Mediation Online?

Many people are surprised to learn of the extent that mediation is conducted online and that the face-to-face experience of mediating virtually can be successful. In fact, mediators have long used technology, such as telephone conference calls and closed circuit television. For example, when couples could not be in the same room together due to a history of abuse, family court mediators had one parent report from an undisclosed location while the other did so as well. The mediation proceeded via closed circuit television.

Mediators even made early use of email to mediate with disputants living in remote areas. But it wasn’t until the explosion of digital marketing that online dispute resolution (or ODR) became common use. In 1999, eBay sponsored a pilot program to mediate disputes between buyers and sellers. eBay and Paypal found ODR to be an effective way to resolve disputes involving small amounts of money between parties at different locations.

Some online dispute resolution is in the form of automated and assisted negotiation. Millions of disputes have been successfully handled in this manner. If the process was not working for the parties, a human neutral mediator was available either by way of chat rooms or email. And ODR has become the predominant form for dispute resolution in the realm of e-commerce.  

In Europe, ODR is used in housing issues, landlord-tenant, divorce proceedings and family violence. In 2013 a website was introduced for consumer disputes purchased either on or offline across all of the EU’s member states.

In Canada, British Columbia’s Legal Services Society recently launched a website for a wide variety of issues. For example, couples can negotiate a separation agreement in a chat site without meeting face-to-face. When the parties agree on terms, the site generates the agreement. British Columbia’s Justice Ministry is considering a proposal to make ODR mandatory for all civil cases.

In the U.S., New York, Michigan, Texas and Utah are exploring expanding ODR into their court systems.

Does ODR work? The simple answer is yes. Millions of disputes have been resolved using this approach and in the future, ODR may become the first choice in the dispute resolution process.