CALL FOR PAPERS
AALS Section on Transactional Law and Skills
Access to the Courts in the Transactional Setting
2018 AALS Annual Meeting
San Diego, CA
This call for papers solicits unpublished
papers that analyze the question of access to the courts in a variety of
transactional law settings.
From small business disputes,
to mandatory consumer arbitration, to restrictions on shareholder lawsuits, it
is no longer obvious that parties will have access to courts in the event of a
dispute. In many cases small businesses may negotiate for alternative dispute
resolution in commercial contracts as more efficient than going to courts. In
others, like in the context of consumer contracting, restricting access to the
courts is not typically subject of negotiation, and many consumer transactions
now come with mandatory arbitration clauses. In recent years, in response to an
explosion in shareholder and class action litigation, corporations also began
to look to a variety of self-help remedies (often aided by state legislatures),
including exclusive forum provisions and fee-shifting provisions among others,
to restrict access to the courts by shareholders.
Taken together one could
reasonably question whether the current trajectory in common business and
consumer settings to limit parties and third parties access to the courts
through a variety of transactional mechanisms is good policy or it goes too
far.
The Section on Transactional
Law and Skills invites submissions from any full-time faculty member of an AALS
member school who has written an unpublished paper, is working on a paper, or
who is interested in writing a paper on this topic to submit a 1 or 2-page
proposal to the Chair of the Section by August 31, 2017. Papers accepted
for publication as of August 31, 2017 that will not yet be published as of the
2018 meeting are also encouraged. The Executive Committee will review all
submissions and select proposals for presentation as part of our AALS 2018
Section Meeting.
Please direct all submissions
and questions to the Chair of the Section, Brian JM Quinn, section chair, at
the address below:
Brian
JM Quinn
Boston
College Law School
885
Centre St., Newton MA 02459
Email:
brian.quinn@bc.edu