Unpacking the Dilemma of Alternative Dispute Resolution and Access to Justice by Women in the Ghanaian Context

2021 ◽  
pp. 171-189
Author(s):  
John Kwame Boateng ◽  
Ernest Darkwa
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Cost Reduction ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Cultural Dynamics ◽  
Time Saving ◽  
Reduction Time ◽  
Remote Areas

The chapter explores the dilemma of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and access to justice for women in Ghana. It argues that introduction and use of ADR has contributed to improving access to justice with regards to reducing delays in formal court procedures, cost reduction, time saving, opening spaces for less-resourced individuals and groups, particularly women, to have access to justice. Above all, ADR does bring access to justice systems close to remote areas, serving the needs of disadvantaged individuals including women and others who are most vulnerable. However, the weaknesses and challenges in the formal legal system, coupled with the historical and cultural dynamics of the Ghanaian society, which is patriarchal in nature, have prevented mostly women from reaping the maximum benefits of ADR. Revisiting the challenges of the justice system and the historical and cultural norms of Ghana would help increase and enhance women's access to justice through ADR.

scholarly journals Keeping up with change: no alternative to teaching ADR in clinic. An Australian perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 35
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Weinberg
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Clinical Education ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Client Needs

<p>Over the last 30 years alternative dispute resolution (ADR) has become more prominent in Australian legal practice due to the need to reduce the cost of access to justice and to provide more expedient and informal alternatives to litigation. As legal educators, we need to ask: how should we be preparing law students entering practice for these changes? How can we ensure that once they become lawyers, our students will not rely entirely on litigious methods to assist their clients but instead look at alternatives for dispute resolution?</p><p>In this paper, I argue that there is no alternative to teaching ADR in clinic in order to address client needs and to ensure that students engaged in clinical education are prepared for changes in legal practice today. I show that the increasing focus upon ADR in Australian legal practice represents a challenge for law schools, and that legal educators need to ensure they are educating students about ADR.</p><p>I argue that it is important to determine whether ADR is being taught to students undertaking clinical legal education in ways that will enhance their preparation for legal practice. I will show that there is a need to explore: whether ADR is being taught within clinical legal education, the strengths and weaknesses of existing approaches, and how the teaching of ADR within clinics can be improved.</p>

Alternative Dispute Resolution in Nigeria: an Emerging Trend

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 85-102
Author(s):  
Edim Isua
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Management ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Management Group

This paper establishes the fact that Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is evolving in Nigeria. It highlights the growing acceptance of ADR mechanisms for resolution of conflicts in the Nigerian legal system. It talks about the origin and development of the concept of ADR, Arbitration institutions, the “Multi-Door” Courthouse (MDC), the Negotiation & Conflict Management Group (NCMG), ADR agreements, application of ADR mechanisms, as well as the limitations on the use of ADR in Nigeria. In all, this research is an eyeopener to the benefits of ADR in Nigeria and seeks to encourage its full use in the country.

4. The Court Structure and Alternative Forms of Dispute Resolution

Business Law ◽  
2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Marson ◽  
Katy Ferris
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Administration Of Justice ◽  
Practical Sense

This chapter identifies courts and tribunals as the place where the laws discussed in the previous chapters are interpreted and utilized in the legal system. The jurisdiction of the courts and the personnel within them are described and a comparison is drawn between these forums for the administration of justice. It is important for those in business to be aware of the work of at least one tribunal—the Employment Tribunal, as many employment-related disputes ultimately end up here. Also, the courts in the English legal system, and the increasing use of Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, are relevant to businesses as they are used either to settle disputes or to avoid them altogether. Because the term ‘court’ is difficult to define in any practical sense, the chapter uses a description of what a court does.

The English Legal System

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisdair Gillespie ◽  
Siobhan Weare
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Judicial Independence ◽  
Legal Services ◽  
System P ◽  
Civil Justice System

The English Legal System presents the main areas of the legal system and encourages a critique of the wider aspects of how law is made and reformed. The book is structured in five parts. Part I looks at the sources of law including domestic and international sources. Part II looks at the courts and the practitioners. It considers the structure of the courts and tribunals, judges and judicial independence, the legal professions, and funding legal services. Part III examines the criminal justice system. It describes issues related to lay justice, trials, and criminal appeals. The next part is about the civil justice system. It looks at civil litigation, remedies, appeals and alternative dispute resolution. The final part looks to the future.

