Anastasia Ogele Idodo

HOW THE AVENGERS SHOULD HAVE ENDED- ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION You’ve seen the movie avenger’s right? Thanos vs the Avengers in a fight for humanity. Thanos wanted to wipe off half of the population in order to allow the other half thrive (due to overpopulation), on the other hand, the Avengers didn’t want any death….Who is the real hero here? Both parties have valid points, conflict doesn’t necessarily mean one party is wrong, it just needs understanding and seeing things from the other point of view. That is where Alternative Dispute Resolution comes in, the real hero you may say…to the rescue. Okay so maybe the Avengers is overstretching it, you aren’t Thanos and I’m not Thor, but we sure have conflict in our day to day lives. Conflict is an inevitable aspect of human interaction and it can arise from buying or selling a product, entering into a contract, renting an apartment, workplace….even marriage. These transactions may be with complete strangers or people you’re familiar with, even beyond physical borders. Approaching Court to resolve disputes can be costly, time consuming, unending, permanently ruin your relationship with the other party, not to mention the complete lack of privacy…your business is just out there. Also, there are instances where these disputes are specialized and require expertise and the Attorneys and Judges and not necessarily experts in that area. If only there was an alternative to the traditional court system….the good news is that there is. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as the name implies is an alternative to the traditional court system. There are several alternatives ranging from mediation, negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, adjudication, neutral evaluation among a host of other. The focus of this article is on arbitration and mediation. Arbitration is the most popular type of ADR and is used majorly for commercial transactions where the parties are interested in keeping their business private, preserving their relationship and also want the dispute to be resolved as quick as possible. Arbitration is type of Alternative Dispute Resolution where the parties either agree before or after the dispute has arisen to have their dispute settled by Third party who acts as a private judge based on the law, venue and language they have agreed to. Imagine how cool it will be to “resolve disputes” in Bora Bora speaking your native language, maybe French… Mediation on the other hand is one in which disputing parties are assisted by a neutral third party, who is a trained professional, to arrive at an agreement and resolve their dispute. The neutral third party does not decide the matter or deliver “judgment”, rather streamlines issues and guides parties in communicating and focuses on individual and communal interest until the parties arrive at an agreement and settle. It is usually used in resolving conflicts especially where the parties have a relationship and desire to maintain that relationship, such as between family members, landlord and tenant, employers and employees and so on. We all know going to Court can get really tense and make things awkward, imagine having issues with your employer, instead of going to court and eventually becoming a battle scene out of Game of Thrones, you can easily sit it out and discuss things under the guidance of a trained professional. Why should you resort to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), particularly Arbitration or Mediation instead of the good old court? First off, your privacy is guaranteed. Unlike the traditional court system that is characterized by public hearing and putting your business out there, ADR has confidentiality as one of its core values. Apart from the disputing parties, their representatives and the presiding 3rd party, no other party can participate in the proceedings except with the permission of the disputing parties. How cool is that? Then there is party autonomy, parties get to decide the venue, language, applicable law and get to decide on a qualified Third party to settle dispute unlike the case of the traditional court system where one’s case can be assigned to a random judge and a fixed venue. Again, there is speed in resolving dispute, the process is fast, it is concluded as soon as parties want it to be, the endless cases of adjournments, numerous cases in the court are absent, the process is expeditious. Mediation aims at preserving the relationship between parties, it seeks to balance the interest between parties, to create a win-win situation as opposed to the court system that is win-lose situation. Importantly, the Third parties resolving or aiding disputing party to resolve conflict are Independent, impartial, neutral and experts in the field. For instance, in a dispute relating to Technology law, the parties can appoint representatives who are experts in the field of technology as opposed to the traditional court system where the Judge may not be an expert in that field. Finally, it is important in international transactions where a party may not feel confident in having dispute resolved in the other party’s country for fear of “home advantage”. Mediation or Arbitration eliminates that fear, the parties get to decide the language and venue. The decision arrived at is final and binding on the parties. Alternative Dispute Resolution is the future of dispute resolution in the world at large, you don’t have to go through the whole court process when you have issues in your work place, contractor, family, supplier, landlord, you can adopt any of the ADR methods and privately settle issues, save cost and preserve the relationship while you’re at it. If only Thanos and the Avengers had a sit out, imagine the deaths of your favorite avengers that could have been avoided…