The Red Velvet Lawyer

Annual Meeting of the International Association of Law Schools,  Al Mukhtasar Ballroom,  The Ritz Carlton, Doha  November 11, 2018  Panel 3: Emerging Voices in Law & Legal Education  * * *  Summary of Decolonising the Law Movement in Africa:  Emerging Voices in Law and Legal Education  * * *  Lethokwa Mpedi  Executive Dean, University of Johannesburg, Faculty of Law, South Africa  From colonization (the laws, rules and regulations; its cultures, customs and values) to decolonization (independence, apartheid, and reconolonization), Mpedi reflected on what people are teaching and its relevance to Africa’s location and social context. The key players are academics, students, judiciary, legislature, and civil society. Academics must ask who is teaching, what is being taught, why/how is it taught, and how is it assessed? Academics must also ask if they know/understand their students, and importantly, how to bridge the gap between “them/u

Arbitrators and "Reasoned Awards" -  Smarter Tools, Inc. v. Chongqing SENCI Import & Export Trade Co Commentary and analysis from Professor SI Strong, University of Missouri School of Law: One of my students called the following case - Smarter Tools, Inc. v. Chongqing SENCI Import & Export Trade Co ., 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 50633 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 26, 2019) – to my attention, and I thought some of you might be interested in it as well (I don’t believe I’ve seen it circulated here yet).   The issue involved whether the arbitral award was sufficiently reasoned.   According to the court, reasoned awards are not required in arbitration, but if the parties contract for such an award, as they did here, they are entitled to receive such a document.   Upon review, the court found that the arbitrator in this case provided the parties a "barely colorable justification" for his decision, leading the court to hold that the award did not meet the ne

Identifying Priorities and  Giving me Firm Grounds to Say "No" Several years ago, I read Cheryl Richardson's " Take Time for Your Life ."  One big take-a-way was her use of an Absolute Yes list.  She encouraged me to list my top five priorities.  If someone asks me to do something, I will say "no" to the request if it does not relate to my Absolute Yes list.  You can say "no" gently , but you now have a good reason in your own mind for saying "no."  You are standing in your power . Some of the many blog posts describing the use of this list are here , here , and here . I recently updated my list.  I have posted it on a whiteboard in my office (not on a 3-by-5 index card as some suggest). Here it is: Scholarship:  Edit a collection of essays for a book entitled: " The Arab Gulf Crisis: Legal Consequences and Solutions ." Finish the footnotes on an article about malpractice insurance for mediators. 

Analyzing the Decision  &  Mourning Something Lost in America's Identity and Ideals. One of my friends, Prof. Richard Reuben -- who serves on the faculty of the University of Missouri School of Law -- has offered these insights. Earlier in his career, Richard was an award-winning journalist who covered the U.S. Supreme Court. "A few thoughts after having read the travel ban decision, [ Trump v. Hawaii , Slip Op. No. 17-965 (June 26, 2018):] 1. It is not surprising to see the Supreme Court back executive power in the context of international affairs, and especially so in the context of national security. I tend to agree with this in principle. 2. Chief Justice Roberts' decision was an embarrassment -- deliberately shallow, both in accepting Trump's results-oriented "policy consideration" and in its paucity of reference to precedent. The reason seems pretty obvious. As been our history until this day, most of that precedent goes against his d

How to be the Best  . . .   and Learn from the Worst Doha does not have a deep collection of print books for sale.  I was at Doha Festival City twice last week.  After touring the entire mall, I found a book I did not expect to see in Doha. It's Robert I Sutton 's Good Boss, Bad Boss .  The book builds on his research that supported an earlier book called The No Asshole Rule .  I read the earlier book, several years ago, when I served on a law school's hiring committee.  We tried to use the advice in the book.  Overall, we built a small faculty of dedicated teachers.  Sadly, we did hire a few jerks along the way, and frankly, the institution paid for it. Amazon  describes the new book in this way:   If you are a boss who wants to do great work, what can you do about it? Good Boss, Bad Boss is devoted to answering that question. Stanford Professor Robert Sutton weaves together the best psychological and management research with compelling stories and cas

