10 QUESTIONS ON ADR
1. Why ADR?
Because ADR offers your client advantages over trial, primarily cost, control and certainty.
There is nothing inherently wrong with litigation and trial. In the larger context, our system of justice is the finest in the world and resolves a tremendous amount of disputes fairly, finally and without much social unrest. In the context of your client’s particular dispute, however, ADR and settlement may be the most effective and efficient means of achieving the best possible result.
ADR allows you and your client the best opportunity to shape the outcome. If non-binding, ADR offers the means to an end: a fair settlement. If binding, ADR is the agreed-upon process for resolving conflicting requests for relief when two sides must agree to disagree.
There are three essential elements favoring ADR and settlement: cost, control and certainty. A timely settlement can substantially cut your client’s total costs and eliminate large amounts of attorney fees, expert charges and litigation expenses. A settlement will give your client control over the final result, rather than allowing the judge to control the final outcome. And a settlement will afford your client the certainty of a result he or she can live with. Trial, on the other have, is inherently uncertain, and the final result may or may not be the “justice” your client had originally intended.