Alternative or Additional Dispute Resolution (ADR) processes are used to resolve conflict, support agreement, and plan future actions. In this new and expanded edition the author draws upon two decades of work in theory development, practice, training, research and assessment to provide an up to date, hands on resource for practitioners, students and all those involved in ADR processes and systems.

All key dispute resolution and management processes are explored in Alternative Dispute Resolution, as well as specific negotiation, complaints handling, option generation and problem solving strategies. Pre-litigation ADR schemes, external dispute resolution schemes and changes in the community and related schemes, as well as processes that are more closely related to the litigation system, are tracked, explored and analysed. This supports ADR practitioners and all those involved in dispute resolution to make effective, informed decisions about process choices and options.

The book also features a number of new chapters and additional focus areas:

• Judicial and decisional dispute resolution
• Obligations to use ADR – genuine steps – including the latest legislative reforms and the Civil Dispute Resolution Act 2011 (Cth)
• Confidentiality and admissibility – latest case law and analysis.

In addition the negotiation, mediation and arbitration sections have been expanded to reflect recent research, policy changes and legislation in each of these areas. The fourth edition of Alternative Dispute Resolution features an expanded skills section, with commentary on micro communication skills as well as updated and revised process and dispute system sections.

The skills material provides:

• Tested methods and
• Real life examples.

Professor Tania Sourdin’s extensive experience as a mediator, Supreme Court solicitor, researcher, educator, and Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the National Alternative Dispute Resolution Advisory Council, ensures Alternative Dispute Resolution, 4th Edition supports readers with practical skills and tips, case studies, deeper analysis and systemic frameworks needed by those studying ADR. Practitioners and students alike will find this new edition an invaluable resource. 

 

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From: LEADR August
Anne Conway reviews the fourth edition of Tania Sourdin’s ADR textbook, originally published in 2002.

Tania Sourdin in her Alternative Dispute Resolution Fourth Edition continues her tradition of providing practitioners and students with an overview of the Australian ADR landscape. Within her overview are historical and/or foundation detail on many of the ADR processes and practices, some of the underlying principles, the direction of some of the discourses at the time of publication and some relevant activity based learning environments. 

This fourth edition, I would suggest, is a useful resource for practitioners and students desiring a first contact with the subject matter. Among the reasons, Sourdin, a member of the National ADR Advisory Council (NADRAC), details in every Chapter NADRAC’s position and/or contribution to this evolving landscape.1 She supports these details by reproducing with permission some NADRAC materials in Appendix D, Appendix F and Appendix G. In addition, she identifies a number of the international and Australian influences on and contributors to Australia’s application of ADR processes and practices. In so doing, she raises practitioner and student awareness of some of the key and emerging issues in Australian and international ADR discourse and the need to become involved in that discourse. For example in Chapter 4 Collaborative practice, Sourdin details the United States of America (US) experience with collaborative practice and the push within the US for uniform legislation across all states; raises practitioner and student awareness of this growing area of ADR practice and the vast number of complex issues surrounding the practice and building an agreed professional practice across many jurisdiction. Sourdin through this process also highlights how Australian standards and guidelines have been published and that as the guidelines are considered a ‘living document’ practitioners have the opportunity through involvement in the discourse to become active participants in how that ‘living document’ evolves, see Appendix E.2

1 Tania Sourdin (2012) Alternative Dispute Resolution Fourth Edition, Lawbook Co., Thomas Reuters (Professional) Australia Ltd., p. vi.

2 Ibid, pages 103-114.

For the academic and researcher, Sourdin’s overview approach to this large area of process and practice reveals her ability to balance the authorial challenge of where to start and/or dip into and out of any one ADR process and practice in a way that I consider is of assistance to the inexperienced and experienced practitioner in their journey toward active participation. Her decision to include activity-based learning environments within the fourth edition such as negotiating style profile, how to use Fisher, Ury and Patton’s, Getting to Yes, four fundamental elements for principled negotiation and the Harvard Project seven-element preparation model for learning a new approach to negotiation preparation offers self-motivated learners the opportunity to fully engage with the knowledge and practical skills.

Any author’s design decisions related to what to include, how to include it and what to omit, is open to interpretation. Sourdin I would suggest provides the key information researchers, practitioners and students will find useful for their library-based and online research. This key information is sufficiently informative to provide vital support for the inexperienced practitioner to identify trigger words for research that will save them time in their search for deeper understanding of the subject matter. Further Sourdin gives additional research guidance in Appendix A Further reading and exercises under Suggested additional reading and in Appendix G ADR research work under Australian material, Australian cases and New Zealand material.

Also, based on Sourdin’s construction of this edition, I consider it a very useful teaching resource. Her design decisions on what to include and what to omit makes this edition a suitable resource for a broad range of subjects and a variety of teaching and learning environments from undergraduate and postgraduate to continuing legal education. 

