Unwrapped and Unboxed: 3rd Circuit Gives Functional Read to FAA Section 1 “Contracts of Employment
by Andrew Flake
I'll confess to being a gadget person, interested in any new bit of technology or device, whether for home, office, or travel, and my family's stocking stuffer items for me usually reflect that. Last year, it was a pineapple slicing tool, this year, a...
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...
The Best Time to Plant A Tree: Litigation Prevention and the Contract
by Andrew Flake
You may have heard the proverb along that the best time to plant a tree "is 20 years ago." It makes us pause and consider that in so many instances, we're taking small actions today with benefits...
2023: The Arrival of Hands-On AI
by Andrew Flake
You may have read that, at the close of the year, artificial intelligence (AI) hit the mainstream. Open AI released a tool, ChatGPT, with some remarkable capabilities. Among other things, it can generate poetry, essays,...
“Never Put Off Until Tomorrow…” The Importance of the Signed Mediation Agreement
by Andrew Flake
I spent a full day recently in virtual mediation. The case was a challenging IP dispute, one with a contentious and emotional history behind it, and even when schedules demanded concluding the full session, counsel and I...
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...
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...
The Cognitive Coffee Cup: Opening Argument in the Complex Commercial Trial
by Andrew Flake
In reviewing developments in week one of the Elizabeth Holmes/Theranos trial, a prosecution expected to last for over four months, I immediately thought of the preparation necessary on both sides to deliver their opening statements. Trials like...
If Honeybees Could Mediate: Benefits of Phased Dispute Resolution
by Andrew Flake
I took a field trip last weekend, visiting the gardens of a friend and experienced beekeeper. During a tour of the grounds, I watched in fascination as she tended to honeybees in the hundreds of...
When Does Documents-Only Arbitration Make Sense?
An underutilized dispute resolution process in U.S. commercial disputes is an arbitration conducted only on the exhibits, without a final oral hearing. Such a documents-only arbitral process, much more common internationally, resembles a summary judgment process more than it does a...