The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution recently named AT&T Inc. and senior executive vice president and general counsel David McAtee II the recipients of its 2017 Corporate Leadership Award for leadership in dispute resolution.

For a massive company like AT&T, conflict resolution rather than litigation to resolve a dispute is an “overriding philosophy” that benefits the business and its customers, McAtee said in an interview with Corporate Counsel. For the legal department, he explained, this approach requires balancing this preference for alternative dispute resolution with judgment on when a dispute simply needs to be fought out in court.

AT&T's legal department has for years followed the approach that favors ADR over litigation in court, McAtee said. “When you think about the size of what we do and the scope of what we do … over time, it's just become an overriding philosophy that really makes sense for us,” he said. “So much of our business is about avoiding friction, getting to the right result with less friction. That's what ADR provides to us.”