One Way the Blockade Effects  People and not Just Governments I am writing several book chapters for an upcoming book on the blockade of Qatar. In one chapter I described attacks on the media by the countries starting the blockade – Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Bahrain, and Egypt. Among other things, the countries blocked Al Jazeera broadcasts and other media originating from Qatar. I stated that the media blockade serve at least two purposes. It keeps an opposing narrative about Qatar from reaching people in the blockading countries. It also limits access to programming popular with conservative Muslim audiences. In that chapter, I also described the Saudis relationship with sport broadcaster beIn Sports: Saudi Arabia also blocked access to the ubiquitous and highly popular, Qatar-financed, beIN Sports on June 13, 2018. The station has about 5,000 staffers working in 43 countries. The U.A.E blocked access for six weeks before restoring it on July 22, 2018. Police had ejected

A Big Thanks to the People Who Read this Blog! On March 17, 2013, I posted my first blog post.  I called it: "Make art.  Think like an artist."  I read it again this morning, and time has been kind to it.  It still resonates.  Since then, I have created nearly 400 posts.   If I were Seth Godin, I'd turn them into a book or two.  When I started this blog, I hoped to regain a voice I had had when I wrote a column every other month for the newspaper of the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis ( BAMSL ).  The newspaper had about 7,000 readers.  My column was called from "Conflict to Collaboration" and discussed dispute resolution theory, techniques, ethics, and use.  When I began teaching, I quit writing the column. As an academic, I lost my first-person, more colloquial voice in my law review writing.  The academy prefers the conceit that the words, and any analysis they reflect, appear on the page without a particular author's help or pers

Still Working on that Glass Ceiling When I made partner in the mid-1990s, only sixteen percent of all partners in the U.S. were women. A NAWL 2014 report shows little progress since then: In its eighth year, the National Association of Women Lawyers (NAWL®) and The NAWL Foundation’s® annual Survey on Retention and Promotion of Women in Law Firms reveals not much has changed in its findings of compensation, leadership roles, rainmaking, and equity partnership at the nation’s largest 200 firms. The data this year revealed the same trend as in previous years: the greatest percentage of women (64 percent) occupy the lowest positions in firms (staff attorneys) and the highest positions in firms (equity partners) are occupied by the lowest percentage of women (17 percent). In comparison, the 2012 survey reported 15 percent equity partners were women and 70 percent staff attorneys were women. “This year’s results reinforce that women in private practice continue to face barrie

More Modern Arbitration Laws for the Arab Gulf GAR reports that the United Arab Emirates has issued its long-awaited self-standing arbitration law, based on the UNCITRAL Model Law.  The Arabic version of the the law is found  here .  In this post, I am reproducing the GAR story with a few edits. His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE, issued Federal Law No. 6 of 2018 yesterday, after it was approved by his cabinet of ministers in February. It repeals and replaces the previous UAE arbitration law, contained within a chapter of the UAE Civil Procedures Law No. 11 of 1992. The new law will apply to all arbitral proceedings, including both domestic and international proceedings.  Its 61 articles include: articulation of the principles of separability and competence-competence;  power for arbitral tribunals and courts to order interim and conservatory measures relating to ongoing or potential arbitrations, with no waiver of the right to

Political Stability or a New Wave of Change? On April 28-29, 2018, Al Jazeera held its 12th Forum providing an opportunity for leading scholars and other experts to discuss a variety of topics affecting the Arab world.  The website for the forum,  @aljazeeraform , provides additional information and links to the videos of each session.  You can follow the Twitter coverage at  #AJForum . As I noted in my  first post  in this series, I am working from my notes, so I apologize in advance if I incorrectly paraphrase the remarks of any speaker. I was also reliant on the quality of the translation services and their audibility. Therefore, I am happy to make any needed edits to this summary. For summaries of the other sessions see: Opening Session Session 1: The Gulf Crisis Session 2: Iran and the Gulf Session 3: Change in the Region? Session 4: Changing Alliances in the Arab World Session 5: Palestine and the "Deal of the Century" Session 6: The Media During Times

Responsibility of Combatants:  Don't Kill Journalists! On April 28-29, 2018, Al Jazeera held its 12th Forum providing an opportunity for leading scholars and other experts to discuss a variety of topics affecting the Arab world.  The website for the forum,  @aljazeeraform , provides additional information and links to the videos of each session.  You can follow the Twitter coverage at  #AJForum . As I noted in my  first post  in this series, I am working from my notes, so I apologize in advance if I incorrectly paraphrase the remarks of any speaker. I was also reliant on the quality of the translation services and their audibility. Therefore, I am happy to make any needed edits to this summary. For summaries of the other sessions see: Opening Session Session 1: The Gulf Crisis Session 2: Iran and the Gulf Session 3: Change in the Region? Session 4: Changing Alliances in the Arab World Session 5: Palestine and the "Deal of the Century" Session 7: Wher