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Here is why you should use ADR

This article was featured in the business magazine, AXIS.

In business some disputes are inevitable. How companies choose to resolve their disputes is another matter. Litigation has been the traditional means taken by feuding parties. But it is not the only means to resolve disputes.

Anyone who has ever been to court over an employment, contractual or commercial dispute knows it can be a long, stressful and costly experience. The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, said in a recent speech “the litigation system is .. appalling.”

The average case takes up to one year to reach trial – many take significantly longer. Nowadays more cases are coming to court – especially in the area of employment. Last year there were more than 50,000 racial and sexual discrimination tribunal complaints and a total of £3.88million was awarded by employment tribunals - a 20 percent increase on awards for 2000/01.

The explosion in employment claims litigation highlights the need for employers to try and avoid the courts system if they can - few have the financial ability to survive if a complainant is awarded hundreds of thousands of pounds.

That is why more businesses are turning to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) - a range of cost effective processes aimed at keeping cases out of court.

Using ADR, the forum for disputes is switched, by agreement between the parties, from the courtroom to a private conference room.

Instead of going before a judge or tribunal, the dispute is resolved privately and confidentially by a neutral, independent and experienced third party arbitrator or mediator, who can issue a binding and final decision, if the parties so agree.

Whether your business is involved in a contractual, statutory, relational or professional dispute ADR gives you a more certain, less expensive, and quicker means of resolving it.

Creative Conflict Resolution System (CCRS) and IDEAS (Independent Disability Advisory Service) are dedicated to keeping you out of court and the negative headlines.

At CCRS & IDEAS the average mediation lasts 1.3 days, with cost savings, amounting to thousands of pounds per party per case.

Until fairly recently, ADR tended to be used by large organisations, which are more clued up about the best ways to manage legal disputes. Consequently most of the lawyers practising ADR are geared up to deal with those big players.

CCRS and IDEAS recognise that small and medium sized businesses need ADR too, perhaps more so than large organisations. To that end we are dedicated to finding creative solutions to your disputes.

For example, many businesses do not realise that a binding agreement to arbitrate or to refer to mediation can be entered into at the time of employment or negotiation of business contracts, well before any actual dispute has arisen.

by Philton Moore, LL.B, MCIArb., Q.D.R., barrister, arbitrator and trained dispute resolver