How Arbitration Is Changing the Legal System in the United States

The legal environment has always been changing, growing, expanding, and contracting. Historically, legislation and changes in governmental regulation brought about these changes. Different forms of alternative dispute resolution, which were used even before the existence of litigation, are being advocated both by the court system and by the private sector in order to address certain problems and concerns parties with an interest in litigation have (such as financial cost, time it takes to litigate, and the formal process of litigation). Arbitration, the form of alternative dispute resolution that most closely resembles litigation, in particular is being used as a tool instead of litigation. This paper examines changes in arbitration, and litigation or court caseloads, and what those changes mean for present and future legal communities