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Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Abstract

The publication of Professor Julie Macfarlane's solid and important book establishes a new, high water mark in the maturation of the alternative dispute resolution field. The author maintains, with strong support from research and interviews, that the legal profession is in a process of transformation, having taken on board many of the key principles and assumptions developed over the past three decades of ADR practice and scholarship. ADR has long since ceased to be "alternative" in the sense of novel or unorthodox, and Macfarlane argues that lawyers are increasingly being called upon to act, not as warriors in court battles, but as advocates for consensus and conflict resolution. While Macfarlane leaves little doubt that she sees this as a largely positive trend, her emphasis is on demonstrating that the alteration of law practice is inevitable and on exploring the implications of this emerging change. Mindful that doubting lawyers and law students are potentially a more important audience than the already-converted choir of ADR scholars and practitioners, Macfarlane is cautious not to reject tradition nor to disrespect existing norms. Indeed, if I have a concern with the book, it is whether, in her thoughtful effort to appeal to the mainstream of the legal profession, the author understates how dramatic and rapidly accelerating are the changes upon us, and how real and potentially counterproductive are the forces of resistance.

Disciplines

Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Law

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