There was once a time when alternatives to trial were rarely invoked. People sued each other in court, and justice was achieved fairly promptly. What a different world we live in today. A majority of legal disputes are now actually resolved outside the courtroom, as parties arbitrate, mediate, and negotiate their differences without judges or juries.
But getting those cases to the finish line can still be an enormously costly and challenging process. It’s time to build a permanent onramp that takes appropriate cases directly into the dispute resolution fast lane. Efforts at both the state and national level could help to construct that onramp.
Court backlogs
Courts across the country have been grappling with case backlogs, but California’s courts have been particularly challenged. In 2022 and 2023, California state courts added more than 50 times as many civil cases to their backlog as all U.S. District Courts combined during the same period...
