Washington

Choice-of-Law Clauses and Marital Property Law

In a recent law review article, I criticized a unanimous decision of the Washington Supreme Court that enforced the choice-of-law clause in a contract to which only one spouse was a party to determine which jurisdiction’s law governed an issue relating to marital property. In this blog post, I first provide a concise account of…

Continue Reading

International Custody Jurisdiction, Human Rights, and Legislative Change

The Court of Appeals of Washington State recently issued an unpublished opinion that will serve as a benchmark for parents who flee certain countries with their children, seeking safe harbor in the United States (In re AlHaidari (Fearing, CJ)). In re AlHaidari Bethany AlHaidari, a U.S. citizen, married Ghassan AlHaidari, a Saudi citizen, in Saudi…

Continue Reading

Microsoft and Contractual Ambiguity

Microsoft Corporation (Microsoft) has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion. It reported $204 billion in revenue in 2022. Its legal team is reportedly comprised of 1,500 people worldwide. Microsoft is the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in contract negotiations. A recent case suggests, however, that Microsoft has yet to master the art of drafting a forum selection…

Continue Reading

It Pays to Know About… Obscure Statutes Invalidating Forum Selection Clauses

The law of forum selection clauses can be complicated.  There are, however, some issues that are relatively straightforward.  When a state legislature enacts a statute announcing that an outbound forum selection clause (one selecting the courts of a different jurisdiction) is void when written into a particular type of contract, the clause is generally not…

Continue Reading

Ingrid (Wuerth) Brunk

Vanderbilt Law School
ingrid.wuerth@vanderbilt.eduEmail

William Dodge

George Washington University Law School
william.dodge@law.gwu.eduEmail

Maggie Gardner

Cornell Law School
mgardner@cornell.eduEmail

John F. Coyle

University of North Carolina School of Law
jfcoyle@email.unc.eduEmail

Zachary D. Clopton

Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
zclopton@law.northwestern.eduEmail

Noah Buyon

Duke University School of Law
Bio | Posts

Naman Karl-Thomas Habtom

University of Cambridge
Bio | Posts

Ben Köhler

Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
Bio | Posts

Melissa Stewart

University of Hawai'i, William S. Richardson School of Law.
Bio | Posts

Ian M. Kysel

Cornell Law School
Bio | Posts

Craig D. Gaver

Bluestone Law
Bio | Posts

Gregg Cashmark

Vanderbilt Law School
Bio | Posts

Rochelle C. Dreyfuss

NYU School of Law
Bio | Posts

Linda J. Silberman

New York University School of Law
Bio | Posts

Timothy R. Holbrook

Emory University School of Law
Bio | Posts