Alternative Dispute Resolution

Alternative dispute resolution is where we try resolving disputes without litigation. This brings all processes and techniques of conflict resolution that occur outside court. We employ the following methods: mediation, arbitration, conciliation, negotiation, and transaction.

About Alternative Dispute Resolution

ADR enables the parties to find admissible solutions to their conflicts outside court proceedings, but are governed by different rules. For instance, in negotiation there is no third party who intervenes to help the parties reach an agreement, unlike in mediation and conciliation, where the purpose of the third party is to promote an amicable agreement between the parties. In arbitration, the third party will play an important role as they will render an arbitration that will be binding on the parties. In comparison, in conciliation and mediation, the third party does not impose any binding decision.

• Alternative dispute resolution is the best remedy to complement formal judicial processes.
• Mediation remains the most effective form of ADR in resolving disputes involving more than one party through a third party who facilitates the warring parties to arrive at a resolution that they jointly own.
• Arbitration is a second form of ADR where dispute resolution is done at the agreement of the parties. Courts only intervene to ensure that both parties abode by the agreement they have voluntarily entered into.
• Negotiation is a voluntary process where the parties in a dispute sit down, identify the issues to their dispute and try to work it out.