What is Alternative Dispute Resolution? How does it Work?

Alternative Dispute Resolution means to say a system where disputes are resolved outside of the courtroom. In this settlement, a variety of procedures are followed with the help of alternative dispute resolution service providers for resolving the disputes between both parties without having a trial. This is basically a confidential as well as alternative method for settling your disputes where you can literally avoid going to the court or any jurisdiction.




How Does Alternate Dispute Resolution System Works:

Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) system provides you with the beneficial advantage where a number of different procedures are used for resolving the matters between two different parties without litigation. This system mainly consists of the mediation where an independent trained mediator who is familiar with legal aspects is involved who is required to facilitate the communication between both the parties who are facing the dispute. However other alternatives could also be considered such as having an early neutral evaluation of the dispute from both perspectives where the third party is required to make a binding decision.

Third Party Authority:

The mediator who is involved in resolving the dispute is a completely neutral party who needs to act as a facilitator and maintain confidentiality as well along with the putting efforts to bring out the mutually acceptable resolution to the dispute. Further, a mediator is not authorized to force any of the parties involved in the dispute to accept the concessions or to make the final decisions just to settle down an already arisen dispute. But the mediator can have joint as well as separate meetings with both the parties involved in the dispute for bridging the gap between each side’s positions. The involvement of mediation usually results in a successful agreement of an enforceable settlement which is finalized by an administrative agency or court as well.

The mediation procedure mainly starts with the moving party where they are required to present a summary of their side of the case without any interruption however only the mediator is authorized to raise questions during this presentation. After this, the mediator will further ask from the other party of the dispute to present their side of the case. At this point of the case, the first party usually asks for fulfilling their settlement demands and then the mediator mainly prefers to hold a separate meeting with each side of the disputed parties for getting a better idea where the middle ground may lie. Here the maximum mediation sessions are conducted separately with each of the parties related to the same dispute just to figure out the different scenarios for calculating the loopholes of the case. Now the noticeable fact is that the information gathered from the separate sessions from both sides of the dispute are always kept confidential until and unless any of the party gives permission to the mediator for disclosing it to the other side.




The Exchange of Proposals:

During the mediation process, when there comes the time of settlement over the negotiations, then each party is expected to exchange their proposals back and forth responding to the other party’s last offer. Here the mediator can literally play a very important role as sounding board firstly by discouraging the offers made by any of the parties if sounds unrealistic then secondly by giving both parties a frank assessment during separate sessions with each party. Further, the mediator can also initiate to reduce the gap by going back and forth between the both party’s respective positions who are involved in the same dispute. This procedure also creates an opportunity for any of the parties to create a new proposal and offer the same to the opposing party through the mediator without revealing its source at all. However, in any situation where misunderstanding arises which demands clarification then a joining session is needed to be conducted through the mediator for settling the final negotiations and moving forward.





Conclusion:


As we all very well knew that the court procedures are very hectic and time consuming as well so an alternate way can be chosen instead that allows both parties to settle their disputes outside of the courtroom. So, for adopting the quick procedure, here both parties will be required to utilize the alternate dispute resolution services that will help them settle their disputes in a most easy manner.

Legal Practice:

Disputes - ADR & Arbitration

Jurisdiction:

• United Kingdom