Online Dispute Resolution : A Discussion

 Online Dispute Resolution : A Discussion

Vishal Mishra

How ODR Evolved

"The principal criticism aimed at online ADR involves the lack of face to face encounters." Ethan Katsh [2000]

Colin Rule wrote in 2020 that "New technologies on the horizon, including smart contracts, blockchain (RabinovichEiny & Katsch 2019), and quantum computing, will one day make our current efforts seem crude and ineffective (Schmitz & Rule 2019). But we cannot get to those next-generation technologies without taking the intermediate steps available to us today." "We still lack definitive data on the durability of outcomes achieved through ODR and the rates of breakdown in outcomes achieved via ODR versus the rates of breakdown in face-to-face resolutions."  [Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci. 2020. 16:277–92]

"Those who design ODR should pay substantial attention to the psychology underlying disputes and be conscious that merely using ODR to foster rational exchanges of information will likely not yield ideal dispute resolution. Many empirical studies already show that human psychology is critically important to dispute resolution."  Sternlight, Jean R., "Pouring a Little Psychological Cold Water on Online Dispute Resolution" (2020), Journal of Dispute Resolution, Scholarly Works. 1295.

"Online ADR, employing increasingly sophisticated tools provided by the network, can be expected to be a resource of growing value." E. Katsh, [OHIO STATE JOURNAL ON DISPUTE RESOLUTION ;Vol. 15:3 2000 ] 

"Thinking of cyberspace as a place, and the consequent legal propertization of cyberspace, is leading us to a tragedy of the digital anticommons." Dan Hunter, 2003, California Law Review,  Cyberspace as Place and the Tragedy of the Digital Anticommons 

ASEAN has also issued guidelines for ODR. "The ASEAN Strategic Action Plan on Consumer Protection (ASAPCP) 2016-2025 foresees the development of ASEAN ODR Guidelines (“Guidelines”), as a priority deliverable for 2021 and in contribution to Goal 3 of the ASAPCP concerning High Consumer Confidence in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and Cross-Border Transactions." [https://asean.org/book/asean-guidelines-on-online-dispute-resolution-odr/] 

"ODR is no longer on the salt flats. It seeks to transform the rule of law. The brave new world will not be a form of code as law in the conventional sense – the way code architecture structures online behavior. It will be a (re)codification of law, of the administration of justice itself."  Norman Spaulding,  "Online Dispute Resolution and the End of Adversarial Justice?" Legal Tech and the Future of Civil Justice, Cambridge University Press.  

OECD has also issued some documents on ODR. One such is OECD Online Dispute Resolution Framework published in 2024. "Online dispute resolution (ODR) is part of an ongoing transformation to make justice more accessible and people centred. It refers to the use of digital technologies and data to support dispute settlement within and beyond court systems.It consists of three pillars to provide guidance to countries in developing and integrating ODR within the broader digital transformation of justice systems."  https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2024/10/oecd-online-dispute-resolution-framework_e88b6c6a/325e6edc-en.pdf

Orna Rabinovich Einy, "Past Present and Future of ODR", Current Legal Problems, Vol. 74, Issue 1, 2021, OUP. 

Amy J. Schmitz, The Cambridge Handbook of Emerging Issues at the Intersection of Commercial Law and Technology,  pp. 436 - 456 Cambridge University Press, 2025

Conclusion

There are several challenges associated with ODR. 

With changing times, legal processes have to embrace technology. At the same time, one must ensure that basic principles of fairness are also taken care of while balancing the technological use.