The Arbitration Conversation – Podcast

Discussing the latest developments in arbitration with top scholars and practitioners from around the world, hosted by Professor Amy J. Schmitz.

You can learn more, and view the first 100 video episodes of The Arbitration Conversation here.

Episode 12: Prof. Andrea Kupfer Schneider, Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution

In this episode, Amy interviews Andrea Kupfer Schneider, Professor of Law and Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Cardozo Law.

Professor Schneider was the previous director of the nationally ranked ADR program at Marquette University Law School in Wisconsin, where she taught ADR, Negotiation, Ethics and International Conflict Resolution for over two decades. In addition to overseeing the ADR program, Professor Schneider was the inaugural director of the university’s Institute for Women’s Leadership.

In 2009, Professor Schneider was awarded the Woman of the Year Award by the Wisconsin Law Journal and the Association for Women Lawyers. She was named the 2017 recipient of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work, the highest scholarly award given by the ABA in the field of dispute resolution.

Professor Schneider has published numerous articles on negotiation, plea bargaining, negotiation pedagogy, ethics, gender and international conflict. She serves as the co-editor of the ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine and on the Board of Advisors for the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at UNLV School of Law. She is a founding editor of Indisputably, the blog for ADR law faculty, and started the Dispute Resolution Works-in-Progress annual conferences in 2007. In 2016, she gave her first TEDx talk titled Women Don’t Negotiate and Other Similar Nonsense.

Episode 11: The Digital Services Act in Europe (Part Two)

In this episode, Amy interviews Professor Pieter Wolters, Associate Professor in the Interdisciplinary Hub for Digitalization and Society at Radboud University. Dr. Wolters researches privacy and cybersecurity within private law. In the discussion Prof. Wolters analyzes the coming launch of the Digital Services Act (DSA) in Europe. Dr. Wolters has also researched the the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) un Europe, under which organizations have assumed the important responsibility of correctly processing and protecting personal data.

• Prof. Wolters Publications Page: https://www.ru.nl/en/people/wolters-p

Episode 10: Prof. Bill Henderson, Indiana University Maurer School of Law

In this episode, Amy interviews Professor Bill Henderson of the Indiana University Maurer School of Law.  Prof. Henderson’s research focuses primarily on the empirical analysis of the legal profession and has appeared in leading legal journals, including the Stanford Law Review, the Michigan Law Review, and the Texas Law Review.  He regularly publishes articles in The American Lawyer, The ABA Journal, and The National Law Journal.  His observations on the legal market are also frequently quoted in the mainstream press, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, and National Public Radio.

Based on his research and public speaking, Professor Henderson was included on the National Law Journal’s list of The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America (complied every ten years).  In 2015 and 2016, he was named the Most Influential Person in Legal Education by The National Jurist magazine.

In addition to his research and teaching, Professor Henderson has participated in several legal innovation initiatives:

• 2018 to present: Co-founder of the Institute for the Future of Law Practice (IFLP, “i-flip”), a nonprofit that designs and delivers curricula and training for T-shaped legal professions (i.e., law combined with data, process, technology, design principles, and business).
• 2017 to present: Founder and editor of Legal Evolution, an online applied research publication focused on successful legal industry innovation.
• 2010-2016: Co-founder of Lawyer Metrics, an applied research company that helps lawyers and law firms use data to make better operational and strategic decisions. Lawyer Metrics (now LawyerMetrix) was acquired by AccessLex Institute in 2015. 

On diffusion theory: https://www.legalevolution.org/2019/06/scoring-your-innovation-098/

On the CRT: https://www.legalevolution.org/2019/06/is-access-to-justice-a-design-problem-099/

Episode 9: Arbitrator John Allen Chalk

In this episode, Amy interviews legendary arbitrator John Allen Chalk, Managing Member of Whitaker Chalk in Fort Worth, Texas. John Allen’s practice focuses on commercial transactions and litigation, state and federal regulatory matters, healthcare and ADR proceedings. He has been appointed in more than 700 administered and non-administered arbitrations. John Allen was a Co-Recipient of the 2016 Justice Frank G. Evans Award, and he has long been listed in the Best Lawyers in America in the fields of Arbitration and Mediation.

