reached and challenges the enforceability of the writing made at the mediation session.  A previous post discussed a New Jersey case in which the mediator offered testimony as to whether there ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/03/challenging-mediated-settlement-agreements-pt-1/ 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 ... http://businessconflictmanagement.com/blog/2012/02/stipanowich-proposes-a-clever-work-around-for-consumeremployment-arbitration/