Professor Peter Reilly Consulting on Boeing 737 Max Case
Professor Peter Reilly has been writing and worrying about the dangers of Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) since 2014. He describes DPAs as “settlement agreements that enable big corporations to pay big fines to the federal government in order to avoid prosecution for crimes like money laundering, bribery of foreign officials, and worse.” How much worse? Recall the 2018 and 2019 Boeing Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia that killed 346 people. Families of those victims had no voice when Boeing and the U.S. Department of Justice negotiated a DPA to resolve claims that Boeing had conspired to defraud federal regulators. This month, in a stunning development, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Texas ruled that the Department of Justice had failed to comply with the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, requiring consultation with the victims’ families when negotiating the DPA. Professor Reilly is serving as a consultant in this case, assisting University of Utah law professor and former federal judge Paul Cassell as he represents the victims’ families and attempts to persuade the court to remedy DOJ’s failures. Professor Reilly’s most recent article on DPAs is Sweetheart Deals, Deferred Prosecution, and Making a Mockery of the Criminal Justice System: U.S. Corporate DPAs Rejected on Many Fronts, 50 Ariz. St. L. J. 1113 (2018).
Texas A&M’s Deep Bench in Dispute Resolution
“Team Texas A&M” was present in full force at the 15th annual AALS Alternative Dispute Resolution Section’s Works-in-Progress Conference held at the University of Oregon in mid-October. Characteristically, the team spanned a variety of substantive legal topics. Professor Cynthia Alkon presented on Negotiation Theory and Hybrid Warfare (also the topic of her upcoming presentation at the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution’s annual Melnick Symposium in November). Professor Michael Green delved into civil procedure and the legislative history of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act as he discussed Arbitrating Claims of Racial Discrimination or Racial Harassment. Professor Guillermo Garcia reported his findings from a close examination of Latin American nations’ experience with international investment treaty arbitration in Who Foots the Bill for Energy Investment Disputes? And Professor and Program Director Nancy Welsh continued her examination of the relationship between dispute resolution and our courts in two presentations: Lawyers’ Court-Connected Negotiation: The “New Mediation?” (co-authored with Donna Shestowsky) and Expedited Enforcement of Negotiated and Mediated Settlements: Potential for the Abuse of State Power.
Texas A&M Students are Stars
Texas A&M students have just been named Negotiation Champions of the FINRA Dispute Resolution Triathlon sponsored by FINRA and St. John’s University School of Law. Students Angelika Anderson (3L), Abrielle Perry (3L) and Mirna Rodriquez (2L) were coached by Adjunct Professor Kay Elliott.
In addition, the American Arbitration Association has selected Texas A&M 2L Jamonica Warren to attend its Diversity Student ADR Summit next month in New York: “Roadmap to a Career in ADR.” Among her other activities, Jamonica is a member of the Black Law Students Association Dispute Resolution Competition Team and a research assistant for Professor Welsh.
Save the Date:
2023 Annual Texas A&M
Dispute Resolution Symposium
The next annual Texas A&M Dispute Resolution Symposium is in the planning stages, but we have a date: Friday, March 3, 2023. We’ll be exploring the intersection between legal tech and ODR, these tools’ different uses in the public and private sectors, and what that should mean for legal education. Stay tuned for further details.
Texas A&M University School of Law, 1515 Commerce Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76102-6509, 817.212.4000
