NCJ Number
133388
Date Published
1990
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Using comments by knowledgeable persons in the field as well as profiles of programs, this video describes and explains the multi-door courthouse concept, which channels disputants to forums appropriate for the nature of their disputes.
Abstract
Professor Frank Sander of the Harvard Law School, who first conceptualized the "multi-door courthouse," explains the theory involved. It is that all persons seeking resolution of a dispute in an official forum will be screened to determine which dispute-resolution forum will be most appropriate and efficient for the resolution of the dispute. The video explains the various alternative forums that typically are used in various types of disputes. They include mediation, arbitration, neutral case evaluation, and summary trial. Variations of the application of the multi-door concept are profiled for the District of Columbia; Columbus, Ohio; and Philadelphia, Pa. In the District of Columbia, teams of legal experts study and discuss each case to determine what forum is most appropriate. In Philadelphia, the first option always presented for those who come through intake is mediation; and in Ohio, dispute resolution is taught and practiced in many of the schools. The concept of the multi-door courthouse is presented in the video as one that can be applied in flexible and creative ways.