Business Conflict Blog

Peter L. Michaelson is an attorney specializing in intellectual property, and an arbitrator and mediator of very substantial experience.  He also enjoys cruises to Alaska, which may characterize his “beyond-the-boundaries” attitude when it comes to adding value to clients of ADR processes. 

(Pete Michaelson’s photo of an Alaskan buffalo, sauntering in Kodiak.)

He has recently published an article that brings out a little-remarked but potentially costly issue:  How to ensure compatibility among party-appointed arbitrators and encourage an efficient and professional arbitral panel. Read more »

Tags: Arbitration

The Supreme Court granted cert Friday in an employment arbitration case addressing whether the arbitrator or the court should determine the enforceability of an arbitration clause.  The outcome could do mischief to the FAA and to Supreme Court precedent.  Once again there is reason to lament the harm that the practice of employment arbitration is wreaking upon commercial arbitration principles. Read more »

Tags: Arbitration, Employment

 In previous posts, I expressed concern that mandatory employment arbitration is having a bad effect on the practice of arbitration generally.  As my older brother used to say, “Duh.”  And here’s some more troublesome evidence of this regrettable trend. Read more »

Tags: Arbitration, Employment

My class in International Commercial Dispute Resolution at New York Law School is now finished, and each student was required to prepare a paper on a related topic of their choice.  All were good, happily, and some students wrote on topics that readers of this blog may find useful.  With their permission, I will post a few of them here over the next few weeks.

This paper, by Michael Martuscello, surveys the current state of business arbitration and mediation in Italy.  Of the many curious aspects he discusses, it is noteworthy that the Italian legislature, not the courts or the business community, seems to be the main driver of ADR and the main advocate for encouraging its use by business.  It is particularly interesting that, in compliance with the EU Directive, the legislature is ramping up a series of requirements that should make a big impact on the way business disputes are handled in the future — resulting perhaps in mediation rather than arbitration being the most practical way to address problems in a deal involving an Italian counterparty.

The text of the paper follows.  Please note that the citations appear as Endnotes. Read more »

Tags: Arbitration, Mediation, Teaching