Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is an umbrella term to describe an array of social and institutional methods for resolving disputes. These methods offer individual and collective disputants a panoply of forum shopping options, each taking place in different intrinsic, inherited, and constructed cultural contexts. While not immediately apparent to lawyers or anthropologists, different ADR methods, including arbitration and mediation, in fact constitute the principal global tools utilized to resolve most international and interstate disputes concerning matters of investment, commerce, and industry. To grasp the magnitude of this necessarily requires both lawyers and anthropologists to break the barriers of habitual thinking about the nature and extent of their disciplinary and interdisciplinary work. This chapter outlines the prevalence and pervasiveness of ADR processes and practices both past and present, using ADR as an interface for reconceptualizing interdisciplinary boundaries, appraising the relationship between theory and practice, and understanding emerging social and legal practices.