Documentary on Forced Arbitration, by Nancy Kim, ContractsProf Blog

http://tinyurl.com/kulpycd

The Alliance for Justice has released a documentary on forced arbitration called Lost in the Fine Print.  It’s very well-done, highly watchable (meaning your students will stay awake and off Facebook during a viewing), and educational.  I recently screened the film during a special session for my Contracts and Advanced Contracts students.  It’s only about 20 or so minutes and afterward, we had a lively discussion about the pros and cons of arbitration.  We discussed the different purposes of arbitration and the pros and cons of arbitration where the parties are both businesses and where one party is a business and the other a consumer.  Many of the students had not heard about arbitration and didn’t know what it was.  Many of those who did know about arbitration didn’t know about mandatory arbitration or how the process worked.  Several were concerned about the due process aspects.  They understood the benefits of arbitration for businesses, but also the problems created by lack of transparency in the process.  I thought it was a very nice way to kick start a lively discussion about unconscionability, public policy concerns, economics and the effect of legislation on contract law/case law.

I think it’s important for law students to know what arbitration is and it doesn’t fit in easily into a typical contracts or civil procedure class so I’m afraid it often goes untaught.  The website also has pointers and ideas on how to organize a screening and discussion questions.