ADR - A Competitive Imperative for Business - Chapter 38 - AAA Handbook on Commercial Arbitration - 2nd Edition
Author(s):
Todd B. Carver
Page Count:
22 pages
Media Description:
PDF from "AAA Handbook on Commercial Arbitration - 2nd Edition"
Published:
September, 2010
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Author Detail:
Todd B. Carver is the law vice president and chief legal officer for the Teradata Division of NCR Corp. He has been a senior litigation and business unit counsel for NCR, AT&T and USWEST, where he has been instrumental in developing and implementing dispute avoidance and resolution processes, and has served as an advocate in hundreds of ADR and negotiation settings. Mr. Carver is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Dayton School of Law, where he teaches courses on ADR and on negotiation. He is also an arbitrator on the roster of the American Arbitration Association and serves on the AAA's Large Complex Case Advisory Committee.
Description:
I. Introduction
Business has available to it methods for resolving commercial, consumer and employment disputes that are more efficient, economical and effective than litigation. A business that takes full advantage of these methods will have a competitive advantage over businesses that do not. These methods can be summed up by the phrases “dispute avoidance and resolution program” (DARP) and “alternative dispute resolution” (ADR). Businessmen and women cannot afford just to talk about dispute avoidance and ADR programs any longer. They need to promptly reduce them to practice so that their companies can remain competitive in the world economy and, for that matter, the local economy in which they do business. No business can afford not to implement a DARP with a structured ADR program. ADR is truly a competitive imperative! This chapter discusses why this is so and how to implement a DARP and optimize the benefits of ADR.
II. The High Cost of Litigation
U.S. law firms bill their clients—most of them commercial entities—tens of billions of dollars a year. The costs are even higher when other direct costs of litigation, such as salaries of in-house counsel and the amounts paid in judgments and settlements, are factored in. Based on U.S. Census Bureau statistics, the number of lawyers in America grew from 612,000 in 1983 to 929,000 in 2001. This means that over a period of 18 years, the number of lawyers in this country increased by 50% and that for every 100,000 in population, there are now about 300 lawyers. Japan, by comparison, has fewer than 15 lawyers, and Germany only 82, for each 100,000 in population, according to the Statistical Abstract of the World: 2002. Not surprisingly, many developing countries, such as China and India, have even fewer lawyers per capita.
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