CONFIDENTIALITY

Legal proceeding in court is a formal process conducted in a public courtroom.

Therefore, there is no privacy in it as the public may have access to observe the process in
court. In contrast with legal proceedings in court, Alternative Dispute Resolution proceedings
offer privacy and are confidential in their process. Privacy means that the proceedings are not
open to the public as is generally the case with litigation through the courts. As example, in
attendance at arbitrations are generally only arbitrators and the parties in dispute.

Confidentiality means the obligation of the arbitrators and the parties in dispute not to
reveal any information as to the award or indeed the content of any of the proceedings or
documents in relation to the proceedings or award. This is extremely important since many
parties will be better off keeping the cause of dispute, terms and consequences of their dispute
private. The need of privacy is important to secure and protect the name or status of the parties
especially if they are well known by the public. Many corporations always go for Alternative
Dispute Resolution and tend to choose a softer path in their dispute resolutions as well as avoid
limelight. This holds particular importance in commercially sensitive cases.

The proceedings of Alternative Dispute Resolution are often held in a private conference
room and are not held in a public courtroom like legal proceeding in court. By doing so, both
parties are given the chances they need to bring all possible, legal solutions to the table without
fear of public outrage or reaction that might hamper their standing, name or even stock price in
the market. Think of it as a confidential and constructive conversation.  The confidentiality of the
proceedings of Alternative Dispute Resolution is crucial and is given extreme consideration
because the dispute itself or the final resolution might reveal private information like client's list,
key financials, or even personnel or HR records.

To conclude, parties in dispute often go for Alternative Dispute Resolution as it is

completely confidential, so as to keep any prying eye out of reach from their private matters and
disputes.1

Bibliography
1
(Turner, S. 2015)
Turner, S. (2015). 3 Key Benefits of Using Alternative Dispute Resolution.

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