In an article contributed to the State Bar of Texas Litigation Section’s publication, The Advocate, Jackson Walker partner Lionel M. Schooler provided guidance on arbitration.
In 1992, the Texas Supreme Court ushered in a new era in arbitration with its trailblazing decision in Anglin v. Tipps, 842 S.W.2d 266 (Tex. 1992). Sweeping away decades of legislative and judicial roadblocks to the use of arbitration embedded in the previous incarnation of Texas arbitration law, eventually codified and updated as Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§171.001 et seq. (“TAA”), the Anglin Court emphasized the availability of an alternative method of dispute resolution within the ambit of the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §§1 et. seq. (“FAA”), setting forth in broad strokes the manner in which Texas courts could address arbitrability expeditiously.
Arbitration law has evolved considerably since the Anglin decision, both judicially and statutorily, such that arbitrability of disputes now epitomizes the ultimate threshold issue in litigation: where will the litigation be conducted? The following discussion provides a roadmap to practitioners for navigating the labyrinthine multi-faceted components of this threshold issue.
View the article in the winter 2021 edition of The Advocate. For additional insights on arbitration, visit Lonnie’s article “Best Practices for Maintaining Confidentiality of Trade Secrets in Virtual Arbitration Proceedings.”