Title

California’s New Ethics Standards: A Hot Bed of Controversy

Abstract

The article examines California’s new ethics rules and examines the cases which have been decided to date challenging and applying those rules. The stated goals of the New Ethics Rules are “to inform and protect participants in arbitration, and to promote public confidence in the arbitration process.” This is a laudable goal since arbitration is a private process that is dependent on public acceptance. The heart of the controversy concerning the New Ethics Rules revolves around the practical inconvenience and cost burden associated with compliance. The enclosed article concludes that such a burden goes hand-in-hand with the privilege of being empowered to decide parties’ fates by determining the outcome of their disputes with binding finality and limited judicial review.

Disciplines

Dispute Resolution and Arbitration

Date of this Version

October 2005