ABSTRACT
I N this Article I tell a tale of legal innovation co-opted. Put another way, this is a story of the persistence and strength of our adversary system in the face of attempts to change and reform some legal institutions and practices. 1 In sociological terms, it is an ironic tale of the unintended consequences of social change and legal reform. A field that was developed, in part, to release us from some-if not all-of the limitations and rigidities of law and formal legal institutions has now developed a law of its own. With burgeoning developments in the use of nonadjudicative methods2 of dispute resolution in the courts
andelsewhere,3issuesaboutalternativedisputeresolution(ADR)increasinglyhavebeen"takentocourt."Asaresult,wearebeginning toseethedevelopmentofcaseandstatutorylawand,dareIsay,a "commonlaw"or"jurisprudence"ofADR.
