Originally from American Review of International Arbitration - ARIA

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1. A Changing Scene

1.1 The business of disputes resolution in London is experiencing, if not a revolution, certainly a number of profound changes:

• The civil justice system and the rules and procedures of the courts have been the subject of two detailed reports prepared under the supervision of Lord Woolf with the full authority of the Lord Chancellor and therefore the Government.1 The consultation process associated with these reports highlighted as never before the shortcomings of litigation (i.e. Court proceedings) and in particular the high cost and inefficiencies involved in going to Court.

• Partly as the result of the Woolf reports and partly the result of prior momentum, ADR techniques, especially mediation, are being seriously promoted. The Woolf Reports encourage ADR and the courts have taken measures to ensure that parties to litigation