Abraham J. Gafni

ADR

In this pandemic period, as courts are limited in their ability to conduct civil trials, parties increasingly consider whether and how to settle their disputes through arbitration.

In his article last month in the Legal Intelligencer, "How Pre-Lawsuit Demand Letters Can Undermine Arbitration" (Nov. 16, 2020), Charles Forer, through his erstwhile attorney foil Bob, explained how a party who had entered into an agreement providing for mandatory arbitration almost suffered the unintended consequence of forfeiting that right by threatening litigation in court.

Yet another area in which this "law of unintended consequences" appears to be regularly occurring these days is when a party unintentionally extends authority to the arbitrator to award attorney fees.