Mediation Math — The Power of Combinations
by Andrew Flake
As mediators, we often find ourselves at the intersection of complex disputes and seemingly irreconcilable positions. But what if I told you that one of the keys to unlocking creative settlements lies in a simple middle school math concept – combinations? Both of my...
Sixth Circuit Revisits “Closely Related” Doctrine in Forum Selection Disputes
by Andrew Flake
For commercial parties entering into a contract, the opportunity to select where a dispute will be heard is an advantage. Thus it is, in a contract entered into before a dispute arises, we have forum-selection clauses in favor of a particular location and court,...
Generative AI and the Promise of Wider Online Dispute Resolution
by Andrew Flake
Since I took a first look ChatGPT in November 2022, the world of generative AI, in the area of litigation and ADR as elsewhere, has been on a remarkable journey. Recognizing the transformative nature of...
Card Not Valid: Badgerow and Post-Award FAA Jurisdiction
by Andrew Flake
I recently discovered, with some surprise, that it was again time to renew my library card -- and that I'd need to trek down in person! Imagine, in this era of online convenience... At about the same...
More Than One Way to Loosen the Knot: The Power of Options in Mediation
by Andrew Flake
I have blinds on my office window and one morning not long ago, I noticed a knot, really a tangle, that seemed much larger than I remembered. I decided to untie it, and after a painstaking length of...
The Forest and the Trees: Drafting The Optimal Arbitration Clause
by Andrew Flake
I participated recently in a discussion on alternative dispute resolution in IP disputes -- mediating and arbitrating trademark and patent infringement cases, and particular challenges that can arise. One of the topics we took up, which...
When Tech Meets Tact: Envisioning the Mediation of the Future
by Andrew Flake
It was New Year's Day last year when I first wrote about ChatGPT and the advent of widely-available AI. Since then, even for a time when intertwined technology and new advances are a commonplace, things have...
The Lawyer’s Creed and Successful Mediation: Some Holiday Reflections
by Andrew Flake
It's 11:50 p.m. You're preparing to hit send on an email to opposing counsel, a lengthy and powerful epistle that will surely send them scrambling. Suddenly, you feel a chill. A wind whistles through your office. Was...
Management and Process in the Mass Arbitration: From Concepcion and Beyond
by Andrew Flake
It was this very week, in November 2020, that counsel argued AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, a case that, when decided the following year, would end up refashioning the management and resolution of collective disputes in...
The View from Overhead: Garage Doors, Trademark, and Crafting Our Settlements, Part II
by Andrew Flake
An expensive piece of business litigation, particularly in the IP world and with companies interacting on an ongoing basis, always provides us some useful reflection. In our last post, we looked at a protracted piece of...