The Evolving Role of Technology in Resolving Disputes and Encouraging Civility

By KENNETH R. FEINBERG, Senior Mediation Advisor to the Dialogue Through Conflict Foundation

The international crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has been well documented, disrupting interaction among nations around the world, and posing individual challenges caused by isolation. But the resilience of local communities in combatting the crisis, and the ability of individuals to discover new creative ways to maintain communication, should not go unnoticed.

Modern technology has forged new, exciting ways to deal with the fallout from Covid-19. In the world of alternative dispute resolution–helping nations and individuals resolve complex disputes without the benefit of face-to-face meetings–technology has, at least in large part, come to the rescue.

In my own professional world of mediation, the use of virtual technology has resulted in mediation success, as the participants voluntarily agree to participate by Zoom, MS Teams, and other forms of visual aid, in an effort to resolve complex disputes without the necessity, expense and inefficiency of face-to-face meetings, often in faraway locations. It is a simple task to place the mediation participants in separate virtual rooms, with the mediator accessing each side in confidence in an effort to move the process forward. After confidential discussions with one of the disputing parties—receiving an offer or demand to deliver to the other side—the mediator can then attempt to bridge differences. Modern technology replaces in-person meetings behind closed doors.

It is also worth emphasizing how modern technology and the Internet promote mediation civility and undercut the personal emotion that frequently acts as a barrier to dispute resolution. When parties engaged in disagreement do not confront each other in person, and, instead, act through the device of virtual mediation, it is often easier to focus on the dispute’s merits without the anger and frustration that often act as barrier to resolution. Civility and reasonableness replace such anger when the mediation participants act through the mediator without engaging the other side either in a conference room or in a hallway.

Nor is mediation the only beneficiary of such technology. In the past few decades, I have used the Internet in encouraging claimants seeking compensation after the settlement of a dispute to simply file their claim online using a standard claim form, attaching the necessary documentation proving their claim without the necessity of any mailing or in person meeting. The entire compensation process can be accomplished using cutting-edge technology. Such technology was used successfully following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, when the Gulf Coast Claims Facility received well over one million claims.

In numerous claims programs thereafter, including, for example, the processing of sexual abuse claims directed at the clergy in various dioceses throughout the nation, online processing of claims has proved successful. Once again, technology can be used to minimize anger and frustration in the processing of compensation claims. This is accomplished by inviting disgruntled or dissatisfied claimants with the opportunity to be heard by means of visual communication with the claims administrator, without the necessity of a face-to-face meeting. In confidence, the claimant is invited to express opinions and frustration directly to the claims administrator and engage in a conversation without the requirement of attendance in person. These virtual confidential sessions are effective in convincing the claimant that he or she is being heard and that the comments are not being disregarded or ignored. Again, civility becomes a priority in the course of the hearing.

Serving as Senior Mediation Adviser to the Dialogue Through Conflict Foundation (DTC), a charitable organization devoted to foster more constructive interactions among people and organizations (www.dialoguethroughconflict.org), in the past year or two, I have come to recognize additional value in using high tech as a vehicle to deal not only with prevailing disputes, but to provide additional tools to prevent and manage everyday conflicts in the workplace before they ripen into formal litigation.

One good example of this is Your Portable Personal Ombuds (YPPO, available at www.personalombuds.com), a web app created by DTC that provides staff and management with a self-help and educational guide to consult in an effort to nip workplace disagreements in the bud before they mushroom into costly and uncertain litigation. YPPO provides a menu of options, with their respective pros and cons, for those seeking guidance as to the best way to resolve specific workplace disputes in organizations of all kinds. The YPPO Conflict Guide (available at www.personalombuds.com/conflict-guide) spells out frequent missteps while offering standards for encouraging resolution.

YPPO is just the first digital solution developed by DTC to bring innovative conflict prevention technology to civil society at large. The use of modern technology in resolving disputes and encouraging peaceful resolution is still in its early stages. But there are already clear signs of success. Technology will continue to evolve in numerous creative ways as it continues to become an important method of avoiding litigation and undercutting the emotion which all too often fuels disagreement.

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The author, founder and managing partner of the Feinberg Law Offices, in Washington, D.C., is best known for serving as the Special Master of the Federal Sept. 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. He is an attorney, mediator, and author of “What Is Life Worth?” (Public Affairs Press 2005), and “Who Gets What” (Public Affairs Press in 2012).

Originally published in Vol. 42 No. 10 November 2024 Alternatives 167.