Arbitration Clauses: Reconsidering the “Equitable” Relief Carveout
by Andrew Flake
When lawyers represent business clients in arbitration, they are often relying upon a contract, and an arbitration clause, they didn't draft themselves. That may be because they are assisting a first-time client. It may be because...
Supreme Court Roundup: A Slight Course Correction for the S.S. FAA?
by Andrew Flake
In sailing, to "tack" is to turn by making a series of small port-to-starboard moves, back and forth, into the wind. In looking at two very recent Supreme Court options dealing with arbitration, both issued within the past...
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...
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...
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...
Hot Cocoa Conversation: A Servotronics Update
by Andrew Flake
With the advent of the holiday season come festivities and family events. Inevitably, as you're contentedly sipping spiced eggnog or hot cocoa, also comes the question from your Uncle Milton: "So what is the deal? Can I...
Post-Award Filings in Arbitration: Eleventh Circuit Considers Timing Question of First Impression
by Andrew Flake
When an arbitration award comes down, if the winning party moves first to confirm it, the challenging party needs to respond directly, rather than simply moving to vacate. In an Eleventh Circuit case of first impression,...
What Would Oliver Cromwell Do? My GAR Live Discussion on Challenging the Arbitrator
by Andrew Flake
I recently had a chance to serve, with some very distinguished colleagues, on a GAR Live panel. Along with our audience at the 10th Annual AtlAS conference, we assessed and discussed some intriguing scenarios...
Assessing and Correcting for Implicit Bias
by Andrew Flake
Especially in recent months, ADR practitioners, as professional problem-solvers who constantly evaluate and decide business and legal questions, have been examining a phenomenon that impacts all of us: implicit bias. We have been thinking about it,...