Delivering Dispute Resolution

This book reviews the techniques, mechanisms and architectures of the way disputes are processed in England and Wales. Adopting a comparative approach, it evaluates the current state of the main different types of dispute resolution systems, including business, consumer, personal injury, family, property, employment and claims against the state. It provides a holistic overview of the whole system and suggests both systemic and detailed reforms. Examining dispute resolution pathways from users' perspectives, the book highlights options such as ombudsmen, regulators, tribunals and courts as well as mediation and other ADR and ODR approaches. It maps numerous sectoral developments to see if learning might be spread to other sectors. Several recurrent themes arise, including the diversification in the use of techniques; adoption of digital, online and artificial technology; cost and funding constraints; the emergence of new intermediaries; the need to focus accessibility arrangements for people and businesses that need help with their problems; and identifying effective ways for achieving behavioural change. This timely study analyses the shift from adversarial legalism to softer means of resolving social problems, and points to a major opportunity to devise an imaginative and holistic strategic vision for the jurisdiction.

In this Liber Amicorum, leading experts and old-time friends from around the world come together to pay tribute to Christopher Hodges' multifaceted career and work by exploring what can be done to deliver justice and fairness, focusing on collective redress, consumer dispute resolution, court system reform, ethical business regulation and regulatory delivery. After a decade-long career as a solicitor, Christopher Hodges became Professor of Justice Systems at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford. Throughout his academic career he worked on a variety of topics dealing with access to justice and dispute resolution: from product liability, procedural/funding systems and collective redress, to alternative dispute resolution and ethical business regulation. In 2021 Christopher Hodges was awarded an OBE for services to business and law. His ground-breaking research not only inspired students and colleagues, but also influenced policymakers worldwide. Delivering justice, and “making things better”, runs like a thread through his work; the same thread connects the chapters in this book.

The National Academy of Construction (NAC) has determined that disputes, and their accompanying inefficiencies and costs, constitute a significant problem for the industry. In 2002, the NAC assessed the industry's progress in attacking this problem and determined that although the tools, techniques, and processes for preventing and efficiently resolving disputes are already in place, they are not being widely used. In 2003, the NAC helped to persuade the Center for Construction Industry Studies (CCIS) at the University of Texas and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to finance and conduct empirical research to develop accurate information about the relative transaction costs of various forms of dispute resolution. In 2004 the NAC teamed with the Federal Facilities Council (FFC) of the National Research Council to sponsor the "Government/Industry Forum on Reducing Construction Costs: Uses of Best Dispute Resolution Practices by Project Owners." The forum was held on September 23, 2004, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Speakers and panelists at the forum addressed several topics. Reducing Construction Costs addresses topics such as the root causes of disputes and the impact of disputes on project costs and the economics of the construction industry. A second topic addressed was dispute resolution tools and techniques for preventing, managing, and resolving construction- related disputes. This report documents examples of successful uses of dispute resolution tools and techniques on some high-profile projects, and also provides ways to encourage greater use of dispute resolution tools throughout the industry. This report addresses steps that owners of construction projects (who have the greatest ability to influence how their projects are conducted) should take in order to make their projects more successful.

While arbitration was robust in colonial and early America, dispute resolution lost its footing to the court system as the United States grew into a bustling and burgeoning country. And while dispute resolution processes emerged briefly from time to time, they were dormant until the enactment of the Federal Arbitration Act and collective bargaining grew out of the labor movement. But it wasn't until 1976, when Frank Sander delivered his famous remarks at the Pound Conference, that the modern dispute resolution movement was born. By the year 2000, alternative dispute resolution had transformed from a populist rebellion against the judicial system to mainstream legal practice. Today, lawyers and retiring judges look to arbitration and mediation for a career pivot, and law schools train law students in the finer arts of dispute resolution practice as both providers and advocates. Discussions in Dispute Resolution brings together the modern dispute resolution field's most influential commentaries in its first few decades and reflects on what makes these pieces so important. This book collects 16 foundational writings, four pieces from each of the field's primary subfields--negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and public policy. Each piece has four commenters who answer the question: why is this work a foundational piece in the dispute resolution field? The purpose in asking this simple question is fourfold: to hail the field's foundational generation and their work, to bring a fresh look at these articles, to engage the articles' original authors where possible, and to challenge the articles with the benefit of hindsight. Where possible, the book gives the authors of the original pieces the opportunity either to reflect on the piece itself or to respond to the other commenters.

"This book asks why justice is important to both individuals and to society as a whole. A number of justice questions are raised to evaluate whether mediation can deliver social, distributive, procedural or substantive justice and fairness. Focusing on a scrutiny of mediation in the context of justice, the book covers social justice and justice issues posed by confidentiality, bias, lack of fairness and Online Dispute Resolution. Discussing whether mediation can truly deliver justice to all, the book identifies areas where this fails, and provides solutions and suggestions to improve it. The dangers of private justice, bias, mandatory mediation and the side lining of the importance of fairness in the resolution of disputes are all considered. In contrast, the positive aspects of mediation are added to the balance. The book will be of interest to researchers in the field of conflict resolution, law, and social science. Readers will also be found among mediators and people interested in justice and the civil justice system"--

This book examines the practice of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as it stands today in the context of matrimonial disputes and for providing gender justice for women undergoing matrimonial litigation. ADR is a fairly recent but increasingly prevalent phenomenon that has significantly evolved due to the failure of the adversarial process of litigation to provide timely resolution of disputes. The book explores the merit and demerit of traditional litigation process and emergence, socio-legal framework, work environment and success rate of various ADR processes in general and for resolving matrimonial disputes in particular. It comprehensively discusses the role of various institutions and attitudes and perceptions of ADR practitioners. It analyzes the influence of patriarchal cultural assumptions of appropriate feminine behaviour and its effect on ADR practitioners like mediators and counsellors that leads to the marginalization of aggrieved woman’s issues. With a brief analysis of the experience and challenges faced with the way the ADR process is conducted, the focus is on probing the vulnerability of aggrieved women. The book critiques the practice of ADR as it is today and offers constructive ways forward by providing suggestions, insights, and analysis that could bring about a transformation in the way justice is delivered to women. This in-depth study is an attempt to guide decision making by bringing forth and legitimizing the battered women’s voice which often goes unrepresented, in the debate about the efficacy of ADR mechanism in resolving matrimonial disputes. The book is of interest to those working for justice for women, particularly in the context of matrimonial disputes -- legal professionals, mediators, counsellors, judges, academicians, women rights activists, researchers in the field of gender and women studies, social work and law, ADR educators, policymakers and general readers who are inclined and interested in bringing a gender perspective to their area of work.