I hardly come out of my burrow,* and then only at night, so I was pretty interested to hear about a recent federal appellate decision holding that arbitration subpoenas in the US have nationwide scope. That’s the outcome in Jones Day v. Orrick, 42 F. 4th 1131 (9th Cir. 2022), a recent decision regarding an arbitration between two big law firms. The Ninth Circuit ruled that arbitration subpoenas have nationwide scope. So what’s this all about? Well, we all know that …
Discovery
Arbitration is Efficient! US Supreme Court Rejects Foreign Discovery Requests in International Arbitration
A CCA Blog: The Aardvark* My friends on the US Supreme Court unanimously agreed this week that parties in foreign arbitrations cannot ask US courts for discovery. The Supreme Court’s opinion in ZF Automotive US, Inc., et al. v. Luxshare, Ltd., and AlixPartners, LLP, et al. v. Fund for Protection of Investors' Rights in Foreign States (June 13, 2022) settled a dispute among the US Circuits over whether 28 USC 1782, a statute providing for foreign court assistance, applied in …
Tips on Effective Use of Subpoenas in Arbitration
Earlier in my career both as an advocate and as an arbitrator I did not fully appreciate the differences in compelling testimony and documents from third parties in arbitration as compared to litigation at the courthouse. After serving on an arbitration panel where counsel for one side made some crucial mistakes in seeking subpoenas it became clear to me that understanding this issue was a necessary part of an advocate’s tool kit. My experience has proven that, in arbitration cases, …