Dispute Resolution

Woods Aitken has recognized for some years that litigation is not a practical means of handling all types of disputes. The Firm’s practice has been to fully inform clients about alternative means of settling disputes, and to encourage clients to utilize less expensive and time-consuming methods than traditional litigation. The Firm’s members have exercised leadership in encouraging the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods. Several of the firm’s attorneys are on the American Arbitration Association's Roster of Arbitrators and serve as arbitrators and mediators on construction disputes.

• Members of our Firm have participated in arbitration proceedings for over 30 years and are intimately familiar with utilizing this procedure as an efficient, alternative means for resolving disputes.
• The Firm is a member of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), and one of the Firm’s partners serves on the AAA National Committee, which recently issued the revised Rules for Construction Arbitration.
• Members of the Firm also participate in several other ADR-related organizations – American Bar Association Forum on the Construction Industry, Dispute Avoidance and Resolution Division, the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution and the Dispute Avoidance and Resolution Task Force (in which one of the Firm’s attorneys was a charter member).
• Mediation is also used extensively by the members of the Firm to resolve disputes short of trial. Over $100 million of claims and counterclaims have been resolved by the Firm through mediation in the last five years.
• Our attorneys have spoken at numerous seminars and published various papers on the topic of ADR.
• Mini-trials, Dispute Review Boards, Special Master proceedings as well as mediations and arbitrations have all been used by members of the Firm to seek resolution of construction disputes short of trial.