The Psychology of Procedural Preference: How Litigants Evaluate Legal Procedures Ex Ante

UC Davis Law Professor Donna Shestowsky's PhD in psychology along with her law degree enable her to do a lot of interesting research on ADR.  She surveys civil litigants at the start of their cases and finds that litigants like mediation, bench trial, and negotiations with both lawyers and clients present.  She also finds, as Andrea Schneider puts it,  that "Repeat players – those who had been either a defendant or plaintiff in a prior case – liked the idea of using binding arbitration for their case more than first-time litigants. 'This finding resonates with the idea that repeat litigants are more likely than first-time litigants to appreciate the fact that trials are often associated with painful, protracted discovery and the threat of an appeal.'”