Today, alternative dispute resolution is commonplace. Back in 1987, when Texas’ ADR Act was passed, ADR was “alternative” in the word’s modern connotation: a little on the edge—not radical, but by no means traditional. Arbitration is supposed to be an expeditious means to resolve contractual disputes by jury trial. No one knew then how much arbitration would embed itself into the business world’s contractual relationships. Almost reflexively, arbitration provisions are found in employment agreements, law firm-client engagement letters, and consumer contracts (to name a few).

In a 2020 national survey, civil litigators and jurists ranked arbitration last on fairness and personal preference. Conversely, in the same survey civil litigators and jurists “ranked jury trials as the least predictable, slowest and least cost-effective procedure, attorneys on average viewed jury trials and second only to mediation as the fairest form of case resolution.”