ABSTRACT
People in the business community today do not have any enthusiasm for litigation. Although, at first glance, recourse to the courts appears to be the obvious means by which a party to a contract seeks to enforce its contractual rights in the event of default or non-compliance by the other party, in practice, a whole host of factors may militate against the commencement of litigation as a means of securing enforcement of such rights. In this chapter we consider the various ways in which the parties to a contract might go about resolving their dispute. In an introductory text of this kind it is not possible to describe the full range of dispute resolution techniques employed by parties in conflict about a contract. As a result, some processes, such as early neutral evaluation and the mini trial, can only be mentioned in passing. What we are able to do is focus on the three forms of dispute resolution most discussed in legal circles: litigation, arbitration and mediation.
