The University of Missouri School of Law Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution is holding an Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Rule of Law symposium today in cooperation with the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution and the Missouri Center for the Study of Conflict, Law & the Media. The symposium is the first of its kind to examine the relationship between the Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Rule of Law:
On the face of it, the Rule of Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution seem fundamentally at odds.
The Rule of Law, after all, compels the use of formal rules to decide disputes. ADR, on the other hand, calls for the resolution of disputes through processes that do not depend upon the application of formal rules, such as negotiation and mediation. The two could not seem to be farther apart.
But a closer look suggests that ADR and the Rule of Law are not mutually exclusive. Judicial and administrative dispute resolution programs are common throughout the state and federal courts and governments. Increasingly, too, ADR processes such as town halls, study circles, and citizen juries, are being used to facilitate community dialogue on a wide range of public issues, from neighborhood blight to national health care. Moreover, many of our most established ADR processes – arbitration, mediation, even negotiation – are dependent upon the law to secure such crucial functions as enforcement, confidentiality, and legitimacy.
To date, little consideration has been given to such questions. It is time, now, to have that discussion. Domestically, judicial and administrative ADR programs have become institutionalized, but serious questions about their legitimacy remain. Internationally, promotion of the Rule of Law remains a hallmark of U.S. foreign policy, but implementation remains a challenge in the face of traditions of graft, corruption and violence. Can ADR help?
Papers and presentations from the symposium include:
- Internalizing the Rule of Law through Transitional Justice and ADR by Michal Alberstein, Law Faculty, Bar-Ilan University (Israel)
- Designing Governance to Produce the Rule of Law: Collaborating with the Public and Stakeholders by Lisa Blomgren Bingham, Keller-Runden Professor of Public Service, University of Indiana at Bloomington
- Access to Justice: Lessons from the Field by William Davis, Co-Founder, DPK Consulting (San Francisco)
- From Noise to Music: Using the Multi-Door Courthouse in an Integrative Conflict Management System to Promote Inclusion and Rule of Law in Latin America by Mariana Hernandez-Crespo, Associate Professor of Law, St. Thomas School of Law
- Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Rule of Law in Development Cooperation by Ambassador James Michel, former Counsel, U.S. Aid for International Development
- A Deliberative Look at ADR and the Rule of Law by Dr. Peter Muhlberger, Research Professor, Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications
- How ADR Can Foster the Rule of Law: Beyond the Fundamental Tension by Richard C. Reuben, James Lewis Parks Professor of Law, University of Missouri School of Law
A brochure for the symposium may be viewed here and the agenda is available here.
UPDATE: A webcast of the symposium may be viewed here.
We welcome your thoughts on the relationship between ADR and the rule of law.
Technorati Tags: law, ADR, mediation, arbitration
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