Barry Goldman is an arbitrator and mediator based in Michigan. He holds an MA in philosophy from the University of Hawaii and a JD from Wayne State University Law School where he has served on the adjunct faculty for many years. Barry is the author of The Science of Settlement: Ideas for negotiators and co-author, with Stuart M. Israel, of Opinions: Essays on lawyering, litigation and arbitration, the placebo effect, chutzpah, and related matters. He is a member of the National Academy of Arbitrators and a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Email: bagman [at] ameritech.net
by Barry Goldman Robert McDonnell was the Governor of Virginia in 2014 when the federal government indicted him and his wife on bribery charges. A Virginia businessman named Jonnie Williams provided the McDonnells with over $175,000 in “loans, gifts and other benefits.” In exchange, the Governor “arranged meetings, hosted events, and contacted other government officials”…
by Barry Goldman Imagine a hunter, a tree, and a squirrel. The hunter is on the ground, the squirrel is clinging to the tree, and the tree is between two of them. As the hunter moves, the squirrel moves, always keeping the tree between them. The hunter goes around the tree. Does he go around…
by Barry Goldman Laws do not interpret themselves. No matter how carefully drafted, the language of a law can never be exhaustive and exclusive. Its boundaries will be imprecise, there will be vagueness and ambiguity, and there will always be a tension between the letter and the spirit. Statutory interpretation inevitably requires reasoned judgment. Not…
by Barry Goldman The “frozen trucker case” got a fair amount of attention a few years back. At Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing Senator Al Franken hammered him about it. You can watch it here. The facts of the case are these: Alphonse Maddin was employed as a truck driver by Petitioner TransAm Trucking…
by Barry Goldman Suppose a cop pulls you over for speeding. What do you think should happen? My guess is you think he should give you a warning and let you off without a ticket. Why? Well, because you will, no doubt, be polite, respectful and contrite (or at least you will attempt to appear to…
by Barry Goldman Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others. —Groucho Marx It’s easy to ridicule politicians for their lack of principle. Mitch McConnell comes immediately to mind. When Antonin Scalia died nine months before the 2016 election, President Obama nominated Merrick Garland to replace him on the…
by Barry Goldman Reading about corporate greed and depredation over the past few years, I keep getting stuck on the same question: Don’t these people have grandchildren? How can corporate decision-makers spend their days actively working to destroy the environment, pollute the water, kill off the animals, melt the glaciers, and incinerate the biosphere? Even…
by Barry Goldman When I was a little boy my parents had a book that convulsed me with giggles. It was a collection of cartoons by Abner Dean called What Am I Doing Here? I couldn’t read, and I didn’t understand what was happening in the pictures, but the people in the cartoons were naked!…
by Barry Goldman There is a controversy about whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution disqualifies Donald Trump from serving as president. Different people have different opinions. Some people have different opinions at different times. But whatever their position on the question, everyone seems to agree that the question itself is…
by Barry Goldman I started this series of articles by claiming the adoption of the rule of law was the second biggest mistake in the history of the human race. I modeled my claim on Jared Diamond’s assertion that the biggest mistake in human history was the adoption of agriculture. I said the move from…
by Barry Goldman In my last piece I mentioned that the lawyers working on the FTX bankruptcy were billing at $2,165 an hour ($595 for paralegals). Since then we learned: A legal team that forced Tesla’s directors to agree in July to return more than $700 million in compensation to the automaker for allegedly overpaying…
by Barry Goldman Psychologists tell us we are susceptible to the “just world fallacy.” We think the arc of history bends toward justice. We think people, ultimately, get what they deserve. Historically, this belief led to the practice of trial by combat. God, you see, favors the just. Since that is so, we merely need…
by Barry Goldman This article is the second in a series. The first is here. Justice delayed is justice denied. Everyone agrees. Lawsuits should be brought in a timely manner. If too much time goes by before a case is adjudicated, witnesses become unavailable, memories fade, evidence is lost, and it becomes harder to reconstruct…
by Barry Goldman Back in 1987 Jared Diamond wrote a piece for Discover Magazine titled “The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race.” In it, Diamond argued “the adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we have never recovered.” Hunter…