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Alternate Dispute Resolution vs. Traditional Litigation Essay

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Alternate Dispute Resolution vs. Traditional Litigation
Jane Sully
LAW 531
November 14, 2011
Judith Gray, M.A., J.D.

Alternate Dispute Resolution vs. Traditional Litigation
Alternate dispute resolution, as its name implies, offers an alternative to traditional civil litigation. The time and cost to bring a traditional civil case to trial are enormous. Alternate dispute resolution offers a more efficient settlement of disputes both in terms of time and money and has other benefits.
Time to Trial
The length of time from the filing of a civil case to completion of a trial can, depending on a person’s location, take from one year to more than 10 years. This is due to the complexity of the court system. The defendant must be …show more content…

For the attorney to take a case on contingency fee basis the case must be strong enough to win at trial or force the defendant to settle sooner and the defendant must have the resources to pay any judgment. No matter how strong your case is, if the defendant works for minimum wage and has no assets, it is unlikely the plaintiff will find an attorney to take the case on contingency. There is no right to a government provided attorney in a civil case; therefore the defendant must pay all his own legal fees. Even if the defendant prevails at trial, the cost of his defense may be enough to bankrupt him or force him out of business. Alternate dispute resolution can reduce the costs associated with a civil suit. For the most part, shorting the time to settle the case can provide substantial savings in attorney fees alone. Depending on the process chosen, savings on discovery and expert witnesses can also be realized. An often overlooked cost that can be reduced is the defendant’s time and stress expended in a prolonged trial. While dealing with requirements of defending a lawsuit, will a businessman be able to focus on his company? Will they even want to, knowing that they could lose everything in the lawsuit?
Privacy
Usually, information used or filed as part of a lawsuit becomes public information. Opposing counsel has a right to dispose you and

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