Alternative Dispute Resolution

1. Increase use of alternative means of dispute resolution. (2)

The President, through directive, should strongly encourage agencies to
use ADR.[Endnote 20] Governor Clinton recognized the need for every
state to use ADR processes to avoid needless litigation; President
Clinton should take the opportunity to apply that dictum to every
federal agency.[Endnote 21]

Presidential support of ADR is necessary to avoid budget incentives that
undercut ADR use, to train agency staff in ADR, to structure performance
appraisals to reward proper use of ADR, and to make it easier to hire
neutrals in a timely fashion. Such support would let agency personnel
know that they should take the dictates of the ADR Act of 1990
seriously, without infringing on agencies' discretion to decide when to
use ADR. Presidential leadership on this issue is a low-cost but highly
effective way to engender long-term and widespread acceptance of the
view that resolving disputes through ADR is not only appropriate, it is,
in many cases, preferable.

Endnotes

20. The executive order should address the use of ADR broadly, rather
than limiting it to the regulatory context.

21. See note 6 above and accompanying text.