Law Rules


"How we resolve our disputes. How the legal system works and doesn't work."

Author: Michael A. Pollack is a solo practitioner in Milwaukee.

Blawg Related Categories: Alternative Dispute Resolution • Solo / Small Firm

Recent Posts from Law Rules


  • 7th Circuit continues to make class actions scarce

    Class actions are supposed to be for people who have small claims that are not worth pursuing alone but, due to the number of people affected, are worth pursuing in the aggregate.  Nonetheless, the 7th…

  • Mediation = Happiness?

    Listening to Wisconsin Public Radio today, I heard a statistician discussing lingustic research that measures the “mood of the nation” — happy or sad.  Christopher M. Danforth, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College…

  • Caveat arbitrator

    The recent settlement of the Minnesota Attorney General’s lawsuit against National Arbitration Forum (NAF) was a welcome development for consumers.  Minnesota alleged that the company—which had been named as the arbitrator of consumer disputes in…

  • The Mother of All Mediations

    Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist, recently opined that what Iraq needs, now that U.S. and coalition forces are finally scheduled to pull out, is a “big, tough mediator” to help its various religious…

  • Technorati

    73zdfkqix5 LawRules is now visible in Technorati.

  • Supreme judicial activism

    Is it possible for a lawyer to resist commenting on a Supreme Court confirmation hearing?  I can’t. So here goes. It is hard for me to quit shouting at the TV when I hear Senators…

  • Judicial activism

    Returning from a long 4th of July holiday weekend, I feel the need to wax patriotic.  I love this country, and what I love most is the Constitution that has served us so well for…

  • Student loans -- discharge, negotiate or mediate?

    In my last post, I suggested that fatherhood is an all or nothing proposition.  Apparently, student loan agencies are taking the same position in regard to repayment of student loans.  I have a client who defaulted…

  • Happy Father's Day

    What does Father’s Day have to do with dispute resolution?  All too often, the issue of paternity has become a question to be resolved by the courts.  The courts (quite correctly, I believe) seem to…

  • Rites or rights of the season

    It’s June — time for graduations.  Let’s go down our checklist: take final exams and pass all courses get cap and gown file lawsuit go to church Hmmm … I don’t remember those last two…