ADR Learning Team Charter

Alternative Dispute Resolution is an alternative process to typical civil litigation which involves the use of a neutral party to help resolve cases. ADR provides mediators, arbitrators, neutral evaluators or an opportunity for a settlement conference.

Negotiation, mediation, and arbitration are all forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) that are alternatives that organizations use to avoid litigation in court.  According to Valenti Law, negotiation and mediation are forms of non-binding ADR, while arbitration is a binding ADR (2011).  Since arbitration is a binding ADR, the arbitrator’s decisions are legally binding and cannot be challenged by either party in the arbitration.  “There are limited grounds for challenging the decision” (Valenti Law, 2011).

At the beginning of class Mitchell outlined the steps to mediation by first starting off with two scenarios. One scenario was two friends were at odds because one person had left the other’s birthday party early without saying goodbye. This hurt the birthday girl deeply and a conflict ensued. The participating mediator provided a neutral attitude while facilitating the conflict. Mitchell said the mediator did a great job of keeping himself out of the conflict, not siding with anyone, and rephrasing and reframing the problem which made the parties feel heard and understood.

Mediation is based around helping to reach a dispute compromise. This is commonly done through A Mediation service. They will gather both sides of the parties into a room to

Business owners and managers familiar with the court litigation system understand that high litigation costs and long delays make it difficult and expensive to resolve business disputes in court. They also understand that most civil cases that go to court are settled before trial. They are solved after spending considerable amount of time and money in the complex pre-trial phase, but just in time to avoid the risk of trial. Mediation and commercial arbitration provide superior solutions that help in resolving business disputes. Mediation puts the parties immediately in control of the situation and helps them get desirable outcomes without expending vast resources on litigation procedures (Berg, Permanent Court of Arbitration. International

Alternative Dispute Resolution, commonly abbreviated ADR, is a method organizations and individuals use to resolve dispute without resorting to litigation. ADR methods help disputing parties to negotiate and come to an agreement or compromise without incurring the extra time, effort and fees required by courts and attorneys. Courts may review and ADR decision; however, if the final contract is sound, rarely will a court overturn a decision reached through alternative dispute resolution. Depending on the circumstances, ADR can be voluntary or mandatory.

There are many legal systems and measures that are available to people when they run into problems. "These alternatives generally accelerate the resolution of disputes without the need for initiating or continuing the formal and costly process of litigation. These alternatives are generally referred to as that of alternative dispute resolution (ADR)" (Sherman, 2012). Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) comprises the resolution of a matter by a method other than traditional litigation. There are three main kinds of ADR: negotiation, mediation and arbitration. ADR is often preferred over traditional litigation because it involves a less formal atmosphere than the court room and is less expensive and time consuming than litigation. Furthermore, matters can be resolved in private and kept confidential, and the parties can frequently select the decision maker, who will often have commercial or industrial experience. ADR also helps to reduce the caseloads for courts that are way overcrowded (Alternative Dispute Resolution, 2011).

ADR which stands for alternative dispute resolution can be very effective and cheaper means of resolving disputes over litigation. Apparently not all situations will be advisable to apply ADR. A situation that I will employ ADR over litigation is a business circumstances that a supplier failed to meet up with his contract obligation. This supplier did not only delivery the products late, but also sent the wrong products. As a result, my company lost hundreds of thousands in cash benefit. Using ADR over litigation to settle this dispute will certainly pay off as both parties might come out victorious and continue with their business

In this report I will be reflecting on the group’s oral presentation a on a topic in Business law, “What is ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) and How Does in Improve Access to Justice”. First I will give a brief outline of ADR, the I will look at the effort we made by the group towards the oral presentation including the group’s strengths and weaknesses. I will look at the strengths and weaknesses of the presentation. I will also write about what learnt from this exercise and lastly I will have a brief conclusion

The art of mediation comes in different styles and form in today’s society. With all the styles and formats, the foundation on helping others try to solve their disputes still hold true. In the early years of mediation, many of today’s well known mediators used their backgrounds as a foundation for their mediations, today’s mediators use their specialty skills to conduct mediations in some of the same ways in the early years of mediation. According to Moore, mediation is an intervention in a conflict accepting a third party to assist in reaching mutually acceptable settlements (2003). Beer, Packard, & Stief (2012) define mediation as a process for resolving disputes where an intermediary helps conflicting parties have a conversation to

ADR should be the prime method of dispute resolution. Critically discuss in relation to ONE method of ADR (eg arbitration OR negotiation OR mediation).

R: Arbitration is the most widely used Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) technique. The parties refer their disputes to a third person that tries to solve the disputes outside the courts. Most state have statutes under which arbitration clause will be enforced.

The third major resolution of ADR (alternative dispute resolution) method is Arbitration. In arbitration, the parties submit their dispute to an independent third-party, usually called the “arbitrator” or if more than one, then called the “arbitration panel” or “tribunal”. This neutral third-party envisions the evidence the disputing parties have submitted and deliver a decision called an “award.” The award is typically binding on the parties, yet, in some cases, the award can be non-binding.

The Dispute at hand has been referred to mediation upon the suggestion of the Court. I have been identified as the independent mediator for this dispute. My main objective is to fully diagnose the situation by gathering and organizing all the relevant information. I aim to do so by building credibility, fostering a positive relationship with the parties, and educating them about the mediation process while securing their commitment to this process. In order to achieve this act it will require broad psychological control and people management. Over the course of mediation procedure I will apply the different elements of principled negotiation to achieve an agreement that is competent and improves the existing hostile relationship of both parties.

Regardless of the historic opposition to ADR by many parties and their advocates, ADR has since gained widespread acceptance among both the public and the legal profession in contemporary years. In addition to this, courts now advice some parties to resort to ADR which includes mediation before approving the parties’ cases to be tried in court. The first practical use of alternative dispute resolution procedures began in the 1970s as a possible way for the disabling court backlogs and also a way to resolve environmental and natural resource disputes. In 1985, the Attorney General issued a directive identifying the need for ADR to drastically reduce the time and cost of litigation.