This paper discusses the varieties of hybridization of dispute resolution processes from “purer” forms of negotiation, mediation, arbitration and adjudication, and surveys how these processes have now been combined and hybridized to form such processes as “med-arb”, “arb-med”,  ombuds, online dispute resolution (ODR), and other forms of dispute resolution and decision making. I use the jurisprudence of legal philosopher/American law professor Lon Fuller to ask whether each of these processes has its own “morality” or “integrity” and internal rules of consistency, ethics and process, that might be compromised by such combinations, or whether hybridity represents a positive and creative force for process adaptability in a “post-modern” age.

About:

Carrie Menkel-Meadow is the Chancellor’s Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine and A.B. Chettle Jr. Professor of Law, Dispute Resolution and Civil Procedure Emerita at Georgetown University Law Center.