Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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Disaster, in tandem with innovation, is the principal catalyst of change.

Certain types of change can be evolutionary, slow, progressive, incremental. Other types can be revolutionary, sudden, abrupt.

The growth and spread of ADR, notably facilitative mediation, probably the dominant form, has features of both, most recently in large part driven by the impact of Covid-19 and the varying reactions to it of individuals, business, and states.

Covid and fear of Covid may now be abating (though not perhaps in China, and even now further booster vaccinations are being administered in the U.K., and elsewhere), but much of the change which it has brought about is likely to be permanent. Indeed, it may have set a direction of travel which is still underway, given further impetus by subsequent choices, events, and further developments in technology.