This article explores the benefits of arbitration over litigation and provides practical pointers for trial lawyers who want to sharpen their advocacy skills in arbitration. …
Articles by Fellows
Emergency Arbitration: Fast, Effective and Economical
Where a party needs immediate legal relief, emergency arbitration can often provide it. I will first discuss the emergency arbitration process, particularly its historic roots and what the process constitutes in the context of the AAA Commercial Rules, and then describe an actual emergency arbitration I handled this past summer for the ICDR in an international IP dispute. Generally speaking, a disputant often requires immediate ("interim") relief whenever its counter-disputant unilaterally …
In-House Counsel’s Key Role in Arbitration: Ensuring the Process Meets Company Expectations
In-house attorneys tend to confront questions about arbitration at two discrete junctures: during the contract-ing process and at the onset of a dispute. A company is best served when its in-house counsel plays a proactive role at these and at every other stage of the process. During the contracting process, the in-house attorney often needs to address so many mixed business and legal questions that the dispute resolution clause sometimes gets very little attention. …
Proposed Legislation Undermines Business to Business Arbitration
Last November, The New York Times ran three front-page articles and a follow-up editorial excoriating companies who force their customers and employees to waive their right to proceed in court and instead have their disputes decided in arbitration proceedings where the deck is stacked against them. The articles brought to light that in certain cases the arbitrators who issued final and binding deci-sions had financial ties to those businesses and, as such, were anything but neutral—something …
Patent Arbitration: It Still Makes Good Sense
Dire predictions have recently been made by commentators pondering the future of patent arbitration in light of the new U.S.Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) post-grant trial proceedings (post-grant review (PGR) and inter partes review (IPR)) implemented by the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA). Contrary to those views, patent arbitration is still very much alive, widely used, and, where employed in appropriate situations and structured properly, will likely see increasing use. …
Stiffing the Arbitrators: The Problem of Nonpayment in Commercial Arbitration
There is a hole in our arbitral system. Despite being among the most efficient and prevalent means of resolving commercial disputes, and one generally favored by courts,3 arbitration is dangerously susceptible to the problem of nonpayment. Simply put, a respondent seeking to avoid liability may be able to “game” the system by refusing to pay its share of arbitration fees. All too frequently, this leaves the claimant without an effective remedy to hold the nonpaying respondent accountable. …
Arbitration Do’s and Don’ts for the Trial Lawyer, NY Litigator Vol. 19 No. 2
A client has just asked you to represent it in the arbitration of a contract dispute. The case looks pretty much like others you have taken to bench or jury trial victories. You think you are all set. Think again. You would not try a jury trial as if it were a bench trial, or vice versa. Why assume that you should try a case in arbitration as if it were in court? …
Arbitration Tips and Traps for Corporate Counsel
Arbitration is a field of study worthy of Hermann Rorschach. Parties who bring to it a preference for the formality and forensic opportunities of litigation see arbitration as the Wild West. Others, who prefer to resolve all business disputes quickly and informally, see it as just another form of litigation. Businesspeople who want to submit disputes to a business-oriented, neutral third party bound by rules that ensure basic fairness, but do not want all the bells and whistles of litigation, …
The New 2014 WIPO ADR Rule Set: Flexible, Efficient and Improved
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), based in Geneva, Switzerland, a self-funded agency of the United Nations, acts as a global forum for intellectual property services, policy, information and cooperation. The WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center ("Center"), established in 1994, offers alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services to resolve international commercial disputes between private parties. …
When Speed and Cost Matter: Emergency and Expedited Arbitration
Often, a disputant needs immediate relief. This happens when a counter-disputant, anticipating the commencement of legal action against it, unilaterally attempts to suddenly change the status quo to the detriment of his adversary. The disputant may expeditiously need to, e.g.: protect or secure property, including essential evidence, then in possession of a counter-disputant from destruction; enjoin the counter-disputant from disclosing confidential information of the disputant; or secure …
