NCJ Number
109429
Journal
Emory Law Journal Volume: 36 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1987) Pages: 541-556
Date Published
1987
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The proponents of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) make assumptions that are seriously flawed and overlook the role of law as the basis of our sense of community and as the source of protection of individual rights.
Abstract
Law represents a complex relationship among rules, rights, and remedies. Those who criticize conflict and advocate conciliation and compromise through the use of ADR have the misguided conception that lawyers are trained only to be combatants rather than counselors or facilitators. However, many ADR advocates have failed to examine seriously both the nature of conflict itself and the relationship between conflict and morality. They have denigrated the traditional role played by individual rights without formulating a normative justification for doing so. Although they contend that legalistic litigation is antithetical to our sense of community, in fact law is central to our sense of community. Nevertheless, ADR does have a moral basis and a useful role, although it cannot and should not replace to any significant degree our traditional legal mechanisms of dispute resolution. 18 footnotes.