A colleague posted that she just finished writing her awards as an arbitrator in two cases. “At least they stayed out of court” she said.

The choice to arbitrate reflects the particular belief that court is a thing to stay out of.

People like me have been motivated to provide alternatives like mediation because of our dissatisfaction with the court system. We just don’t think that the adversarial process the court uses is best for everybody. It’s geared toward someone else making a decision that’s then imposed on the parties. Instead, mediation is a collaborative process; the parties make their own decisions about how to resolve their disputes themselves.

But the choice to arbitrate, based on a belief that court is a thing to stay out of, says much more than that. It goes deeper than that. And it’s more damning than that. (more…)