Alternative Dispute Resolution Services
ALTERNATIVE
DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICES“Alternative dispute resolution” or “ADR” includes such techniques as mini-trials and early neutral evaluations. The most widely used methods of ADR, however, are arbitration and mediation.
Arbitration is a private form of dispute resolution in which a third-party neutral - an arbitrator - hears evidence and renders a final and binding decision, called an award, which is enforceable in court. Arbitration may be administered by a sponsoring organization under its institutional rules, or, instead, ad hoc under rules negotiated by the parties. Likewise, an arbitrator may serve as a sole arbiter, or as a member of a panel of arbitrators, or as panel chair. Mr. Peppard is at home in all of these settings.
Mediation is a process in which a third-party neutral - a mediator - actively assists disputing parties in reaching a settlement of their differences. Mediation may be conducted in a variety of modes. The most common of these are called "facilitative" and "evaluative." Many parties to mediation proceedings prefer a combination of these methods. Mr. Peppard employs either facilitative or evaluative mediation methods, or a mixture of both, at the direction of the parties.
To be successful, arbitration and mediation require a skilled professional neutral. And, increasingly, lawyers with both expertise in the trial of cases and experience in the subject matter of the dispute are called upon to serve as arbitrators and mediators of legal controversies. Mr. Peppard has served as an ADR neutral for more than twenty-five years. He brings to his service as arbitrator and mediator more than thirty-five years of experience in civil and administrative litigation and many aspects of commercial and regulatory law.
Mr. Peppard has, over many years, arbitrated and mediated a wide spectrum of business disputes, with issues ranging from alleged breach of commercial contracts and debtor-creditor and employment relations to consumer rights, insurance coverage, construction claims, fiduciary obligations, investment and commercial fraud, trade secrets and other intellectual property rights, professional malfeasance and commodity futures hedging and speculation.
In addition, Mr. Peppard serves as an arbitrator for the National Arbitration Forum in deciding rights disputed among business and non-profit organizations to the use of Internet domain names under the rules of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). He has presided in hundreds of such cases.