This article examines two options using Real-Time Dispute Resolution to avoid litigation on construction projects: Dispute Review Boards and the use of mediation during the course of a project to resolve issues. Both tools allow the parties to stay focused on the project and avoid getting caught up in commercial issues.

Nothing can guarantee that your arbitration won't be “litigized” if that's what both sides really want and the arbitrator(s) allow(s). By following these steps, however, you can at least help make sure that it doesn't happen unwittingly.

The Supreme Court's decision in 'Henry Schein', and the First Department's decisions in 'Daesang' and 'Spell', reaffirm that those courts will strictly enforce arbitration agreements on the front-end of the arbitration process, and afford a high degree of deference to the arbitrator's award at the back-end of the process.

Families are complex systems. Mediation allows the parties to address emotional and inter-relational matters that cannot be addressed in the courtroom, but that might otherwise impede the settlement process. Providing a forum in which parties can feel heard, instead of having “to prove,” may allow them to move past these obstacles, leading to a more expedient and efficient resolution.

ADR has joined the Commercial Division with its own surge in popularity. It has enjoyed enormous growth in recent years as parties come to recognize its own benefits in addressing certain disputes. There is no reason why these two disciplines—litigation and mediation—cannot work in tandem to address the needs of our business community.

Co-mediation can be a useful process in numerous situations and should be a part of a mediator's tool kit.