By George H. Friedman* [ARS Chairman of the Board Friedman posted this on his blog at the Securities Arbitration Commentator. Reposted with the permission of and thanks to SAC] As we entered the new year, I blogged on Consumer Arbitration: Five Things to look for in 2016. Among my fearless predictions was “The Arbitration Fairness…
By George H. Friedman* [This was originally published in the NY State Bar Association’s Resolution Roundtable blog] There’s a wonderful book, The Presidents Club, covering the unique and sometimes surprising relationships among the fraternity (sorry, Carly and Hillary, no sorority yet) of current and former presidents. For example, who knew that Bill Clinton and the…
By George H. Friedman* I’ve blogged before that, when I entered the dispute resolution field back in 1976, I was compelled as part of my orientation to watch a film about arbitration (yes, film; there was no consumer video back then, let alone DVDs or on-demand video). It closed with a rather stern-looking gray-haired man…
By George H. Friedman* As I sit here in northern New Jersey trying to type with my still-defrosting fingers in the aftermath of the Great Blizzard of 2016 (that’s me after digging for 20 minutes to clear 15 feet of my deck), my thoughts naturally turned to arbitration (and yes, hot soup). This in turn…
By George H. Friedman* Earlier this month, I authored a blog post, My 2015 Arbitration Predictions: Batting .700 is Pretty Good!, where I returned to my arbitration predictions for 2015 and honestly appraised how well I did (as Larry David says, “pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good,” it turns out). Now it’s time for my prognostications…
By George H. Friedman* Toward the end of last year, I authored a blog post here, The Elections are over: what it means for Consumer Arbitration – Five things to look for in 2015. As I’ve said before, one of the nice things about predicting future events is that, while people can disagree with you,…
Tips on how to approach mediation, and how to explain the process to a client. “An old adage says that a successful mediation leaves neither party completely happy. Sticking to your guns is best for arbitration or litigation, not mediation” Expert Advice – Mediation Tips Success in mediation does not depend on technical tricks, but…
Arbitration is at the Root of all Evil, According to the New York Times By George H. Friedman* An ongoing multi-part series in the New York Times on its “investigation” of and “exposé” on arbitration seemingly blames arbitration for pretty much everything bad going on in the world. As an arbitrator, arbitration expert, law professor,…
By George H. Friedman* (Originally posted here) For most of my fourteen years as FINRA’s Director of Arbitration, I perceived myself to be tilting at windmills trying to make the case that FINRA’s arbitration program was the fairest consumer arbitration program is existence. I won’t bore readers by repeating here the many facts backing up…
By George H. Friedman* Repost from Securities Arbitration Commentator blog While he prays he is not correct, the author fears that … both the stock and bond markets will crash at the same time. Thereafter, as has happened in the past, FINRA will be inundated with crash-related claims. Case filings will ultimately break the old…