But Is It Good: The Need to Measure, Assess, and Report on Court-Connected ADR

Authors

Nancy A. Welsh, Texas A&M University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2021

Journal Title

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Abstract

We know that very few civil matters reach disposition through trial—but what do we really know about how civil cases do reach disposition? What number of civil cases reach disposition through settlement? What number of civil cases reach settlement through court-connected “alternative” dispute resolution (ADR)? Do we know enough about the results of courtconnected ADR to be able to detect potential patterns of systemic discrimination? This Article examines what we know from federal and state court systems’ public reporting and finds: 1) only a minority of federal district courts and state court systems report regarding dispositions through settlement; 2) there is no consistent logic in how these settlements are categorized and reported; and 3) while a goodly number of court systems reference their use of ADR, only two states report essential “bare bones” data including the numbers of dispositions produced by ADR. The Article urges the need for such data collection and reporting—as well as collection and reporting regarding other data elements—to ensure that court-connected and court-reliant ADR are making a difference, a good difference.

First Page

427

Last Page

451

Num Pages

25

Volume Number

22

Issue Number

3

Publisher

Yeshiva University,Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Recommended Citation

Nancy A. Welsh, But Is It Good: The Need to Measure, Assess, and Report on Court-Connected ADR, 22 Cardozo J. Conflict Resol. 427 (2021).
Available at: https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/facscholar/1506

File Type

PDF