Alternative Dispute Resolution, as the name suggests is the method of solving a private/personal dispute outside the court of law. There are several advantages of ADR which include speedy administration of justice, prevention from long waiting hours, self-paced process, client-friendly process, cost-effective process, and so on. ADR is the future of law. Actually some commentators have cautioned that ADR is becoming not merely a supplement to adjudication, but a replacement for it.

In the paper: Thinking about ADR, Aufses, Arthur H. mentions that “ADR is any means of resolving a dispute outside of binding litigation in which the jury, court officers, and court facilities are financed by the taxpayers. “He further mentions that the best process of considering the various ADR options is to rank them in the order of enforceability of its order.

A research was conducted by the “Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs)” on the civil cases handled by ADR. According to the research with the use of alternative methods of dispute resolution 65% of cases settled compared to only 29% of cases when it was not used. With the proper utilization of the ADR techniques.

Types of ADR

ADR is an umbrella term used to denote the number of processes. Each of these processes had specific advantages. There are specific peculiarities in every type of ADR. For example, some techniques are law-driven, some are client-driven. Some techniques have permission for the presence of counsel others have restricted access. In some techniques, the audience is not allowed to witness the proceedings in some of the audience is allowed.

Case evaluation, mini-trial, collaborative law, divorce coaching, private judging are all types of ADR  but Arbitration, Mediation, and  Negotiation are the three techniques that are extensively considered and used under the ambit of Alternative Dispute Resolution.

• Arbitration:Arbitration is the process of dispute resolution where the parties agree to submit their dispute to an arbitrator (one or more), in the arbitral tribunal which is always odd in number to settle their dispute. The parties agree to settle their dispute in a private, confidential environment through this process. The rent-a-judge technique which was previously relevant was the same as that of contemporary arbitration only with minor differences.

Types of arbitration include- ‘ad-hoc’ arbitration, ‘baseball arbitration’ based on the choice of the arbitrator of the proposal given by different parties, ‘bounded arbitration’ where the parties fix a price which has to be considered by the arbitrator.

• Mediation:“Mediation is a process by which an impartial third person (sometimes more than one person) helps parties to resolve disputes through mutual concessions and face-to-face bargaining. The mediator does not force parties to settle their dispute but tries to convince them that they and their family will benefit from reaching an agreement. The mediator helps the parties understand what is happening to them . . . and encourages the parties to negotiate in good faith and to enter into arrangements that will be enforceable in future years.”

One of the major differences between arbitration and mediation is that mediation is a client-driven process and the mediator cannot force his will upon the parties. His presence is aimed to help the parties reach a settlement with each other.

• Med-Arb:It is the hybrid version of mediation and arbitration. The position of the commanding authority is relevant in this context. The coordinator initially acts as a mediator trying to facilitate negotiation in between the parties. Later in the stage, if the mediation is unsuccessful then the coordinator acts as an arbitrator and has all the powers and functions of the arbitrator.
• Mini Trial:A mini-trial is a process of settlement of disputes. Mini-trial is mostly conducted in the post-litigation stage when the parties present the summarized case before a coordinator who intends to resolve the dispute. The coordinator can also act as a mediator thus facilitating the process of resolution of disputes between the parties.
• Negotiation:Negotiation, as the name suggests, means discussion with the objective to solve the issue at hand which is also called the negotiation problem. Negotiation is the process of dispute resolution between parties, through mutual understanding and agreement where there is no involvement of the third party. A negotiation is a contemporary form of dispute resolution. It is a part of the ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) system of resolving disputes out of court.
• Conciliation:Conciliation is one of the methods of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) where a conciliator meets with the parties, separately in private sessions and jointly and tries to ameliorate the dispute between them. Various techniques are used by the conciliator to solve the tension such as counselling, encouraging to talk, interpreting each other’s version thus trying to cover up the differences in the process.
• Lok Adalats: Lok Adalats is based on the model of a court. Lok Adalat ensures the speedy disposal of cases in the pre-litigation stage. Lok Adalat is often used by the MNCs to settle their disputes with a large number of clients. The provision of Lok Adalat is given in the Legal Services Authorities Act 1986. Here the parties along with the counsels are brought before a bench of judges. The jury decides over the case and gives an award. The award is binding to the parties.