The Red Velvet Lawyer

Rugged Individualism versus People Concerned About their Role in the Collective Well-being of Family I plan to retire to Thailand in the summer of 2020.  My weekly treatments with a talented Thai massage therapist, Mena, have suddenly involved language lessons and cultural translations over our two hour sessions together. Today, we skipped the language lessons.  Instead, I raised a question arising from my look at the postings on various Thai-related Facebook groups.  Male-dominated groups regularly discuss relationships with Thai women, both spouses and girlfriends.  I'll spare you the seedier details. One recent post, by a thoughtful 72-year old Western man, asked whether "farang" men had a hard time getting their Thai spouses or girlfriends to open up emotionally.  He had studied and written books about relationships, and so came at the topic with a scholar's curiosity. I asked Mena what she thought in response to the question....

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...

Iran's Islamic Revolution at 40 Regional Cooperation: Prospects and Challenges By Dr. Kamal Kharazi Last night, I attended a lecture sponsored by the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies .  I have attended prior programs offered by the Centre and found them intellectually stimulating.  They always offer points of view I have seldom heard in the West. I have blogged about them in a series of posts beginning here .  The invited guest, Dr. Kamal Kharazi , Chair of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations of Iran, gave a lecture followed by a brief question and answer period at the Sheraton Hotel in Doha, Qatar.  The moderator introduced Dr. Kharazi as an "insider" to the Iranian Revolution .  That revolution celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2019.  He spoke in English from prepare remarks. Before I start, I want to note that I am working from my notes and apologize in advance if my summary contains any errors or misstatements.  I am h...

Qatar University College of Law  Wins Prestigious Award for its Legal Skills Program The Qatar University College of Law won the Law School Award for furthering Global Legal Skills Education at the 13th Global Legal Skills Conference (GLSC) held in Melbourne, Australia, from December 10-12, 2018. GLSC recognized the law school and its Legal Skills Department for its leading contributions to global legal skills, and in particular, the development of legal skills education in the Middle East and North Africa.  Dr. Conrad Sturm and Dr. Melissa Deehring accepted the award on the law school’s behalf at the opening plenary of the conference that hosted over 120 participants from law schools around the world.    Since the inception of its Lawyering Skills Program (LSP) in 2010, the Qatar University College of Law has incorporated legal skills courses and active learning into the curriculum in order to produce more competitive, skill...

Goal Setting Words for 2019:  "Expert" and "Support" "The process of setting intentions and joyfully reflecting on them is how, over time, we transform extrinsic into intrinsic motivations, and thereby sustain the energy and purpose to live true to our best aspirations."  Thupten Jinpa,  Two Exercises for Turning Intention into Motivation . Starting in 2014, I began picking three words to remind me of my goals for the year. Chris Brogan gave me the idea. Here are his words for 2019 with some tips on choosing the words. Here he describes the word-choosing process as part of a broader planning process based on the following steps: The Big Story Vision Goals Plans and Milestones Daily Calendar Brogan says: You could argue which goes first, a vision or a big story. I’d accept either. But to me, a vision is a story told in goals, so I put it below the big story. The big story is that which we want to believe about our life and o...

For the story about this honor and a brief history of the ADR section, see here .

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.  ...