In the field of law, the most common thing a legal professional will face is dispute resolution. A well-known mechanism which is useful in this situation is Alternative Dispute resolution or ADR. There is no exact definition of ADR but as the name suggests itself, this method is about techniques and approaches to solve an issue or dispute outside the court. This practice generally includes Arbitration, Mediation, Negotiation, and Lok Adalat. In the present scenario, this method has earned acceptance in the Indian judicial system as it helps in reducing the burden of pending cases in court. ADR offers to solve issues related to all Civil, Commercial, Family, Industrial etc. where the desired result can be concluded by negotiation which is profitable for both parties. Due to this reason, many law aspirants and working professionals are choosing to learn the skill of Alternative dispute resolution from Online law certification courses as these courses tend to provide niche courses which are globally in demand.
History of Alternative Dispute Resolution in India:
Solving a major issue without the help of a proper case or legal procedure is not new in India, since ancient times people used this method to solve their disputes. Although during the British Raj there were few acts that were introduced to make this technique official such as; Indian Arbitration Act 1899 was implemented to give effect to ADR. Also, post-independence there were some laws which were enacted to make Alternative Dispute Resolution more effective. Laws related to Alternative Dispute Resolution are as follows :
Civil Procedure Code, 1908( Section 89)
India Arbitration Act, 1899
The Arbitration ( Protocol and Convention) act, 1937
The Arbitration Act, 1940
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996.
Various Types of ADR
Mediation: The word mediation is derived from the concept of mediating, which means to try to stop or solve an argument between two people. The same thing happens in Mediation, a neutral third party takes responsibility to solve the dispute in a manner which is acceptable to both the affected parties. The neutral party is usually known as a Mediator, their main job is to make communication easy and effective between the parties. The mediator doesn’t make any decision or provide judgement; they just act as a bridge between the parties and ultimately leave the decision making to them. This is one of the most popular methods of ADR and is mostly used also.
Arbitration: Before knowing about this method, one should be familiar with the word “ arbitrators”, this means a person who is chosen to resolve disputes between two people or parties. Now people may find that this method is same as mediation well it is but the result of these method is as important as that of judge.Arbitration is a process in which both the parties submit their dispute to one or more than one arbitrator and then these arbitrators after listening to both sides of the dispute and carefully analysing the case give a decision which is also known as an Award. The most exceptional thing about this type of ADR process is that this process is mutually chosen, meaning both the parties agreed on consulting a third party and accepting their judgement.
Negotiation: This term is part of our daily life. This generally doesn’t include the participation of a third party, in this process usually both parties together solve the matter by considering respective profit. This is the most common and most direct type of ADR. Here parties reach an agreement either on paper or through a meeting. This process uses key tactics for successful negotiation. Negotiation is a skill which will help a person in their life all the time at any point. That’s the reason why the best online law certification courses in India provide courses based on these to help future legal aspirants in their journey.
Lok Adalat: People’s Court is a process used to exercise Jurisdiction. In this segment of ADR, cases are solved through discussion, negotiation, and persuasion. Here direct communication with judges takes place, also this is a cost-free process. All the pending cases are discussed here and proceed at high speed. Types of cases solved at Lok Adalat are; Mutation of land cases, Family disputes, Compoundable criminal cases, etc.
Advantages of Alternative Dispute Resolution:
The following are the advantages of ADR.
Cost-Effective: This mechanism helps in solving cases at a lower price than the amount of money one might spend in court. If the cheapest method i.e. Negotiation is used then this can be beneficial for both the concerned parties.
Less time Consuming: Many times the cases are pending in courts due to specific reasons this wastes both time and money on the other hand the mechanism of ADR takes far less time and also gives effective results.
Consideration of wide range of problems: In this process, many issues which sometimes are not considered legal problems or are too expensive for a person to afford, are solved.
Broad aspect of possible outcome: A judgement of a case can only be done under the governance of Law but sometimes some people are dissatisfied with the result or in a business-related dispute maybe it doesn’t fulfil any of the party expectations that’s why ADR becomes a better option for them.
Problem Solving: ADR works with an approach of problem-solving, which means rather than deciding whose fault it was or who is to blame for the problem. They rather focus on how this problem can be solved or how to minimize the losses on both sides mutually.
Due to the benefits of this mechanism, many online legal certification courses providing platforms are bringing top industry mediators, and negotiators, on their platform so that students can learn from them.
In Conclusion, if any business, organization, institution, family issue, or any kind of legal dispute have to be handled one might opt for the Alternative Dispute Resolution technique as it helps in solving issues directly, effectively and economically. Not just as a problem solver, but also career-wise it is a great career choice for law aspirants. The short number of ADR specialists and the high demand for them cause this profession to be in demand and also many law students are planning on becoming an expert in this field in order to achieve success. For this purpose, many platforms providing Free online legal certification courses in India are also supporting this and helping the student achieve their goal.
