The Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee is concerned with developments and optimum use of all forms of alternative dispute resolution, including arbitration, mediation, summary jury trials, mini-trials, early neutral evaluation, as well as effective settlement and negotiation techniques. Alternative dispute resolution is considered both within the formal litigation process and pre-suit. The committee sponsors numerous programs to enhance the advocate's skills in all dispute resolution procedures because knowledge of ADR techniques is particularly essential for trial lawyers.

The Second Circuit’s November 25, 2008 decision in Life Receivables Trust v. Syndicate 102 at Lloyd’s of London settled a momentous issue: whether section 7 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) permits discovery from non-parties to an arbitration.

Title 5, section 44.104(14) of the Florida Statutes prohibits binding arbitration of “any dispute involving child custody, visitation, or child support.” However, until recently it was an open question whether a lawsuit involving child custody, visitation, or child support was excluded from binding arbitration in its entirety, or whether only discrete issues involving the prohibited subject matter was barred from arbitral proceedings.

On October 2, 2008, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a decision of the District Court of Connecticut holding that claims brought under the whistleblower protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act are arbitrable.

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