Originally from:

Journal of American Arbitration (JAA) - Vol. 4, No. 1

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ARTICLES

Law and Contemporary Problems: Mandatory
Arbitration
By Robert A. Sewell

I. INTRODUCTION
According to the United States Supreme Court, when arbitrating a
statutory claim, the arbitral forum and the judicial forum are both equal
in their ability to vindicate parties’ rights. Mitsubishi Motors Corp. v.
Soler Chrysler-Plymouth, Inc., 473 U.S. 614, 628 (1985). As inquired by
Thomas B. Metzloff in the Foreword to Law and Contemporary
Problems, is this “faith” in arbitration valid? Mandatory arbitration of
statutory rights is controversial for many reasons and its use has been
questioned over and over again by scholars and practitioners alike.
Mandatory arbitration is contentious because it is imposed on a (usually)
weaker party through contracts of adhesion, employment handbooks,