Traditional and Non-Traditional Litigation
Linda T. Lopez
UOP

Professor Richard Rice
Traditional and Non-Traditional Litigation
Determining the ideal methodology for resolving a business dispute can be a challenge for business. One hires an attorney and files a lawsuit requiring the other to hire an attorney and defend the lawsuit. As the number of court cases filed grows each year and the cost of litigation increases. More organizations are looking for efficient ways to settle business disputes. Many forms of traditional litigation exist in the legal system; the forms exist in the context of suit, answer, discovery, trial or jury. In addition a variety exist in the non-traditional Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) aspect of the legal system, the nontraditional or Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) aspect of the legal system forms exist in the context of as mediation, arbitration, conciliation, mini-trial, and negotiation.
After reading this paper one will find a comparison and a contrast of the traditional litigation system with the non-traditional forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). This paper will also examine the risks that businesses and other organizations encounter when dealing with traditional litigation and where might an ADR be a more appropriate measure in order for business managers to reduce those risks. Traditional litigation is the process of bringing, maintaining, and defending a lawsuit in a Court of Law (Cheeseman, 2010). Litigation is a formal process requiring one party to initiate litigation by filing pleading with the court. A pleading is a formal written statement filed with a court by parties in a civil action, other than a motion. By stating what claims and defenses are at issue, pleadings established the issues to be decided by the court. Many forms of