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When Negotiations Fail: Alternative Dispute Resolution

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorWayne Clark
Pages95-102
95
CHAP TER 7
When Negotiations Fail:
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Although Alternative Dispute Resolution processes vary in their style
and content, they have a common objective: to bring about the reso-
lution of a dispute without resort to arbitration or litigation.*
In many construction contracts, the rst step to be taken by the
parties after site-level and/or mid-level management negotiations
have failed is for the top management of each party – usually cha ir-
men, chief executive ocers or equivalent – to try and settle the
issues. In my experience, this hig h-level dialogue usuallyworks.
If these high-level negotiations fail, the next step in the process is
third-party-assisted dispute resolution, known in the trade as ‘alter-
native dispute resolution’, or ADR.
Several forms of ADR are used for resolving construction dis-
putes, but the two I am familiar with, and the ones discussed in t his
chapter, are dispute boards and mediation. I also briey mention
statutoryadjudication.
DISPUTE BOARDS
ere are two types of dispute boards: dispute resolution boards
(DRBs) and dispute adjudication boards (DABs). e dierence
between them is that DRBs recommend solutions whereas DABs
adjudicate and render binding decisions.
* is quote comes from Julian Ba iley’s Construction Law (3rd edition): VolumeIII,
Chapter23, ‘Dispute re solution’.

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