Originally from Dispute Resolution Journal

This article examines the effectiveness of New York State’s voluntary ADR program—the County Dispute Resolution Center (CDRC) program—in terms of four primary goals: (1) Does the program provide litigants with a fair process? (2) Does it reduce costs for participants? (3) Does it reduce the time from filing to disposition for most cases? (4) Does it reduce the burden on the courts? In analyzing these issues, the author has drawn on reports submitted to New York’s Unified Court System.

A lot of lawyers, some practitioners and probably only a handful of litigants might consider voluntary mediation as having only limited appeal or use for everyday disputes (as opposed to business or employment-related disputes).