The American business community is often described as more litigious and less relationship-oriented than European counterparts. Litigation in American courts tends to be more expensive and more intrusive than in other countries, and it remains the “American rule” that each side pays its own attorneys’ fees in nearly all business disputes, without regard to who wins or loses the case, unless the contract expressly provides otherwise.

The American business community has responded to these challenges by relying increasingly on binding arbitration, on mediation, and on other “alternative dispute resolution” or “ADR” techniques to resolve all sorts of business disputes in a “better-faster-cheaper” way than litigation of business disputes in court.