Online Dispute Resolution Update

As we head into 2017, I wonder about technology influencing the future of mediation as the prevalence of artificial intelligence in the law grows in areas like Electronic Discovery. Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) has been the subject of much debate and is more popular overseas than in America, though many online merchants have been using systems such as Modria for years on low dollar disputes to resolve customer issues. My colleagues and I have even debated the efficacy of such an impersonal form of Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Executive Council of The Florida Bar's ADR Section. Now, University of Maryland Law Professor Robert Condlin has authored an article entitled,“Online Dispute Resolution: Stinky, Repugnant, or Drab." In it, he provides an overview of currently existing processes and identifies potential consequences related to their use, suggesting refinements. For instance, most ODR programs require parties to describe their claims in fixed, predefined categories that may not capture all claims dimensions or limit the opportunity to argue substantive merits underlying their worth. He raises limits to the ability to resolve differences on the basis of private software algorithms that raise fairness issues not present in dispute resolution systems run principally by humans. Professor Condlin opines there are certain legal, political, and moral concerns yet to be addressed that ODR proponents must answer if online systems are to satisfy the demands of state-sanctioned, public dispute resolution. See more of the abstract here cited as U. of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2016-40-- http://bit.ly/2iEp5Cf and materials from ADRHub's CyberWeek 2016 on the latest in predictive analytics for negotiation-- http://bit.ly/2i7uOj9

There's an App for that-- Mediation

According to its developer, the PictureItSettled App helps negotiators map successful negotiation strategies, calculate moves, and graph paths to optimum settlements. The app-based software, just launched this year, is designed so litigants analyze their positions. This may not necessarily help the neutral facilitator (who may make actually better use of this as a quick reference record of negotiations). Midpoints are over-emphasized by litigants in my experience, as is bracketing as a tool, though admittedly there are times when looking at these are appropriate. By entering moves, users plot successful negotiation strategies using proprietary algorithms in the app. Currently available on the Apple iOS and Android market in a free application, the "Lite" version tracks the dollar moves in negotiations and time intervals between offers. The app then analyzes the offer history and graphs the effects of such moves on the likelihood of reaching a settlement by testing the patterns on each side. It apparently projects the expected results in measures of dollars and time commitment, which it is claimed assists parties in negotiation visualize if and when they should settle for "optimum outcome." See site: http://bit.ly/wDrU16