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Chapter 3

Section 1
The search for Alternatives to Litigation

In order to reduce the congestion in the court system and to reduce the litigation costs, we implemented:
* The enforcement of arbitration clauses
* Court-referred arbitration
* Mediation
Trials are very expensive and sometimes take many months to resolve

Politics and Law. (P58)

* Reform of courts istime consuming.
* Concerns of members of the congress bringing down court costs and the delay under control have led to legislation.
* The legislation required the federal courts to develop plans to cut costs and reduce delay within the federal judicial system.

New Methods and Arrangements. (p58)
* Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods are inexpensive, relatively quick andleave more control with the parties involved.
* Resolution of disputes that are in ways other than those involved.
* Forms of ADR are:
* Negotiation
* Mediation
* Arbitration
* Advantage of ADR is its flexibility. Parties have more control of:
* How dispute is to be settled
* What procedures to use
* If neutral third party should bepresent or make a decision
* Weather this decision will be legally binding or nonbinding
* ADR offers also more privacy than the court proceedings can.
* More than 90% of lawsuits are resolved today using ADR.

Section 2
Negotiation And Mediation
Negotiation(p58-59)

* This is the simplest form of ADR
* Negotiations occur Informally, with or without any attorneys,where differences are discussed with the goal of “meeting of the Minds” in resolving the case.
* Even if lawsuit initiated, negotiations can continue at any time during the litigation process and settle their dispute

* Preparation for Negotiation
* Successful negotiation involves through preparation.
* Elements of dispute:
* Collecting documents and otherevidence
* Preparing witnesses to testify
* If well-prepared for a negotiation, it increases chances of

* Assisted Negotiation

* Involves assistance of a Third Party
* Forms of ADR associated with negotiation process include:
Mini-Trial; Early Neutral Case Evaluation; Facilitation

* Mini – Trial
* A private proceeding in which eachparty to a dispute argues its position before the other side and vice versa
* A neutral third party may be present and act as an adviser if the parties fail to reach an agreement.
* Adviser may then render his opinion how court would likely decide the issue.
* This proceeding assists parties to determine weather they should take issue to court or not.* Early Neutral Case Evaluation
* Parties select a neutral third party (an expert in the issue of dispute)
* The neutral third party evaluates the strengths and weakness of the disputing parties’ positions
* The evaluator’s opinion forms the basis for negotiating a settlement.

* Facilitation
* Facilitation is Friendly andNon-Adversarial
* Third party (Facilitator) assists reconciling differences between disputing parties
* Facilitators duties are:
* Helping to schedule negotiation sessions
* Carrying offers back and forth between parties (If parties refuse to face each other)
* Normally, Facilitators are not to recommend solutions (though inpractice they often do)

Mediation (p59)

* Mediation is a form of assisted negotiation.
* Settling disputes outside of court through services of neutral third party called Mediator.
* Mediator acts as communication agent between parties
* Compared to the Facilitator, a mediator is actually expected to propose a solution.
* The mediator does not to be a lawyer
*...