Assistant Professor Kristen Blankley was named the chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Task Force on Access to Justice. This task force will be considering how dispute resolution services can increase access to justice and legal services, especially for low income and middle-class persons. Professor Blankley was chosen to head this project given her previous research in this area.
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Assistant Professor Kristen Blankley presented a faculty colloquium on her upcoming paper: "A Uniform Theory of Federal Court Jurisdiction Under the Federal Arbitration Act" at South Dakota University School of Law. Her paper considers the intersection of arbitration and the federal courts and suggests a simplified and universal jurisdictional test to replace this confusing area of law.
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Assistant Professor Kristen Blankley testified in a neutral capacity before the Nebraska Legislature on Thursday, March 12, 2015, before the Judiciary Committee regarding Legislative Bill 437, a bill that, if passed, would create a presumption of joint legal custody and shared parenting time of at least 35% time for non-custodial parents undergoing a divorce or separation. Professor Blankley testified in her capacity as President of the Nebraska Mediation Association and discussed issues of mediation in child custody cases.