Alternative dispute resolution.

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Georgina Grace

There are thousands of civil court cases each year, where a claimant tries to claim compensation from a person or company for a wrong they believe has been committed.  However, while there are advantages to the civil court – for example, a legally qualified judge will decide the case for you and there is an appeal system if you are unhappy with the decision of the trial judge, there are also disadvantages to the system.

Civil courts are expensive, and there are delays in waiting for trial. It has been found by Lord Woolf that the trials often cost more than is being claimed, and there can be a wait of around one and a half years for the trial to start. The system can be both adversarial and complex.

As a result of this, there are alternatives to the court system for civil cases. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) provides alternative methods of settling disputes, which can be cheaper and quicker than going through the court system. There are four different types of ADR: - conciliation, arbitration, mediation and negotiation.

        

        METHODS OF ADR.

Arbitration

Arbitration involves people involved in a dispute trying to work out a solution to their problem, using a neutral third party. This third party, the arbitrator (or arbitrators, if more than one is being used), has the job of making a binding decision on the dispute. The arbitrator is usually someone who has experience in the field involved in the dispute, or a lawyer if the dispute involves a point of law. The arbitrator can also be appointed by the courts if there can be no agreement between the parties.

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Private arbitration is governed by the Arbitration Act 1996, which states

        “The object of arbitration is to obtain to fair resolution of disputes by an impartial tribunal without unnecessary delay or expense”.

Arbitration is a completely voluntary alternative to court, and the parties are free to agree between themselves exactly how the arbitration will be carried out – whether it will be a paper arbitration or hearing, and the time and date of the arbitration if it is a hearing.  

Unless the parties have agreed before hand, the decision, which is called an award, is ...

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