Contracts: Staying Out of Court

As every businessman knows, litigation of commercial quarrels can be agonizingly slow and annoyingly expensive. In many U.S. cities it takes months or years to bring a suit to trial; beyond that lie the delays of appeal. Meanwhile, costs pile up and claims remain unpaid. There is many a program for speeding up justice but reform, too, moves slowly, if at all.

Faced with delay and frustration in the courts, more and more U.S. firms are using arbitration as a means of resolving disputes. Even for the loser, it saves time and money.

Ready for Sponges. Principal agency for commercial arbitration...