Mechanisms for mandatory alternative dispute resolution are already commonplace around the world: is it finally the turn of England & Wales? Thomas H Curran considers the changing landscape ahead
- In 2004, the Court of Appeal ruled in Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust that compulsory alternative dispute resolution (ADR) unacceptably restricts rights of access to the courts. Halsey will finally be reconsidered by the courts later this year.
- Courts throughout Europe and the Americas have already introduced measures to encourage and even require litigants to participate in various ADR processes.
On the heels of the Civil Justice Council’s (CJC) report on compulsory alternative dispute resolution (ADR), which ultimately concluded that compulsory ADR is both legal and to be encouraged under the laws of England and Wales, the Master of the Rolls Sir Geoffrey Vos made it clear that ‘ADR should no longer be viewed as an “alternative” but as an integral part of the dispute resolution process; that process should focus on “resolution” rather than “dispute”’.
Now, just over two years since the publication of the CJC’s
