Funding for this report was generously provided by the JAMS Foundation, the Michigan State Bar Foundation, and the Dispute Resolution Education Resources Inc.
Over the past 25–30 years, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) at the community, administrative, and court levels has become increasingly popular with both consumers and practitioners. Originally conceived as a way to reduce burdensome caseloads and backlogs within the court system, the process has evolved far beyond the traditional mediation and arbitration that has historically defined it. ADR now includes a variety of techniques and facilitated outcomes such as collaborative decision making, partnering, aligning, and restorative practice—in other words, ADR can now be broadly defined as any process used to bring people together to solve problems.
A copy of the full report is available below.