run on a shoestring by dedicated people, many of whom quite sensibly have a strong (sometimes almost religious) conviction that in community and domestic disputes, consensual, conciliatory techniques are a major improvement over the adversarial posturing of lawyers in the courtroom.
But the idealistic roots of the Alternative Dispute Resolution movement are currently being challenged. For better or worse (and it’s not yet completely clear which), the ADR field is fast changing from being a sacred cow for legal reformers to a cash cow for a whole new group of legal entrepreneurs (hustlers is a better name for some of them). In dozens of communities, lawyers and business people are entering what amounts to the private court business.
