Arbitration Advocacy (NITA Practical Guide Series)

This insightful guide to the arbitration process will help you achieve the best results for clients in all types of arbitration settings from commercial to labor. John W. Cooley, an experienced judge, trial attorney, arbitrator, and mediator, and Steven Lubet, author of NITA's best-selling Modern Trial Advocacy, have revised this book to reflect an up-to-date description of the arbitration process for advocates.

You will get specific advice on:

• How arbitration works
• Prehearing considerations
• Advocacy at the arbitration hearing
• Effective openings and closings
• Tactical considerations
• Shaping the process

Arbitration Advocacy, Second Edition, contains a new chapter on attorney ethics and a new chapter on cyberarbitration, "Effective Advocacy in Cyberarbitration," which explores the variety of online dispute resolution services available, the benefits and limitations with the use of cyberarbitration, and considerations in selecting a cyberarbitration service and cyberarbitrator.

Detailed checklists help you choose the appropriate arbitration forum and panel, and give guidance on drafting pleadings. The appendices include sample arbitration agreements and forms, commercial arbitration and ethics rules, a list of firms offering arbitration services, a list of ODR service provider websites, and procedures for online arbitration.

Excerpt on cross-examination from Arbitration Advocacy:

"If direct examination is your best opportunity to win your case, cross-examination may provide you with a chance to lose it. A poor direct can be aimless and boring, but the witnesses are generally helpful. Your worst fear on direct examination is usually that you have left something out. A poor cross-examination, on the other hand, can be truly disastrous. The witnesses can range from uncooperative to hostile, and you constantly run the risk of actually adding weight or sympathy to the other side's case. Moreover, the arbitrator inevitably perceives most cross-examinations as a contest between the lawyer and witness. You can seldom afford to appear to lose."