ADR Research Sources: Part I... reported by John O'Donnell
ADR Resources Available on Westlaw
Michele Lucero, manager of West Librarian Relations, discussed ADR resources available on Westlaw. First, Michelle showed the ease with which a specific tab on International Arbitration could be added to your Westlaw home page. This tab allows for a quick and easy “one stop” access point to the specific ADR information.
In general Westlaw has a variety of materials on International Arbitration such as current awareness, treaties, model clauses, rules, guides, as well as country specific materials.
The current awareness resources include news and current events (i.e., the last 7 days). Michele stated that this is a great resource for items that have been in the news recently. Second, under current awareness there is a commentary and treatises section. These secondary sources will give you in depth legal analysis, practice aids, checklists, guides, as well as the table of content of various resources.
Michele showed the example of searching for Arbitration in Hong Kong. One can look at table on contents, use templates, or run a search within this area. One can also view arbitration awards and the case law database.
Michele explained how to search for treaties, specifically BITS--Bilateral Investment Treaties. Michele was asked to find BITs in her previous position at a law firm. Westlaw’s coverage on treaties varies depending on the treaty. For example, GATT coverage is from 1994, and NAFTA from 1992.
Legislation and Model Laws
Westlaw contains specific databases that contain legislation and model clauses. Institutional materials are from groups such as the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), China International Economic Trade Commission, and American Arbitration Association. Michele’s sample search resulted in 21 model clauses.
Country specific information varies according to country in the Westlaw database. Westlaw has specific information for countries such as Australia, China, as well as the European Union.
Westlaw is constantly adding additional information to its databases. New information to be added by the end of 2009 includes information from AAA, as well as rules from Japanese, German, and French Arbitration Associations.
ADR Resources on Lexis
Michael Saint-Onge, Team Lead for LexisNexis Customer Consulting Group, discussed ADR resources on the Lexis online database. Michael discussed the ease of adding the ADR tab to your Lexis home page. Lexis tabs have been reorganized over the past few years and are now more task based, and they are easier to use (e.g. to find forms, find ADR). Michael first discussed the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution. This group of arbitrators and attorneys has drafted guidelines for specific industries such as oil and gas, products liability, insurance, and construction. Michael used the example of banking and financial services and showed the types of agreements that often lead to ADR.
Lexis has very recently developed a relationship with the American Arbitration Association (AAA). The AAA decisions have been moved exclusively to the Lexis database and are no longer available on the AAA website. They have the employment arbitration awards and labor arbitration awards.
Michael reminded the audience that Lexis was traditionally an aggregator and still has many great resources such as CCH and BNA materials online. Michael shared that one of his favorite images was a memorable scene in the first episode of the television series LA Law, in which an attorney who had just died was filmed still clutching a CCH binder in his cold, dead hands.
Michael talked about searching a database or browsing the table of contents and taking advantage of the logical order and context of a treatise. Drafting forms and instructions allow you to see the context of ADR clauses. Lexis has worked hard at giving online treatises the look and feel of a book. For example, the “book browse” feature allows one to go back and forth as if flipping the pages of a book. One can locate arbitration materials using the “Get a Document” feature.
California Forms of Pleading and Practice and Martindale Hubbell Law Directory, both Lexis products, contain useful information as well. Martindale Hubbell contains a separate Dispute Resolution directory. One can search for specific specialists, such as patent attorneys who work in a given geographic area.
“Analyzer” is a Lexis feature that gathers all of the many resources on Lexis in one search. After the search, one can see what is available in a given database without entering the pay database. This is a very efficient tool, since those who use it do not have to spend time and money searching a database that may have little or no relevant information available for their needs.
Lexisweb.com is a new service by Lexis that searches the legal web and pulls the best information in the legal area. Lexis claims to authenticate the resulting websites first. The initial screen is very simple. Lexis shows free as well as fee-based resources. Michael states that free resources and pay-for-use services are easily identified. In other words, it will ask for your Lexis password to continue on to a pay-for-use database.
