Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

As part of the American Bar Association, the world’s largest voluntary professional association, the Section of Dispute Resolution, with over 18,000 members, is the world’s largest association of dispute resolution professionals. Through our Section’s conferences, continuing education programs, research activities, information services, eNewsletter, publications, and mediation and arbitration institutes for neutrals and advocates throughout the United States, we deliver useful knowledge and training to our members.

The Air Force Alternative Dispute Resolution Program, administered by the Dispute Resolution Division of the Air Force General Counsel's Office, matches individual ADR needs with Air Force ADR resources, training and experts, and serves as the flagship ADR Program of the federal government.

This site provides information on the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) programs operating within the Department of Veterans Affairs; Workplace, Procurement, and Environmental. Each program can be accessed through a menu bar on the left hand side of this page.

Disputes in the Federal sector arise in a variety of contexts. Acquisition-related disputes are typically bid protests brought by parties who are seeking awards of government contracts. Disputes in the workplace may be among or between employees, between employees and their managers, union grievances, or EEO complaints. Disputes arise under environmental laws among parties seeking access to or protecting natural resources. Civil enforcement disputes are as varied as the enforcement roles of the Department itself. In rulemaking, the various affected interests tend to develop adversarial relationships with each other causing them to take extreme positions, to withhold information, and to attack the legitimacy of opposing views. These conflicts have a cost. They can lead to low morale in organizations, delays projects, and years of litigation.

Alternative Dispute Resolution ("ADR") refers to any means of settling disputes outside of the courtroom. ADR typically includes early neutral evaluation, negotiation, conciliation, mediation, and arbitration. As burgeoning court queues, rising costs of litigation, and time delays continue to plague litigants, more states have begun experimenting with ADR programs. Some of these programs are voluntary; others are mandatory.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) (also known as External Dispute Resolution in some countries, such as Australia[1]) includes dispute resolution processes and techniques that fall outside of the government judicial process. Despite historic resistance to ADR by both parties and their advocates, ADR has gained widespread acceptance among both the general public and the legal profession in recent years. In fact, some courts now require some parties to resort to ADR of some type, usually mediation, before permitting the parties' cases to be tried. The rising popularity of ADR can be explained by the increasing caseload of traditional courts, the perception that ADR imposes fewer costs than litigation, a preference for confidentiality, and the desire of some parties to have greater control over the selection of the individual or individuals who will decide their dispute.

SECNAVINST 5800.13A established the DON ADR Program Office with the following missions: * Coordinate ADR policy and initiatives; * Assist activities in securing or creating cost effective ADR techniques or local programs; * Promote the use of ADR, and provide training in negotiation and ADR methods; * Serve as legal counsel for in-house neutrals used on ADR matters; and, * For matters that do not use in-house neutrals, the program assists DON attorneys and other representatives concerning issues in controversy that are amenable to using ADR.

CPR Institute is a nonprofit organization based in New York City. Our mission is to spearhead innovation and promote excellence in public and private dispute resolution, and to serve as a primary multinational resource for avoidance, management and resolution of business-related and other disputes.

The Office of Dispute Resolution for Acquisition (ODRA) is the sole, statutorily designated tribunal for all contract disputes and bid protests under the FAA’s Acquisition Management System. The ODRA dispute resolution process recognizes that it is in the best interests of the FAA and its private sector business partners to work collaboratively to avoid and, where possible, voluntarily resolve acquisition-related controversies in a timely and fair manner.

In a field that is continually expanding and evolving, the Forum is setting the benchmarks by providing alternative dispute resolution services that consistently aspire to high legal and ethical standards. Our mission is simple: to provide a fair, efficient, and effective system for the resolution of commercial and civil disputes in America and worldwide.

The North American Free Trade Area, comprising Canada, Mexico and the United States, was established in 1992 by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Like several other regional economic integration agreements, such as the European Communities, the EFTA, the Andean Community or the Mercosur, the objective of NAFTA is to remove trade barriers, create a common market, and promote economic cooperation between participating states. However, unlike most similar agreements, NAFTA falls significantly short of creating an integrated legal system, much less a structured dispute settlement system.