Some notable additions I consider are the insertion of a new section in Chapter 3 Mediation, the ‘Role of lawyers and others in mediation processes’.3 As with many of her additions within this Chapter, they are, I would suggest, of a sufficient length and detail, to raise practitioner and student awareness of the issues and in conjunction with the insertion of 2009, 2010 and 2011 footnote resources support practitioner and student further and future research. Her section of Conferencing has been expanded to include examples of New Zealand and Wagga Wagga experiences to highlight the range of process variations, the role of the facilitator in the process and practitioner neutrality.4

3 Tania Sourdin (2012) n1 above, pages 93-96.

4 Ibid, pages 99-100.

5 Ibid, pages 424-426.

An immediately identifiable change between the third and fourth editions is the new Table of contents which has been transformed to a single page. Lists of contents in each Chapter and each Appendix have undergone similar transformations. Those practitioners and students familiar with the third edition will note in the Table of contents, the third edition, Chapter 11 – Issues in ADR (23 pages) has been divided into two new chapters in the fourth edition. These new chapters are: Chapter 11 Obligations in ADR and enforcing ADR outcomes (34 pages) and Chapter 12 Confidentiality and admissibility in ADR processes (40 pages) respectively. This represents a significant update to the third edition with material from the third edition being divided between the new chapters in the fourth edition, as follows. In the new Chapter 11, ‘Obligations to use ADR as a precondition to commencing litigation’ precedes ‘Good faith’ which is followed by ‘Obligations on legal practitioners’, ‘Enforceability’ and ‘Arbitration enforcement’. The new Chapter 12 begins with ‘Confidentiality and admissibility’ followed by ‘Liability of ADR practitioners’. One very helpful addition for practitioners and students is the inclusion of ‘Table 12.2 Examples of State and Territory legislation conferring immunity on ADR practitioners’.5

Sourdin has also made changes to Appendix A-Appendix G to enhance their usefulness as a resource. In Appendix A Further reading and exercises, the ‘Suggested additional reading’ has one update. Boulle and Alexander’s (2001) article is replaced with their 2011 article. With the exception of minor edits, Sourdin’s sample opening statement for mediators and the Rick and Norah scenario remain unchanged. Appendix B Mediation and evaluation information kit has a new addition, the model clause – Law Society of NSW previously located within Appendix D. The ‘Chart selection of government and non-profit organisations which offer ADR’ now appears at the end of the Appendix. Appendix C Framework for screening, assessment and referrals remains unchanged. Appendix D Dispute Resolution Clauses has a new insertion – ‘NADRAC’s “resolve to resolve” model ADR clause’. As previously noted, the model clause – Law Society of NSW now appears in Appendix B. ‘Confidentiality’ has been deleted. As has ‘Other examples of ADR clauses’ containing a list of online resources.

Appendix E is now Appendix E NMAS standards and collaborative practice standards, rather than NMAS standards and collaborative practice guidelines. Sourdin confirms the Mediator Standards Board was established in 2010, as foreshadowed in the third edition. The NMAS Standards incorporate 2009 minor amendments to the ‘Approval Standards’.6 Sourdin foreshadows future amendments in 2012.7 A welcome insertion, I would suggest, is the March 2011 Australian collaborative practice guidelines which Sourdin foreshadows are due for review in 2013.8

6 Tania Sourdin (2012) n1 above, p. 616.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid, p. 635.

Appendix F NADRAC framework for ADR standards remains unchanged. A suggested minor edit in line 1 is deletion of ‘Chapter 13’ and a replacement of ‘Chapter 14’. Finally, Appendix G ADR research work, Australian material has had substantial deletions and insertion of references for the years 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively. The footnotes in ‘Conference and research forum papers’ and ‘Journal articles’ were deleted. Also, Australian cases evidences some deletions and insertion of cases for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. Lastly, there are six new insertions in ‘New Zealand material’. 

In conclusion, I make two final notes; first, based on the content of some deletions, I would recommend if you possess a copy of Sourdin’s third edition, retain it. Second, if you are a legal education course designer, legal practitioner, law lecturer, student in undergraduate, postgraduate, participator in continuing legal education, mediator, collaborative law lawyer, academic and/or researcher either in the field of ADR and/or desire to participate in the discourse then Sourdin’s fourth edition deserves close inspection.

About Anne Conway

Anne Conway is a lawyer, law lecturer and legal education course designer and developer. She has written postgraduate and continuing legal education courses and taught them at the College of Law and Universities in Australia and Hong Kong since 1999. Now at the University of NSW, Anne teaches Dispute Resolution in Family Law in the LLM and MDR program and next year will also teach Mediation. Anne recently completed her Master in Dispute Resolution (MDR) UNSW and is preparing to undertake a PhD focusing on mediation as a facilitated negotiation.

Chapter 1 – Dispute and Conflict Resolution
Chapter 2 – Negotiation
Chapter 3 – Mediation to Alan
Chapter 4 – Collaborative
Chapter 5 – Complaints
Chapter 6 – Advisory
Chapter 7 – Skills
Chapter 8 – Court Based ADR
Chapter 9 – ADR outside the Courts
Chapter 10 – ODR , Technology and ADR
Chapter 11 – Obligations, protocols and liability in ADR (New)
Chapter 12 – Confidentiality and admissibility in ADR processes (New)
Chapter 13 – Dispute System Design
Chapter 14 – Liability of ADR practitioners and Accreditation
Chapter 15 – Conclusions – Future Trends

Product Reviews

• LEADR August 2012 [PDF 209200]