Georgia Court of Appeals Considers “Conduct-Based Waiver” of the Right to Arbitrate
by Andrew Flake
Clash of the forums: Two parties to a contract, an arbitration clause, and a dispute over the breadth of the clause. When the plaintiff files its complaint in court, intending to move forward with litigation, the defendant counters with a motion to compel arbitration.
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...
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 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 View from Overhead: Garage Doors, Trademark, and Crafting Our Settlements, Part I
by Andrew Flake
What's in a name? In the world of garage doors, apparently quite a bit. For this week's blog, we examine a protracted piece of litigation between two national garage-door companies that itself spawned further litigation. The case is interesting...
Moving the Conversation Forward: Early Mediation and EDR
by Andrew Flake
We take for granted that mediation is an available option for our cases. Mediation, at least the concept of a trained neutral retained to work with the parties to bridge differences and resolve disputes outside of litigation, is...
The Hourglass and the Ocean: Making Time for Resolution
by Andrew Flake
In the litigation practice, we deal in time. Schedules, deadlines, fees and invoicing -- they are all ways to divide and parcel out a scarce resource. I have an hourglass in my office I received as a...
Cards, Cookies, and the Supreme Court’s Coinbase v. Bielski Opinion: Mandatory Stay Now Required on Appeal of Denied Motion to Compel
by Andrew Flake
Summer is beach season, and when my family travels, we'll usually bring a few decks of cards with us. When my children were younger, that meant we played a lot of "War." You know the game --...