Dispute resolution outside of courts: procedural justice and decision acceptance among users of ombuds services in the UK

Attitudes towards legal authorities based on theories of procedural justice have been explored extensively in the criminal and civil justice systems. This has provided considerable empirical evidence concerning the importance of trust and legitimacy in generating cooperation, compliance and decision acceptance. However, not enough attention has been paid to attitudes towards institutions of informal dispute resolution. This paper asks whether the theory of procedural justice applies to the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) context, focusing on ombuds services. What are the predictors of perceptions of procedural justice during the process of dealing with an ombuds, and what factors shape outcome acceptance? These questions are analyzed using a sample of recent ombuds users. The results indicate that outcome favorability is highly correlated with perceived procedural justice, and both predict decision acceptance.

CIL 5.7749 – Sententia Minuciorum on a dispute over public land between the Genovana and the Langensian Viturians - Bronze tablet

Photograph + clipping from Oggi, May 10, 1952

Collaboration and Engagement Throughout The Supply Chain : The Role of Government

Collaboration is acknowledged as a key to continued growth in the Australian construction industry. Government, as a major industry client, has an important role to play with respect to fostering collaboration and ensuring the global competitiveness of the industry. The paper draws upon data collected for the Construction 2020 study and aims to demonstrate that government can a) help to break down the adversarial situation that currently exists between clients, project managers and subcontractors; and b) allow the supply chain to collaborate more effectively in terms of satisfying the relational and financial needs of all parties. Government can also provide a clear set of guidelines (backed up by a functional dispute resolution system) that will promote confidence with respect to forging relationships. Thus, the paper will discuss the way in which public policy can be more closely aligned with actual industry needs in order to promote greater collaboration.

Success factors in an alliancing contract : a case study in Australia

Many studies have been carried out in relation to construction procurement methods. Evidence shows that there needs to be a change of culture and attitude in the construction industry, moving away from traditional adversarial relationship into cooperative and collaborative relationship. At the same time there is also an increasing concern and discussion on alternative procurement methods, drifting away from traditional procurement systems. Relational contracting approaches have become more popular in recent years, and have appeared in common forms such as partnering, alliancing and relationship management contracts. This paper reports the findings of a survey undertaken with a private organisation based on an alliance project during its design stage, identifying the critical factors that influence the success of the alliance project. Legal aspects focusing on dispute resolution in alliancing are also highlighted.

Increasing relevance and interest : teaching environmental and planning law to built environment students

A new approach was taken to delivering a challenging "stewarship of land" unit to over 350 predominantly first year built environment students stewardship. The new approach involved incorporating environmental and planning law into the syllabus, exposing students to a wide range of statutes, selecting legal cases according to a et of criteria and revisiting the material using different modes of delivery and teaching resources. To evaluate the effectiveness of the new approach, the students were surveyed to elicit their learning experience and preferences. The survey found that most students perceived learning about environmental and planning law, including legal cases, worthwhile.----- Areas identified by the surcey for improvement included the perception by some students that: environmenatl and planning law is irrelevant to their discipline and future caree; studying law is dull and sometimes daunting; and the prescribed reading could be omitted.----- To address student perceptions, it is proposed to reorder the topics commencing with local, charismatic topics, while explanding international content and cases, to enlarge and enhance the repertoire of video clips to include sites of legal cawses and development projects, and to reformat the online weekly quizzes to promote reading of primary material.----- Overall, the approach to teaching environmental and planning law to built environment students, including the criteria for selecting legal cases, described in this paper, was found to be effective.

Contemporary issues in Australian family law: Do we need a more unified and interventionist judicial model

Recent decisions of the Family Court of Australian reflect concerns over the adversarial nature of the legal process. The processes and procedures of the judicial system militate against a detailed examination of the issues and rights of the parties in dispute. The limitations of the family law framework are particularly demonstrated in disputes over the custody of children where the Court has tended to neglect the rights and interests of the primary carer. An alternative "unified family court" framework will be examined in which the Court pursues a more active and interventionist approach in the determination of family law disputes.

