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December 07, 2010

Accelerated Global Arbitration Rules: A Curb on Madness.

CPR's are barely 15 months old. Global. Commerical. Agile. Mobile. Flexible. Deliberately Hostile to making attorneys the main event. Aggressive. We are all free to use them to conduct arbitrations as they were originally intended to be conducted--and "get it done". Make closure a priority--and even a success. Puts the arm on lawyer wankfests. No, you won't starve. Tell your clients about them. Get them in contract clauses. See "Global Rules For Accelerated Commercial Arbitration (effective August 20, 2009)" by the NYC-based CPR Institute. They are custom-built for higher stakes disputes arising under business-to-business contracts. Best two features: (1) The default position is a sole (one) arbitrator. (2) Arbitrators should make award ASAP and in any event within six months of formation of the tribunal.

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Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)

At Above The Law: "Overseeing International Litigation".

See Mark Herrmann's Inside Straight column yesterday at Above The Law. Excerpts:

This has been fascinating (to me, at least, but I realize I’m a little odd) in several ways. I never before focused on what a U.S.-centric litigation life I had been living. There’s a brave new world out there, and I’d never given it a moment’s thought.

My standard litany hardly turns me into an expert in, say, Sudanese civil procedure, but my few questions are enough to elicit the general lay of the land. It’s also surprising to see that, so long as the judiciary is honest, it’s possible to participate in basically any type of judicial proceeding and be generally comfortable with the process.

[S]uppose opposing counsel in Sudan threatens my client (or my local counsel) with criminal proceedings to try to coerce settlement of a civil case. If that’s the way people litigate in Sudan, can I tell my local counsel to retaliate by threatening to initiate criminal proceedings of our own? Or am I constrained by American rules of propriety even when I’m playing in a Sudanese sandbox?

Posted by JD Hull at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)