Alternative Dispute Resolution and Individual Workplace Rights: The Evolving Role of Fair Work Australia

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 718-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese MacDermott ◽  
Joellen Riley
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Adverse Action ◽  
Recognition And Enforcement ◽  
Workplace Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Resolution Processes

This article examines the dispute resolution practices of Fair Work Australia that are evolving to deal with individual workplace rights, as its traditional role shifts away from conciliating and arbitrating collective industrial disputes. The workplace rights enshrined in the ‘general protections’ provisions in Part 3-1 of the Fair Work Act 2009 protect employees and prospective employees from any ‘adverse action’ taken against them because they are exercising a workplace right, or because they fall within one of the protected categories, such as the right to be free from discrimination. A broad range of alternative dispute resolution processes is now available to Fair Work Australia in dealing with such disputes. Alternative dispute resolution processes are seen as a way of avoiding costly and time-consuming litigation, and in some circumstances can improve access to justice for individuals. This article explores whether Fair Work Australia is likely to adopt different dispute resolution approaches from its traditional conciliation practices when managing ‘general protections’ applications, and whether the framework for dealing with these disputes will facilitate fair recognition and enforcement of workplace rights.

A model for proactive mediation of construction disputes

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis T. Hartman ◽  
George F. Jergeas
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
Cost Reduction ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Construction Disputes ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
New Process ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Alternate Dispute Resolution ◽  
Management Contracts

Alternative dispute resolution methods remain an area of interest and study because of the continued increase in the incidence of disputes, be they claims or litigation. Practice in the industry tends to stimulate litigation if negotiation of claims is unsuccessful. At variance with this is the declared preference of construction industry practitioners for mediation over arbitration and for arbitration over litigation. Mediation has had a high success rate when used in construction dispute resolution. The cost of mediation is significantly lower than litigation or arbitration. The probability of the parties to the dispute being able to work together effectively after the dispute has been resolved is higher, and the dispute can be resolved more quickly than by arbitration or litigation. This paper presents the findings of a study undertaken to identify a better process for construction contracting. An essential part of the new process is the use of proactive mediation. Proactive mediation is the use of a mediator prior to a dispute arising to help identify and address potential problems before they become difficult or unsolvable issues. The proposed methodology has been tested through a process which obtained the input of over 60 senior industry practitioners. Key words: mediation, construction management, contracts, claims, cost reduction, alternate dispute resolution, risk management.

scholarly journals Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in Colombia and Russia: Conciliation and Mediation

Justicia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (40) ◽  
pp. 128-142
Author(s):  
Milton Arrieta López ◽  
Abel Meza Godoy ◽  
Ilya Vladimirovich Afanasiev ◽  
Vladimir Dmitriyevich Sekerin ◽  
Sara Noli
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Research ◽  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Access To Justice ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Russian Constitution ◽  
Dispute Resolution Mechanism

In this article, the authors compare alternative conflict resolution mechanisms in Colombia and Russia. In the former, conciliation is the most developed alternative dispute resolution mechanism, while in the latter, mediation is the most developed. In order to deepen this comparison, a qualitative research of interpretative nature has been developed with the support of bibliographic-documentary material. The main conclusion is that access to justice is a human right that has been positivized as a fundamental right in the constitutions of both Colombia and Russia. However, the Colombian Constitution allows individuals to exercise their jurisdictional functions on a temporary basis, unlike the Russian Constitution, which only authorizes judges from the Federation to exercise their jurisdictional functions. While conciliation in Colombia is developed and implemented through State-supervised Conciliation and Arbitration Centers, mediation in Russia is in its initial phase and has gradually gained acceptance in society. In both states, the implementation of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms has been driven by the need to decongest the courts and tribunals of ordinary justice. Therefore, it is useful to insist on the massive use of these instruments to make possible a justice that comes from the parties in conflict, that can repair the relations of the subjects in dispute and that tends towards the construction of more peaceful societies.

scholarly journals Status of ADR in Existing Laws of Pakistan: A Brief Study

2020 ◽  
Vol V (III) ◽  
pp. 263-269
Author(s):  
Abida Hassan ◽  
Dil Muhammad Malik
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Social System ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
The Social

This article highlights already working of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in existing laws of Pakistan and mentions the provisions in which Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is already available in various federal as well as provincial laws of Pakistan, but unluckily has not been applied or followed properly and new legislations have been enacted. There is only a need to create awareness on the said topic. This article also points out the benefits of this system because it provides justice to people at their doorstep but also reduces the backlog of cases and lessens the burden on courts so that they can give genuine attention to matters serious in nature. There is a need to introduce this system at all levels, which will be beneficial not only for the legal system in particular but also for the social system in general. This article creates not only awareness but also identifies the weaknesses of the legal system in Pakistan and link them with the problems of this country; it makes some suggestions for making this system more effective.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document