NCJ Number
117098
Date Published
1988
Length
164 pages
Annotation
This text, designed for use in a variety of educational contexts, describes and defines the basic terms of litigation, voluntary arbitration, court-annexed or mandatory arbitration, negotiation, and mediation, providing a context for process descriptions, the evaluation of emerging dispute resolution processes, and the analysis of issues raised by the cases that conclude each chapter.
Abstract
Each chapter begins with a description of a dispute resolution process and how it works. Part of the description is a brief account of its historical origins. The historical information helps to clarify the assumptions underlying the process and the nature of the changes the process has undergone to adapt it to contemporary needs. Each chapter also contains a section on the burdens of persuasion assigned by the process. Litigation, for example, assigns formal burdens of persuasion to disputants. Its starting premise is that the status quo is acceptable. A person who uses litigation to change the status quo, therefore, must assume the initial burden of persuading a judge or jury that the status quo is unacceptable and should change. The lawyer's role in each process is also a topic in each chapter. Chapters summarize trends associated with the dispute resolution process. Some of the trends involve the blending of two existing dispute resolution processes, such as mediation and arbitration; and others involve the development of new techniques for facilitating settlements prior to trial, such as the summary jury trial. To provide a sense of how each dispute resolution process works, the text provides examples of how each was used in a particular situation derived from an actual case or composite of cases. Each chapter concludes with a series of cases selected to demonstrate how State and Federal courts approach issues of dispute resolution. Subject index.