Mining for Bitcoin or Mining for Iron? Blockchain Applications in Arbitration
by Andrew Flake
It's been a rocky few weeks for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and a nervous time for their holders. But investing aside, the blockchain, which underpins Bitcoin, is a real and transformative technology, one with implications all...
The Emergence of Required Third-Party Funding Disclosure
by Andrew Flake
In a standing order entered this week, the Chief Judge of Delaware's federal District Court has required all parties in cases before him to disclose at least the existence of any third-party funding (3PF), along...
Making the Most of Our Online Mediations
by Andrew Flake
After a nearly ten-hour day on Zoom, even after concluding a great settlement, we're sometimes less than celebratory. The process can be intense, consuming a lot of focus and energy. It leaves us pretty exhausted....
Second Circuit: No Inherent Limit on Using Section 1782 Discovery Elsewhere
by Andrew Flake
We try to take advantage of great opportunities when they come along; if work takes us to Rome, and we have extra time, we might head to the Colosseum, take a stroll in...
How the (Chocolate) Gets Made: The Georgia Supreme Court’s “Edible Arrangements” Opinion
by Andrew Flake
As often as we hear about mediation and its benefits, and they are many, are there disputes that need to be decided in court, whether by judge or jury? Absolutely.
At a...
Groundhog Day Edition: Considering the Mediation Privilege
by Andrew Flake
When that oddest of special occasions rolled around this year, our U.S. Groundhog Day, I decided to incorporate the festivities into a post. What are some of the recurring issues are in mediation, things that...
Arbitration Update: Another Effort to Exorcise “Manifest Disregard”
by Andrew Flake
One of the classic conventions of the scary movie is a villain or monster's "last gasp," a frightening reappearance after what should have been an antagonist's definitive end. In the arbitration context, we have such...
Two Chief Justices, and Why Institutional Independence Matters
by Andrew Flake
Every year, Chief Justice John Roberts prepares a report on the state of the judiciary, frequently with interesting reference to American history. This year, his thematic focus was judicial independence, a topic for which he selected former U.S. President and...
ADR in the New Year: Seven Hopes, and A Partridge in a Pear Tree
by Andrew Flake
A busy lawyer friend grumbled to me recently, with just a hint of bah-humbug, that he hadn't had nearly enough time to answer all of his holiday mail and take down holiday decorations yet, much less...
Leapfrog Petition Granted: Key International Arbitration Question Back on for Supreme Court Decision
by Andrew Flake
Mere days after our last TAOR blog published, wistfully reviewing the dismissal of the Servotronics case, the Supreme Court has decided to take the question up again, this time in a new case involving a subsidiary...