John Coyle
University of North Carolina School of Law
John F. Coyle is the Reef C. Ivey II Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. He is a past chair of the AALS Section on Conflict of Laws and is currently an Adviser for the American Law Institute’s Restatement (Third) of Conflict of Laws. His articles on choice-of-law clauses, forum selection clauses, cross-border dispute resolution, and international commercial contracts have appeared in journals such as the Notre Dame Law Review, the William & Mary Law Review, the North Carolina Law Review, and the Iowa Law Review. Before entering the academy, he worked as a transactional attorney at Covington & Burling LLP.
Bifurcated Forum Selection Clauses
When I was younger, I loved the Choose Your Own Adventure books. The reader was constantly asked to make decisions. Did you want to explore the basement of the haunted house? If so, turn to page 10. Or did you want to investigate the spooky noise coming from the kitchen? If so, turn to page…
Continue ReadingNew Paper on Forum Selection Clauses
Over the past three years, I have spent a lot of time trying to get a sense for when U.S. courts will and will not enforce forum selection clauses. Working with Katie Richardson — first as a law student, then as an associate at McGuire Woods, and finally as a clerk on the D.C. Circuit…
Continue ReadingZombie Choice-of-Law Clauses
When a contract is terminated, the provisions contained in that agreement generally cease to have any legal effect. Many U.S. courts have held, however, that contract provisions relating to dispute resolution continue to bind the parties even after the underlying contract ceases to be. In this post, I refer to such provisions as “zombie” clauses…
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