studies

This page looks at studies of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) schemes, legislation and issues.

It covers -

• primers
• Australia
• international
• online

     Australia

An introduction to the Australian regimes is provided by Hilary Astor & Christine Chinkin's Dispute Resolution in Australia (Sydney: LexisNexis Butterworths 2002), Tania Sourdin's Alternative Dispute Resolution (Sydney: Law Book 2002) and Archie Zariski's 2000 paper Disputing Culture: Lawyers and ADR. They are complemented by Alternative Dispute Resolution & the Courts (Leichhardt: Federation Press 2004) edited by Tania Sourdin.

The 1998 Australian Law Reform Commission paper Review of the adversarial system of litigation: ADR - its role in federal dispute resolution remains of importance.

     international

Among literature on global ADR we recommend Dealing in Virtue: International Commercial Arbitration & the Construction of a Transnational Legal Order by Yves Dezalay & Bryant Garth (Chicago: Uni of Chicago Press 1998), International Commercial Arbitration in the United States: Commentary & Materials (New York: Kluwer 1994) by Gary Born and Law & Practice of International Commercial Arbitration (London: Sweet & Maxwell 1999) by Alan Redfern & Martin Hunter.

For UNCITRAL see A Guide to the UNCITRAL Model Law On Commercial Arbitration: Legislative History and Commentary (London: Kluwer 1989) by Howard Holtzmann & Joseph Neuhaus, The New York Convention of 1958 (Deventer: Kluwer 1981) by Albert van den Berg and International Commercial Arbitration: A Transnational Perspective (St Paul: West 1999) by Tibor Várady, John Barceló & Arthur von Meheren.

For US perspectives see Jack Coe's International Commercial Arbitration: American Principles and Practice in a Global Context (Irvington-on-Hudson: Transnational 1997) and papers in International Dispute Resolution: The Regulation of Forum Selection (Irvington-on-Hudson: Transnational 1997) edited by Jack Goldsmith.

     online

For online issues see in particular Ethan Katsh's Online Dispute Resolution (New York: Jossey-Bass 2001), Rufus Pichler's 2000 thesis Trust and Reliance-Enforcement and Compliance: Enhancing Consumer Confidence in the Electronic Marketplace (PDF) and Julia Hörnle's 2002 JILT paper Online Dispute Resolution in Business to Consumer E-commerce Transactions.

The major study of what might be involved in taking the arbitration out of the offices of corporate lawyers and onto screens for access by individual consumers, small businesses and other parties is the project under the auspices of the American Bar Association (ABA).

In mid-2001 it released a short preliminary report and concept paper (PDF) on "consensus-based protocols, workable guidelines and standards that can be implemented by parties to on-line transactions and by online dispute resolution providers" in multi-jurisdictional B2B and B2C transactions.

The report reflects ongoing debate about the proposed Hague Convention on Jurisdiction & Foreign Judgements in Civil & Commercial Matters (HCCH), a contentious international agreement applying to most private litigation. It has been the target of severe criticism by commercial interests and by other advocacy groups; examples are the attack by the US Consumer Project on Technology (CPT) and the Harm from the Hague paper from open source guru Richard Stallman. There's a succinct introduction in a Commonwealth Attorney-General's discussion paper.

In Europe the ambitious E-Arbitration-T project, criticised as another way of flushing EC funds into Spain's software industry, is seeking to build ADR systems for disputes between small and medium-sized enterprises. The systems would provide "electronic support" for the appointment of arbitrators, statements of claim and of defence (with any amendments), pleas about the arbitrator's jurisdiction, evidence and hearings, internal processes and awards by the arbitrator.

     surveys and primers

Disputes in Cyberspace: Online dispute resolution for consumers in cross-border disputes - an international survey report - Consumers International

Out-of-Court Settlement of Disputes Concerning E-Commerce Consumer Transactions: An Inventory of Current Approaches 2000 (txt) - International Chamber of Commerce

Online Alternative Dispute Resolution: An Issues Primer - University of Washington School of Law

    academic studies and conference papers

Christopher Kuner's 2000 paper on Legal Obstacles to ADR in European Business-to-Consumer Electronic Commerce

Philippa Lawson's 2000 paper on Online ADR Services for Cross-border B2C Disputes

Henry Perritt's 1999 paper Dispute resolution in Cyberspace: Demand for new forms of ADR

Ethan Katsh, Janet Rifkin & Alan Gaitenby's 2000 paper on E-commerce, E-disputes, and E-Dispute Resolution: In the Shadow of 'eBay Law'

Dan DeStephen & John Helie's paper Online Dispute Resolution: Implications for the ADR Profession

Nora Femenia's paper ODR and the Global Management of Customers' Complaints: How could ODR Techniques Be Responsive to Different Social and Cultural Environments?

Esther van den Heuvel's 2000 paper (PDF) Online Dispute Resolution as a Solution to Cross-Border E-Disputes: An Introduction to ODR

Casey Lide's paper ADR & Cyberspace: The Role of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Online Commerce, Intellectual Property and Defamation - (abstract)

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