Consultation Paper on Alternative Dispute Resolution - Law Reform ...

assigned to different processes.‖ 70 Sander then outlined the spectrum of
disputing methods he regarded as apt, these included;
adjudication,
arbitration,
problem-solving efforts by a government ombudsman,
mediation or conciliation,
negotiation,
avoidance of the dispute. 71
1.55 He stated that we should ―reserve the courts for those activities for
which they are best suited and to avoid swamping and paralysing them with
cases that do not require their unique capabilities.‖ 72 He envisioned that ―not
simply a court house, but a Dispute Resolution Center, where the grievant
would first be channelled through a screening clerk who would then direct him
to the process (or sequence of processes) most appropriate to his type of
case.‖ 73 The room directory in the lobby of such a Center might look as follows:
Screening Clerk Room 1
Mediation Room 2
Arbitration Room 3
Fact Finding Room 4
Malpractice Screening Panel Room 5
Superior Court Room 6
Ombudsman Room 7
1.56 A screening unit at the centre would ―diagnose‖ disputes, then using
specific referral criteria, refer the disputants to the appropriate dispute resolution
process, the ―door‖, for handling the dispute. 74 Sander‘s idea was a catalyst for
70 Sander ―Varieties of Dispute Processing‖ (1976) 70 Federal Rules Decisions 79
at 131.
71 Ibid. at 114.
72 Ibid. at 132.
73 Sander ―Varieties of Dispute Processing‖ (1976) 70 Federal Rules Decisions 79
at at 120.
74
The Hon. Justice Brian J Preston ―The Land and Environment Court of New
South Wales: Moving Towards a Multi-Door Courthouse‖. Keynote Address at
28