Alternative or Appropriate Dispute Resolution (‘ADR’) is a crucial area for lawyers to understand in order to engage in present day legal practice. ADR is now common in courts and the community and is supported by legal policy at both federal and state levels. Learning about ADR can contribute to the moulding of law students’ professional identity so that they are better able to engage in commonly used processes such as negotiation and mediation. This article discusses research into the teaching of ADR in legal education. It draws on a project where the teaching of ADR was researched in depth to examine the content and pedagogy of this area of the legal curriculum. The article argues that ADR is an important part of legal education as it can assist law students to develop non-adversarial, holistic approaches to legal problem-solving.
