Listening is a skill. It is an art. It is a discipline. It is hard. It takes attention and practice. It takes awareness. It is particularly hard when you don't want to hear the person who is talking to you. It is particularly hard in disagreements, arguments and conflicts. How do we listen without being caught by the judgments, opinions, desires, justifications and stories rumbling around…

Carol Whitworth signed a Sales Manager Employment Contract (“Employment Contract”) with McBride & Son on June 30, 2005.  The Employment Contract had a binding arbitration clause but did not describe the procedures or guidelines for arbitration.  The Employment Contract was also signed by the employer.  About one week later Whitworth was asked to complete an application for employment (“Application”).  The Application which was signed by Whitworth, but not by the employer, also contained…

In George Watts & Son v. Tiffany & Co., 248 F.3d 577 (7^th Cir. 2001), then Circuit Judge (now Chief Judge) Frank H.…