Episode 8: Dr. Benjamin Hayward, Monash University

In this episode, Amy interviews Dr. Benjamin Hayward of Monash University. Dr. Benjamin Hayward is a legal academic working in the Department of Business Law and Taxation at the Monash Business School, Monash University. Dr. Hayward completed his PhD studies relating to private international law in international commercial arbitration in the Faculty of Law at Monash University – with his research now published by Oxford University Press (in the Oxford Private International Law Series) as ‘Conflict of Laws and Arbitral Discretion: The Closest Connection Test’. Dr. Hayward is admitted to practice as an Australian Lawyer in the Supreme Court of Victoria.

Dr. Hayward has published on a range of private law and public law topics in Australian and international journals, and has presented his research at conferences in Australia and beyond. Dr. Hayward has also given guest lectures on topics relating to his teaching and research interests at Australian universities, and was recognised by the award of the Monash Business School’s 2020 Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research by an Early Career Researcher. Dr. Hayward is currently General Editor of The ACICA Review, a biannual publication of the Australian Centre for International Commercial Arbitration.

Episode 7: Envisioning Arbitration in the Metaverse

In this episode of the Arbitration Conversation Amy discusses arbitration in the metaverse with Paul Cohen, President of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center (SVAMC). Paul also heads the international group at 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square Chambers. He is among the world’s foremost international arbitration practitioners. Paul is well-known for his work in international anti-bribery and fraud, as well as in the energy, financial, and technology sectors. He practiced for many years with the late Arthur Mariott QC, one of the founding fathers of modern international arbitration, with whom he co-founded a group of lawyers devoted to international arbitration and global dispute resolution.

Episode 6: Facebook’s Oversight Board, and the future of arbitration under Europe’s Digital Services Act

In this episode, Amy discusses the Oversight Board, a dispute resolution body set up by Meta to resolve disputes about Facebook and Instagram content, with Prof. Pietro Ortolani. Amy and Pietro discuss the nature of the Board, its procedure, and its future prospects. Against that background, the conversation then touches upon the future of content-related dispute resolution, and the role that arbitral institutions will play in the future in Europe in the wake of the Digital Services Act.

Episode 5: Finding Insights in Data About International Commercial Arbitration

In this episode, Amy talks with Debi Slate, the COO and Co-Founder of Dispute Resolution Data, the first and only global database pertaining to international commercial arbitration and mediation dispositions. Debi was the founding Director of the South Carolina Council for Mediation and a National Vice President for Online Services with American Arbitration Association.

Episode 4: Examining the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021 (EFASASHA)

In this episode, Amy talks with George Friedman, the publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Securities Arbitration Alert and the principal of George H. Friedman Consulting, LLC, about the new Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFASASHA) that President Biden signed on March 3rd, 2022. They discuss the scope and limitations of the new legislation, as well as possible conflicts between it and the Federal Arbitration Act.

Episode 3: Waiver of a Right to Arbitrate?

In this episode, arbitrator and busy attorney John Lewis discusses the recent U.S. Supreme Court case on waiver in arbitration: Morgan v. Sundance, Inc. More information on the case can be found at https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/morgan-v-sundance-inc/. The discussion includes consideration of waiver generally, and aspects of federalist vs. uniformity that arise in Federal Arbitration Act jurisprudence.

Episode 2: Breaking the Mold in ADR Services

In this episode, Amy talks with Marcie Dickson, the founder and CEO of Alterity ADR, about her vision to make ADR transparent and diverse. She is joined by Natasha Richardson, Director of ADR Services, who is an ADR administrative professional with 11 years’ experience in managing arbitrations and mediations. Guests share their vision and talk about the challenges, and exciting advances, of starting a new ADR service that aims to break the mold.

Episode 1: Latest Developments in UNCITRAL WG3

In this episode, Amy talks with Carmine Pascuzzo, from GST LLP, about UNCITRAL’s Working Group 3, which is focused on investor-state arbitration. From 2019 the Working Group has received proposals for reforms to ADR procedures, and now the WG is focusing its effort on composing a draft set of rules of conduct for adjudicators (maintaining a clear synergy with similar discussions taking place within ICSID) aimed at protecting adjudicators from conflicts of interest.