FROM THE EDITOR

By David V. Wilson II Hays McConn Rice & Pickering P.C.

How Two Decades Turned the ‘Alternative’
Into the ‘Commonplace’

Alternatives are generally seen as options to avoid the commonplace. “Alternative music,” for example, was originally an option to avoid Top 40 music. Twenty years ago, the Texas Legislature enacted a statutory scheme for “alternative dispute resolution” which has probably been the biggest single change in our civil justice system in the modern era. Mediation and arbitration became destined for being commonplace, not a seldom-used option to avoid trial. It signaled the eventual end, in Harris County, of Friday docket calls. It at least contributed to a decline in civil jury trials. It required our profession to acquire a new set of skills, as disputes were less and less decided at the courthouse.

This issue of The Houston Lawyer is dedicated to Alternative Dispute Resolution in observance of that 20 year milestone. Our guest editor, Nelson Ebaugh, has done a marvelous job assembling a distinguished panel of contributors. Justice Frank Evans and Judge Alvin Zimmerman, as pioneers in Houston’s experience with alternative dispute resolution, take a look at both the past and the future in their respective articles. Trey Bergman brings his experiences as a mediator and arbitrator to bear in his look at negotiation.  Ann Ryan Robertson updates readers on the consequences of less than full disclosure of conflicts of interest by arbitrators. Moreover, the issue provides an international flavor with a discussion of arbitration in Mexico by Geoffrey Bracken and Peter Scaff. Thanks go out on behalf of our entire editorial board to Nelson for an excellent special issue.

While I was not a member of the profession 20 years ago, I feel safe in pointing out what has not changed. Clients and the public need for honest, frank advice about their rights. They need our guidance and advocacy in the ADR system as much as the courthouse. Additionally, the courthouse remains the guarantor of our client’s rights, whether those rights are resolved in ADR or not. Keeping abreast of change is one way we in the profession can help guarantee those same rights. I hope this issue serves as a helpful signpost of the changes of the past 20 years.

Editor’s Note:

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