Designer Trials

Authors

Elizabeth Thornburg

Abstract

This article is a thought experiment, or maybe a nightmare, about the intersection of freedom of contract and the trials that have not vanished. Could contracting parties effectively agree in advance of a dispute that any litigation of the case will comply with certain rules? Would such an agreement be enforced even in a contract of adhesion? If so, parties with sufficient bargaining leverage could design away many of the characteristics of litigation that they find unappealing without the need to resort to private processes. The result: a designer trial with the procedural deck stacked in favor of the party with the greatest pre-dispute bargaining power

Recommended Citation

Elizabeth Thornburg, Designer Trials, 2006 J. Disp. Resol. (2006)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.missouri.edu/jdr/vol2006/iss1/14