Neutral Selection: Some Guidance from a Neutral

Abstract

A primary advantage of alternative dispute resolution processes is the parties’ ability to select their own neutral. Selecting the proper neutral is absolutely essential. The paper first discusses the responsibilities attendant to proper selection: those of neutrals and parties. The paper then discusses various selection factors, both in terms of pre-defined neutral qualifications and interview criteria, and presents a two-part iterative selection process. During the first part, potential candidates are selected in seriatim from a corpus of neutrals based on whether each candidate at least meets the qualification factors. If enough neutrals do not meet those factors, a next successive one of the factors, in ascending rank order, is dynamically eliminated or relaxed after which this part of the process is iteratively repeated until enough potential candidate neutrals result. The second part, being very similar to the first, is then performed through which candidate neutrals are selected from the potential candidates using the same iterative approach but with the interview criteria. If enough neutrals do not meet those criteria, a next successive one of the interview criteria, in ascending rank order, is dynamically eliminated or relaxed, after which the second part is iteratively repeated until enough candidate neutrals result from which one neutral or a panel can ultimately be chosen.

Keywords: arbitration, mediation, neutrals, neutral selection

JEL Classification: K40, K41