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 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...
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...
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...
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...
And Enjoy Your New Yacht: Staying True to Course, Eleventh Circuit Reaffirms Limits of “Exceeding Powers” Arbitration Award Vacatur
by Andrew Flake
For a family vacation last week, we spent time in the Caribbean, with its sweeping vistas of sky and ocean, and ships large and small catching trade winds in their sails. Naturally, when I came across a...
Stops along the Way: When the Mediation Discussion Makes Sense
by Andrew Flake
More than ever, with case dockets overloaded, our trial judges welcome counsel's willingness to mediate. Indeed, much more frequently, I see them ordering parties to mediate, and doing so earlier in the litigation process, as part...
Utilizing the Special Master
by Andrew Flake
We've read recently, in the highly-charged political context of a dispute between the national records administration and the former president, of the role a special master has played. Because how the court-appointed experts fit into litigation is...