The mission of the Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution is to help the Georgia Supreme Court fulfill its Constitutional mandate to “provide for the speedy, efficient, and inexpensive resolution of disputes and prosecutions” in the judiciary.
The Commission does this by managing a statewide system that offers true and effective alternatives to traditional litigation. Those alternatives – mediation, non-binding arbitration, and case evaluation – give Georgia litigants lower-cost choices for resolving their differences, and they help save scarce court resources for those cases that cannot be resolved without judge or jury.
The Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution is the policy-making body appointed by the Georgia Supreme Court to oversee the development of court-connected ADR programs in Georgia. The body, composed of judges, lawyers and non-lawyer members, meets on a regular basis to consider issues important to the development of court-connected ADR in Georgia.
The Commission has created a statewide plan for ADR in Georgia that enables any superior, state, probate, magistrate or juvenile court in Georgia to offer litigants alternatives to trial.
The Georgia Office of Dispute Resolution (the Office) is the administrative arm of the Commission. The Office is responsible for a number of things, including execution of Commission initiatives and the approval of trainings and registered neutrals.
You can read about the history of the Commission and the Office in the 2018 publication: Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution: The First 25 Years (a History)
The ADR system benefits:
- Taxpayers – by reducing the need to pay for more judges, staff, and courtrooms as Georgia’s population grows;
- Litigants – by offering effective, empowering alternatives to litigation that increase favorability in outcomes & save time, money and energy;
- Attorneys – by giving them more tools to satisfy their clients’ needs and by reducing overcrowding in the courts;
- Judges and Juries – by clearing dockets so they can concentrate their efforts on cases that require their services;
- Courts – by helping the judiciary use its resources more efficiently.
