Alternative Dispute Resolutions

Alternative Dispute Resolutions

CJUS620-1003A-02
Court Services Management
Court Service Management Analysis
Phase 4 Task 2 DB
Professor Nichols
August 9, 2010
Sue Bell
Alternative Dispute Resolutions

Alternative dispute resolutions are non-litigation processes that are done in a manner that is much faster, cheaper, and usually more favorable to all parties involved. Alternative dispute resolutions began in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a way for people to decide civil lawsuits in a way that did not involve the traditional court system. This is a very unique way that tends to be more private, less costly, and certainly less time to actually get an issue resolved. It is well known that approximately 95% of all lawsuits are settling outside the courtroom; usually before a trail can be heard in front of a judge or judge and jury. (Law Encyclopedia, n.d.).
Some of the processes utilized today are arbitration, mediation, summary jury trial, neutral evaluation, mediation-arbitration, and minitrials. Mediation is also called conciliation and involves assistance from a neutral third party. The mediator or facilitator will assist the parties in understanding the difficult points of the disagreement. This is usually done in five phases; getting the parties to concur with a specific procedure that both parties will continue the process with. Substituting their initial opinion with a face-to-face meeting in which they learn the other parties’ position in the conflict; there is always two sides to every story. After an agreement has been made about the sequence of procedures the mediator will meet with each party individually in a private meeting; to seek the understanding of the parties and if either side will budge from their initial position. At this point, offers can be made through the mediator; if nothing is decided they can return to meet again. In conclusion, the parties agree to a settlement and sign it. Arbitration closely resembles the traditional court trial, but there is a...