The Uniform Arbitration Act (UAA), promulgated in 1955, has been one of the most successful Acts of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. Forty-nine jurisdictions have arbitration statutes; 35 of these have adopted the UAA and 14 have adopted substantially similar legislation. A primary purpose of the 1955 Act was to insure the enforceability of agreements to arbitrate in the face of oftentimes hostile state law. That goal has been accomplished. Today arbitration is a primary mechanism favored by courts and parties to resolve disputes in many areas of the law. This growth in arbitration caused the Conference to appoint a Drafting Committee to consider revising the Act in light of the increasing use of arbitration, the greater complexity of many disputes resolved by arbitration, and the developments of the law in this area.

Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is a term generally used to refer to informal dispute resolution processes in which the parties meet with a professional third party who helps them resolve their dispute.

What We Do: * provide ADR services in appeals filed with the Board's other three Divisions (Appellate, Civil Remedies, and Medicare Operations Division); * support the Dispute Resolution Specialist (Constance Tobias, Chair, Departmental Appeals Board) in carrying out her responsibilities for ADR policy and program development.

The mission of the Office of Dispute Resolution is to promote and facilitate the broad and effective use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes by the Department of Justice and throughout the Executive Branch of the federal government. The office is responsible for promoting and evaluating the use of ADR at the Department, representing the Department leadership with foreign governments and the private sector, and facilitating the effective use of ADR in litigation and other agency disputes. The office also represents the Attorney General in leadership of federal ADR through the Interagency ADR Working Group Steering Committee, an organization which was created by the President and convened by the Attorney General to promote the use of ADR throughout federal executive branch agencies.

ADR Chambers International (“ADRCI”) is the leading Canadian organization that specializes in International Arbitration and Mediation. Through the use of the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules as supplemented by its own state of the art rules, ADRCI provides practitioners and their clients uniformity and credibility in the field of the international arbitration and mediation. The mandate of ADRCI is to provide a single cost effective Canadian source for all types of international dispute resolution, including formal international arbitration, mediation, med-arb or other hybrid systems of dispute resolution.

The ADR Institute of Canada (ADR Canada) is a national non-profit organization that provides national leadership in the development and promotion of dispute resolution services in Canada and internationally. In concert with seven regional affiliates across the country, we represent and support professionals who provide dispute resolution services and the individuals and organizations that use those services. Our membership includes over 1,700 individuals and 60 business and community organizations from across Canada. Our standards and programs reflect our commitment to excellence in the field.

The Association for International Arbitration (AIA) works towards promotion of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in general and arbitration in particular, as a means of dispute resolution and strives to bring together the global community in this field, be it as professionals in the form of judges, lawyers, arbitrators, mediators or as academics as well research scholars and students. With this unique blend of people, it is our endeavor to inculcate an interest in ADR, not only in the professional sphere but also create an awareness and interest in it among budding professionals in law schools/universities all around the globe.

Mandate: The practice and promotion of various forms of alternative dispute resolution including, but not limited to arbitration, collaborative law, facilitation and mediation.

International alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is the process of settling transnational disputes through the use of dispute resolution mechanisms other than courts. Due to the time, expense and complications involved in resolving and enforcing disputes between transnational parties in courts, international ADR is sought because it can be a confidential, speedy and predictable process and the parties might have more trust in the enforceability of these settlements

The Commission on Arbitration aims to create a forum for experts to pool ideas and impact new policy on practical issues relating to international arbitration, the settlement of international business disputes and the legal and procedural aspects of arbitration. The Commission also aims to examine ICC dispute settlement services in view of current developments, including new technologies.

The International Court of Environmental Arbitration and Conciliation ("the Court") was established in Mexico D.F. on November 1994, by 28 lawyers from 22 different countries, as a form of Institutionalised Arbitration. The Court facilitates through conciliation and arbitration the settlement of environmental disputes submitted by States, natural or legal persons ("Parties").

