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Early Dispute Resolution (EDR)
Through EDR, parties proactively and confidentially manage disputes from inception making it possible to preserve relationships and reputations, minimize costly distractions, reduce litigation expense and uncertainties, and stay focused on what matters most to them.
In traditional litigation, meaningful settlement discussions typically occur months, even years, after a lawsuit or arbitration demand is filed. By the time the parties mediate, the underlying conflict has escalated, the parties’ relationship has deteriorated, and significant costs – in both time and money – have been expended.
Thus, one of the most pivotal points in the life-cycle of a dispute occurs when decisions are made about when and how the parties want to resolve the conflict. Parties who choose EDR, value the chance to talk – either directly or through a mediator – about their problem, to better understand the conflict and their risks in litigation, and to make informed decisions about what is in their best interests and the reasonableness of options for resolution.
EDR provides parties greater control, in both settlement and litigation.
In cases that are resolved early in their life-cycles, the value of EDR is obvious. But EDR efforts can also be valuable to parties in disputes that not able to be resolved as quickly or easily.
Because EDR efforts allow parties to confidentially open lines of communication for meaningful exchanges of information, in many instances, EDR efforts lead to a resolution. But even when those efforts fall short of full resolution, parties who engage in an EDR process may also utilize the time to negotiate an agreed-upon, more focused process for information gathering and sharing that includes a timeline for continued confidential settlement discussions.
The entire process allows parties to maintain greater control over the costs, timing, and approach to resolution, while also appreciating that, for parties who are not able to find common ground, they may still seek resolution on a journey to – and through – the courthouse.
Experienced litigants often utilize EDR.
Experienced litigants (like businesses) have been effectively utilizing EDR mediations to resolve disputes for decades. What has been less known is that EDR mediation is equally available to less experienced litigants, like those who find themselves in the courthouse once-in-a-lifetime. That news is spreading, however, and EDR is becoming a topic of growing interest among lawyers, and within bar associations and law schools across the country.
In 2018, the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution created the Early Dispute Resolution Committee. Since 2022, Felicia has worked closely with the ABA EDR Committee. In 2023, while Felicia was Fellow to the Committee, she drafted a comprehensive report in support of a then-proposed ABA Resolution 500 urging greater informed and voluntary use of EDR.
Felicia is currently serving as Co-Chair of the ABA EDR Committee and, on February 5, 2024, spoke in support of Resolution 500 during the ABA Mid-Year Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky at which the ABA House of Delegates unanimously adopted Resolution 500.
After more than 20 years as an advocate in complex commercial and civil litigation, and with fewer and fewer lawsuits being tried, Felicia has seen first-hand how valuable it can be for parties to meaningfully open lines of communication early in the lifecycle of a conflict. And, she frequently accepts speaking opportunities to discuss the value of EDR in building successful client relationships and law practices.
Felicia also completed EDR neutral training through the EDR Institute.
On June 4, 2024, the ABA Early Dispute Resolution Committee and the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section’s ADR Committee co-sponsored this webinar entitled Mastering Early Mediation: Strategies for Success, which available for viewing here.
“The courts of this country should not be the place where resolution of disputes begins. They should be the places where the disputes end after alternative methods of resolving disputes have been considered and tried.”