ADR Basics
Modern United States lawyers engage in two principal kinds of alternative dispute resolution (ADR): non-binding mediation and binding arbitration. While mediation arises from different contexts (principally court-ordered or administered mediation and private mediation), the overall process is similar: Two adversaries meet separately and together with a neutral mediator who tries to broker a settlement. Arbitration encompasses many more permutations and allows a lawyer more influence in shaping the proceedings. At core, however, arbitration is a non-judicial, almost alwaysconfidential, dispositive "trial" of a case before a single arbitrator or panel of arbitrators selected by the parties to rule on their dispute.
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