LEADR is an Australasian, not-for-profit membership organisation formed in 1989 to serve the community by promoting and facilitating the use of dispute resolution processes including mediation. These processes are generally known as Alternative Dispute Resolution or ADR.

The PCA is an intergovernmental organization with over one hundred member states. Established in 1899 to facilitate arbitration and other forms of dispute resolution between states, the PCA has developed into a modern, multi-faceted arbitral institution that is now perfectly situated at the juncture between public and private international law to meet the rapidly evolving dispute resolution needs of the international community. Today the PCA provides services for the resolution of disputes involving various combinations of states, state entities, intergovernmental organizations, and private parties.

The American Arbitration Association ® (AAA), with its long history and experience in the field of alternative dispute resolution, provides services to individuals and organizations who wish to resolve conflicts out of court. The AAA role in the dispute resolution process is to administer cases, from filing to closing. The AAA provides administrative services in the U.S., as well as abroad through its International Centre for Dispute Resolution ® (ICDR). The AAA's and ICDR's administrative services include assisting in the appointment of mediators and arbitrators, setting hearings, and providing users with information on dispute resolution options, including settlement through mediation. Ultimately, the AAA aims to move cases through arbitration or mediation in a fair and impartial manner until completion.

The Association for Conflict Resolution is a professional organization dedicated to enhancing the practice and public understanding of conflict resolution.

We will work with you and the business to reach a solution to your problem. The dispute resolution process is an alternative to going to court - it's informal and user-friendly and it helps resolve thousands of complaints each year. BBBs offer several methods to resolve your dispute. In conciliation, we collect factual information from both parties to a dispute, encourage open communication and facilitate discussions leading to a resolution. In mediation, we will provide a professionally trained mediator to talk with the parties and guide them in working out their own mutually-agreeable solutions. If conciliation and/or mediation efforts are not successful, arbitration may be the next step. The parties state their views at an arbitration hearing, offer evidence and let an impartial arbitrator make a decision that ends the dispute.

The Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) is an independent non-profit organisation with a public mission and supported by multinational business, law firms and public sector organisations.

The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) is a not-for-profit, UK registered charity working in the public interest through an international network of branches. It has a global membership of around 12,000 individuals who have professional training in private dispute resolution.

The Guide provides an overall picture of how the most common forms of ADR are being implemented in Federal agencies. It summarizes a number of current ADR programs (including alternative discipline programs), and it includes descriptions of shared neutrals programs where agencies have collaborated to reduce the costs of ADR. It provides a listing of training and resources available from Federal and non-Federal sources. It also provides selected ADR-related web sites. The information in the Guide will be helpful to you as you explore the feasibility and appropriateness of implementing alternative dispute resolution programs in your organization or enhancing the one you may have now. As you review the agency programs and other information in the Guide, bear in mind that there is no one correct technique or process. The success of any ADR program is dependent upon designing a system which reflects the unique needs of the organization and its employees.

A fact frequently reported in the media is the explosive growth of conflict in all aspects of our lives. One response has been the increasing use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms by affected communities and organizations. For all of the diverse venues in which dispute resolution is now being used or considered, there is a need for a basic practice-oriented forum for all interested parties to discuss dispute resolution issues. Practical Dispute Resolution seeks to provide that forum.

The term Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is often used to describe a wide variety of dispute resolution mechanisms that are alternative to full-scale court process. The term can refer to everything from facilitated settlement negotiations, to arbitration systems, mini trial, mediation, and other processes.

Welcome to the Eastern District of New York - Alternate Dispute Resolution website. This website has been created to facilitate the ADR process and to answer your questions, provide documentation and information for mediators, parties, counselors and those interested with ADR.

Welcome to the World Directory of ADR Blogs, currently tracking over 220 blogs from 30 countries.

Articles written by attorneys and experts worldwide discussing legal aspects related to Litigation including: alternative dispute resolution, antitrust and trade regulation, appellate practice, arbitration, business litigation, civil litigation, class actions, commercial litigation, corporate litigation, financial litigation, mediation, pharmaceutical litigation, product liability litigation, unfair competition.