Ah, the benefits of private arbitration. Quick and clean decisions by a neutral panel, rendered out of the public spotlight and, in most circumstances, unappealable to a court of law.

So where did things go wrong for Cooley Godward, whose client got smacked this spring with what Cooley calls “a swing of some $30 million” in a dispute involving a drug designed to help patients with blood flow problems that jeopardize their vital organs?