Is Binding Arbitration a Form of ADR: An Argument That the Term ADR Has Begun to Outlive Its Usefulness

While the semantic question may be uninteresting, I suggest that it is useful to ask the normative question of how we should categorize binding arbitration.'7 Again, there may be no clear "right" answer. Nevertheless, addressing the question of the appropriate categorization of binding arbitration provides a good means for rethinking the nature of binding arbitration, what we mean by ADR, and how the variety of dispute resolution techniques typically grouped together as ADR relate to litigation. Artificially grouping these disparate processes together under the "ADR" umbrella is beginning to prove problematic. While we may continue to use the phrase in some contexts, at minimum we should think more carefully about its implications.