The Financial Benefit For Insurers : Mediate in Personal Injuries Disputes

Resolving insurance disputes can focus only on quantum. Where insurers adopt integrative solutions they can enjoy cost savings and higher customer satisfaction. An integratively managed process can expand the negotiation options. The potential inherent in plaintiff’s emotions to resolve matters on an emotional basis, rather than an economic one, is explored. Using research, the author demonstrates how mediations are more likely to obtain integrative outcomes than unmediated conferences. Using a combination of governmental reports, published studies and academic publications, the paper demonstrates how mediation is more likely to foster an environment where the parties communicate and cooperate. Research is employed to demonstrate where mediators can reduce hostilities, in circumstances where negotiating parties alone would likely fail. Generally the paper constructs an argument to support the proposition that mediation can offer insurers an effective mechanism to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. INTRODUCTION Mediation can offer insurers an effective mechanism to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction. This paper will first demonstrate the differences between distributive and integrative outcomes. It is argued insurer’s interest can be far better served through obtaining an integrative solution. The paper explains how the mediator can assist both parties to obtain an integrative outcome. Simultaneously the paper explores the extreme difficulties conference participants face in obtaining an integrative outcome without a mediator in an adversarial climate. The mediator’s ability to assist in the facilitation of integrative information exchange, defuse hostilities and reality check expectations is discussed. The mediator’s ability to facilitate in this area is compared to the inability of conference participants to achieve similar results. This paper concludes, the potential financial benefit offered by integrative solutions, combined with the ability of mediation to deliver such outcomes where unmediated conferences cannot deliver, leads to the recommendation that insurers opt for a mediation to best serve their commercial interests.

Non-adversarial advocates and gatekeepers : lawyers, FDR practitioners and co-operative post-separation parenting

The compulsory dispute resolution requirements in family law parenting cases create new roles and obligations for both lawyers and family dispute resolution (FDR) practitioners. This article will discuss how the legislative provisions impact on both sets of professionals in practice. It will also highlight the increased non-adversarial role of lawyers and a new role for FDR practitioners as “gatekeepers” to family courts in cases requiring FDR certificates.

The journey to delivered value in Australian procurement

In line with developments overseas Australian clients are turning to considerations of value in project procurement. Until the 1980s the industry operated in a largely traditional manner however the extremely adversarial behaviour exhibited during towards the end of the decade led to a number of significant events and initiatives including the publication of “No Dispute”, the Gyles Royal Commission into the Building Industry, the Construction Industry Development Agency (CIDA) and the work of the Australian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC). A number of research projects in progress in the CRC for Construction Innovation (CRC CI) are focussing on the assessment of value and methodologies to support the delivery of value in the procurement and management of engineering and construction projects. This paper charts the emergence of several key drivers in the process and illustrates how they can be integrated into a comprehensive Decision Support System that balances value to stakeholders with project imperatives and incorporates a lessons learned data base which enriches the decision making process to optimise delivery method design and selection.

Justifications in young children’s language in an early childhood classroom

This paper examines the interactional phenomenon of justification as it is produced in young children’s language. A justification provides a reason for one’s position and can be produced in children’s language at an early age. There are various pragmatic reasons for justifications. For example, justifications may be drawn upon by members to compensate for the disruption of the existing social order or to explain something that is possibly questionable. Justifications are also drawn upon to extend or close disputes. This study uses the analytical techniques of conversation analysis and membership categorisation to analyse video-recorded and transcribed interactions of young children (aged 4-6 years) in a preparatory classroom in a primary school in Australia. The focus is an episode that occurred within the block play area of the classroom that involved a dispute of ownership relating to a small, wooden plank. In analysing this dispute, justifications were frequent occurrences and the young participants drew upon justificatory devices in their everyday arguments. As the turns surrounding the justificatory language were examined, a pattern emerged: in each excerpt observed, a justification arose in response to a challenge. This pattern provided the basis for developing a model that helped to discern where, why and what type of justifications occurred in the interaction. To depict this interactional phenomenon, the model of ‘if x, then y’ was used, ‘x’ referring to the challenge or prompt, and ‘y’ referring to the justificatory response. Justifications related to the concepts of ownership and were used as devices by those engaged in disputes to support their positions and provide reasons for their actions. The children drew upon these child-constructed rules as resources to use in disputes with their peers, in order to construct and maintain the social order of the block area in the classroom.

The ADHD debate and the philosophy of truth

There is ongoing and wide-ranging dispute over the proliferation of childhood behaviour disorders. In particular, the veracity of the category Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), has been the subject of considerable scepticism. With no end to the debate in sight, it will be argued here that the problem might effectively be approached, not by addressing the specific features of ADHD itself, but rather by a philosophical analysis of one of the terms around which this entire problem revolves: that is, the notion of truth. If we state: “It is true that ADHD is a real disorder”, what exactly do we mean? Do we mean that it is an objective fact of nature? Do we mean that it fits seamlessly with other sets of ideas and explanations? Or do we simply mean that it works as an idea in a practical sense? This paper will examine the relationship between some of the dominant models of truth, and the assertions made by those in the field of ADHD. Specifically, the paper will contrast the claim that ADHD is a real disorder, with the claim that ADHD is a product of social governance. The intention is, first, to place some significant qualifications upon the validity of the truth-claims made by ADHD advocates, and second, to re-emphasise the potential and promise of philosophical investigation in providing productive new ways of thinking about some obstinate and seemingly intractable educational problems.