New book guides law students, lawyers through 'principles of arbitration law'

LAWRENCE — Arbitration is an area of law with both a long history and a trend of rapid evolution in recent decades. A University of Kansas professor of law is lead author of a new book designed to guide law students, practicing lawyers and researchers through arbitration law and to provide a concise and reliable summary of new developments on everything from Supreme Court rulings to arbitration agreements formed by clicking on apps and websites to Donald Trump’s legal battles with Stormy Daniels.

“Principles of Arbitration Law” (second edition) by Stephen Ware, Frank Edwards Tyler Distinguished Professor of Law at KU, and Ariana Levinson of the University of Louisville is a new book in West Academic Publishing’s Concise Hornbook series.

“I really think this book is the best of both worlds. If you want to spend 10 minutes and get a big picture on a question, you can do that. And its footnotes with cases give you the leads to learn more if you want to do more research on your own,” Ware said.

“Principles of Arbitration Law” includes detailed information on labor and collective bargaining agreements, which often include arbitration agreements for resolving disputes. Ware shared praise for his co-author’s expertise in labor arbitration.

“Labor is a fascinating world of its own in arbitration in its own respect,” he said. “So having that for the book to provide the big picture was important. Ariana went the extra mile to make that part of the book mesh with the rest.”

The second edition also provides detailed information on new and evolving areas of arbitration law. That includes information on all Supreme Court cases regarding arbitration and dozens of other important cases and the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021. It also covers the #MeToo movement and confidentiality in arbitration as well as high-profile arbitration cases involving celebrities such as Jay-Z and Angelina Jolie.

The book also covers international commercial arbitration. It heavily cites the Restatement of U.S. Law of International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration, a recent effort by the American Law Institute to clarify, modernize and improve law and to guide judges and lawyers. Christopher Drahozal, John M. Rounds Professor of Law at KU, was among the reporters who produced the restatement, which is now in effect and being cited by courts.

Ware said, “Chris Drahozal and the three other reporters on the restatement did terrific work for years to produce a monumental resource for lawyers in the field. Truly, a service to the profession and to the cause of resolving cross-border disputes well.”

Arbitration agreements that nearly everyone has agreed to in everyday life also find their place in the new book. Such agreements are commonly formed when a user downloads an app or clicks “agree” when using a website. There is also exploration of arbitration agreements that preclude class action suits against businesses and the countering of that by mass-individual arbitration.

“Technology changing how we do things requires courts to adapt. And that’s why we need to update our scholarship in these areas,” Ware said. “Lawyers’ intuition also changes things. Online arbitration agreements often say, ‘If you have a dispute, you need to bring it individually, not as a class action suit.’ Mass individual arbitration is a counter to that approach, born of lawyers’ ingenuity.”

Read this article from the KU News Service