Using Technology To Overcome Impasse in Commercial Disputes
In traditional ADR, the participants appear in person, where they can communicate both verbally and nonverbally. Impasse may arise when persons look or sound different. The parties interact in real time, syn- chronously. Parties often heavily rely upon body language to interpret the words being said. The process is customarily confidential, and par- ties often agree not to share the comments made in the mediation room with persons who are not present or not integral to resolving the dis- pute. Online, however, there may be no view of the persons who are communicating. The communication may be entirely in written form.