Honorable W. Royal Furgeson, Jr.

By U.S. District Judge W. Royal Furgeson, Jr. Dear Friends: I have read with interest “Why Isn’t ADR More Popular? A Report from Harvard.” From my perspective as a judge, I would recommend that lawyers be very careful about inserting mandatory arbitration language into their client’s contracts. First, I see a great deal of buyer’s remorse in cases where there is a mandatory arbitration clause that leaves a party no c

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During this Fourth of July holiday weekend, our good friend Don Philbin stumbled across “Civil Jury Trials R.I.P.? Can it Actually Happen in America?” 40 St. Mary’s L.J. 795 written by the Honorable W. Royal Furgeson, Jr. In the article, Judge Furgeson discusses the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2007, which is analogous to the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2009 (previously blogged here) currently considered in the U.S. Congress. If

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In response to our post about an article titled “Arbitration Myths” published by the National Arbitration Forum, U.S. District Judge W. Royal Furgeson, Jr. sent us the following [unedited] commentary via e-mail: Dear Friends: To say that arbitration awards are “approved” by a court before becoming enforceable gives the impression that a court will actually examine the merits of the arbitrator’s award. Under the Feder

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