NCJ Number
132983
Journal
Judicature Volume: 75 Issue: 1 Dated: (June-July 1991) Pages: 28-33
Date Published
1991
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Information obtained in interviews with 136 participating attorneys was used to evaluate Fulton County Georgia's Superior Court Arbitration Program.
Abstract
Attorneys were asked to evaluate the Fulton County arbitration program based on their experiences in individual cases and to assess the program in general. Regarding the fairness of arbitration procedures, 92 percent of the attorneys responded that the rules and procedures used in the hearing were fair. The positive appraisals of the process were more favorable than the appraisals of the fairness of the outcomes. Slightly more than 20 percent of the attorneys deemed the decision as unfair and another 20 percent saw an element of unfairness in it. Few of the attorneys believed that the arbitration hearing inhibits negotiation, and two-thirds of the attorneys identified value in the third-party review aspect of arbitration. Nearly three-fourths of all attorneys surveyed approved of the arbitration program; about one-half were satisfied with the arbitration decision. Attorney experience indicates that Fulton County's arbitration program meets several criteria of quality. 1 figure, 18 footnotes, and 7 tables