Gregory Meeder is a partner in our
Chicago office
Arbitration and mediation, two forms of
alternative dispute resolution (ADR), are popular forums
in which to resolve commercial and construction disputes because
ADR is considered less expensive, faster and more efficient than
court litigation.
In recent years, however, ADR -- specifically arbitration -- has
been criticized as becoming no different than court litigation due
greatly in part to extensive and costly discovery. Much of the
escalated expense associated with discovery is attributable to the
growing use, management and discoverability of electronically
stored information (ESI). ESI is generally considered e-mail, Web
pages, word processing files, databases, codes and algorithms,
metadata, computer programs or any other kind of data that can be
stored on a computer, BlackBerry or other personal digital
assistant. This article discusses the impending ESI crisis in
arbitration and how ADR can help contain
