Introduction to Symposium: Alternative Dispute Resolution in Canada-United States Trade Relations

The Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) movement in law arose domestically as the pressures on our court system threatened to deprive individual citizens of their "day in court." Maine is a leader in the development and elaboration of the principles and practicalities that must be mastered for ADR mechanisms to function. The University of Maine School of Law symposium examining the application of ADR principles to international disputes focuses specifically on the trade relationship between the United States and Canada. But its examination of both the innovations and limitations of ADR to the resolution of international disputes is broader than this single relationship. It is an important pioneering step in developing the legal and policy background we must have to perfect and invent the kinds of international systems that our world will need. The symposium makes clear that what is needed is both to improve existing systems and to invent new ones. In a discussion with wide application, it sets forth some of the fundamental questions of principle and matters of fact that policymakers and private parties alike will have to consider, whether their goals are profitable trade or stable political relationships. Part I of the Symposium consists of a colloquy addressing, in general, alternative dispute resolution in international trade and business. Part II consists of conference papers addressing alternative dispute resolution primarily in the context of Canada-United States trade relations.