Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) refers to the different ways people can resolve disputes without a trial. Common ADR processes include mediation, arbitration, and neutral evaluation. These processes are generally confidential, less formal, and less stressful than traditional court proceedings.

ADR often saves money and speeds settlement. In mediation, parties play an important role in resolving their own disputes. This often results in creative solutions, longer-lasting outcomes, greater satisfaction, and improved relationships.

Mediation

In mediation, a neutral third party tries to help disputants come to a consensus on their own. Rather than imposing a solution, a professional mediator seeks to assist the conflicting sides in exploring the interests underlying their positions. Working with parties together and sometimes separately, mediators try to help them hammer out a resolution that is sustainable, voluntary, and non-binding.

Mediators can help disputants break an impasse in the following ways:

1. Finding additional information that parties were unwilling to share with each other;
2. Overcoming parties’ resistance to communicating and reaching an agreement by presenting offers to both sides;
3. Contributing impartial, specialized expertise; and
4. Brainstorming options to find a resolution that satisfies both parties.

Arbitration

In arbitration, the other primary form of alternative dispute resolution, a neutral third party serves as a judge who is responsible for resolving the dispute. The arbitrator listens as each side argues its case and presents relevant evidence, then renders a binding decision.

Disputants can negotiate virtually any aspect of the arbitration guidelines, including whether lawyers will be present and which standards of evidence to use. Arbitrators hand down decisions that are usually confidential, that is binding, and that cannot be appealed. Arbitration tends to be more expensive than mediation but less expensive than litigation.