ADR Resources Part II
Gina McCoy, Research and Faculty Services Librarian at Pepperdine University School of Law, discussed a new collection of arbitration materials available there. The American Arbitration Association Library and Information Center Collection were acquired from AAA in January 2007. This collection was originally started by AAA as a collection of articles and books and other materials on arbitration. In 1954, the Lucius Eastman Library was dedicated to one of the original founders of AAA. In June 2006 AAA decided to seek out a steward for its collection. Pepperdine was awarded the contract to house the collection in October 2006.
The collection is now housed in a beautiful cherry wood enclosure overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu California. Since AAA used their own method to organize the books, two catalogers working full-time took two years to catalog much of the collection. Currently about 80% of the collection is cataloged. Most of the collection is available to the public. The records are searchable in the Pepperdine catalog and in OCLC.
Content of the Collection
The collection contains a wide variety of ADR materials, including international and foreign dispute materials, labor and employment dispute resolution, commercial arbitration, family dispute resolution, intellectual property, maritime, and securities materials.
Types of Materials
The materials include mostly books, journals and historical documents. Some of the titles are historical materials dating back to the 1700’s. Journals are available in a variety of languages, including Portuguese, Korean, and Japanese. Other hard to find materials include the Canadian Arbitration Journal, the Society of Maritime Award Service, the Bulletin of the Japan Shipping Exchange, the Steelworkers Arbitration Awards, and the Motion Picture Arbitration Tribunal.
Future of the Collection
In the future Pepperdine University School of Law would like to offer specific reference services for the collection, showcase it on the web, and digitize as much of the collection as possible.
International ADR Research
Paula Hoffman, Foreign and International Law Library at the Los Angeles Law Library, focused on International ADR research in the last segment of the program.
Paula discovered that there is an abundance of free information on International ADR. Paula quoted an attorney who commented that arbitration works, saves money and is a neutral, speedy and confidential process.
Paula quoted International Commercial Arbitration by Gary Borne, who said “There is corruption, nepotism and lack of independence” in the court systems of some countries, where one literally may get what one pays for.
Paula spoke about three excellent research guides:
First, A Selective Guide to Online International Arbitration Resources by Gloria Miccioli. This guide explains the resources and highlights the most important links. It is located at the LLRX website. www.llrx.com/node/1331
Second, International Commercial Arbitration: Locating the Resources by Gene Wenger. You will find it on the LLRX website, too. This 24-page guide offers A-Z country listings, and discusses books and pay databases. www.llrx.com/features/intarbitration.htm
Third, International Commercial Arbitration: Resources in Print and Electronic Form by Lyonette Louis-Jacques. www2.lib.uchicago.edu/~llou/intlarb.html
Paula found an interesting arbitration case regarding former Tour de France champion bicyclist Floyd Landis, who was accused of using illegal substances. After reading the (continued on next page) case information, Paula said that the arbitrators were clearly not happy with Mr. Landis. This resulted in a ban from racing for two years and an order to pay large attorney costs to the opposing party.
The International Centre for Dispute Resolution of AAA has forms, guides for contract clauses, international arbitrator and mediator information, online filing and even international conference information.
The Treaty Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, also known as the New York Convention is the main treaty for ADR. This treaty allows one to enforce an award, which can be the most difficult part of the process.
Paula discussed some important book resources from the LA Law Library including:
Born’s International Commercial Arbitration (Wolters Kluwer, 2009).
Bergsten’s International Commercial Arbitration, 7 volumes (Oceana). Friedland’s Arbitration Clauses for International Contracts (Juris Publishing, 2007).
Finally, Paula highlighted the Kluwer Arbitration International. This electronic database is an excellent, searchable pay database containing books, awards, conventions, and other materials.
John O’Donnell is Public Services Librarian at Whittier Law School Library in Costa Mesa.
