Legal scholars to examine dispute resolution as public policy

More than a dozen legal experts will convene at Penn State University Dickinson School of Law to consider alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as U.S. and international public policy on January 31, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The day will be organized into a morning session which will look at arbitration and an afternoon session focused on mediation. The event will be held in the both the Greg Sutliff Auditorium, Lewis Katz Building, University Park and the Apfelbaum Family Auditorium, Lewis Katz Hall, Carlisle with simulcast between the two campuses. The public is invited to attend and the program is eligible for continuing legal education credits.

Panelists include high profile scholars in the field as well as practitioner experts. Thomas Carbonneau, Samuel P. Orlando Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Institute of Arbitration Law and Practice said, "The presentations should assess the impact of the Court's recent opinions in AT&T Mobility and the American Express Merchants' Litigation upon basic fairness and contract formation. The controlling character of arbitration litigation is well-established in international business and commerce, but its dominant influence on domestic civil litigation is growing by leaps and bounds...Arbitration is now so independent that it may have become a self-sustaining legal system and created its own sense of fairness and basic adjudicatory values. Hence, the title of the symposium."

The program is the annual symposium event of the Yearbook on Arbitration and Mediation.