Preventing the Dispute Before It Begins: Proven Mechanisms for Fostering Better Business Relationships

Contract disputes are costly, interfere with business productivity, result in economic waste, and destroy business relationships. If you are ready to take action to prevent disputes before they occur, this valuable guide provides proven prevention mechanisms to effectively avoid and prevent business disputes. Written by leading authorities, the book introduces the why and what of dispute prevention and includes a case study of an organization that is shifting from reactive dispute resolution to applying proactive dispute prevention practices.

This guide will help you better understand the detailed workings of prevention-focused mechanisms, which include formalizing and managing the business relationship. An overview of the mechanisms is discussed, why they are effective in preventing disputes, and how organizations are putting them into practice. Additionally, the authors include suggestions for designing a Dispute Management System, as well as a compelling business case for why you should make the shift to dispute prevention.

If you counsel or play a role in procuring, negotiating, contracting, and/or managing business-to-business relationships, including commercial and supply chain businesses, this guide is an essential resource to take proactive actions to prevent disputes before they occur.

Kate Vitasek is an international authority for her award-winning research and Vested® business model for highly-collaborative relationships. Vitasek is a Distinguished Fellow for the University of Tennessee’s Global Supply Chain Institute where she leads UT’s Certified Deal Architect program – a progressive program teaching the art, science and practice of how to create – and sustain – highly collaborative win-win business relationships.

Kate’s research has led to eight books. Vitasek is widely published with over 400 articles in publications including Harvard Business Review, Chief Executive Magazine, The Economist, FAST Company, Information Week, CIO Magazine, World Financial Review and Supply Chain Management Review and the University of Pacific Law Review. Her latest book – Preventing the Dispute Before it Happens – is published by the American Bar Association and was written in collaboration with Jim Groton, Ellen Waldman and Allen Waxman.

Vitasek has been lauded by World Trade Magazine as one of the “Fabulous 50+1” most influential people impacting global commerce and she has been featured on CNN International, Bloomberg, NPR, Fox Business News, and Forbes for her practical and research-based advice for creating and sustaining strategic business relationships.

Kate Vitasek is in both the Sourcing Industry Group and the International Association of Outsourcing Professional’s “Hall of Fame,” is a World Commerce and Contracting “Fellow,” and has been named a “Power Influencer” by World Financial Review.  In 2023 Vitasek was honored as the 2023 recipient of CPR’s Outstanding Leadership in Dispute Prevention award.

Prior to joining the University of Tennessee, Vitasek held positions with P&G, Microsoft, Accenture, Stream International and Supply Chain Visions – a boutique-consulting firm she founded which was recognized by ARC Advisory Group as one of the “10 Coolest” boutique consulting firms.

Jim Groton is a retired Partner of the firm of Sutherland. Asbill and Brennan - now known as Eversheds Sutherland - where he led the Construction and Dispute Prevention and Resolution practices of that firm.

 

As a practicing lawyer during the Atlanta building boom in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, he specialized in construction matters, progressing from trial lawyer to trouble-shooter, to behind-the-scenes counselor, to problem-solver, and advocate for “keeping the peace” on construction projects. He was an early student of the construction industry’s newly-invented dispute prevention processes such as realistic risk allocation, partnering, incentives to encourage cooperation, dispute review boards and standing neutrals. He sponsored research into the relative transaction costs of various methods of processing disputes in order to provide empirical data for making decisions about the most appropriate methods for dealing with potential disputes.

 

Jim was the principal editor and one of the authors of the 1991 book published by the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR), “Preventing and Resolving Construction Disputes,” which presented the construction industry’s newly-invented techniques for preventing, controlling, de-escalating and achieving the earliest possible resolution of disputes, and advocated applying those mechanisms as a dispute prevention system. He chaired CPR’s Prevention Study Group which authored CPR’s 2010 “Prevention Practice Materials.” In 2016 he persuaded the leaders of the Global Pound Conference to include the still-developing subject of dispute prevention as a part of the Conference’s examination of ways to improve ADR. In a surprising development, the delegates to that Conference voted that “pre-dispute or pre-escalation processes to prevent disputes” are the processes which should most be prioritized to improve the future of dispute resolution. In retirement, Jim has continued to conduct research and advocate the widespread use of dispute prevention practices in business.

   

Jim has received numerous awards and recognitions for his dispute prevention and resolution work from such organizations as the American Arbitration Association, the Construction Industry Institute, the American Institute of Architects, Engineering News-Record, and CPR. He was the first lawyer to be elected to the National Academy of Construction.

Jim is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Virginia Law School.

 

Ellen Waldman is currently the Vice President of Advocacy and Educational Outreach at the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR). In the area of dispute resolution, she writes, trains and consults in a broad range of cases, including end-of-life in the health –care context. Former chair of the International Mediation Institute’s ethics committee, and task-force member for the California judicial council’s working-group on training requirements for court-connected mediators, Waldman has been deeply involved in policy questions relating to the qualification and ethics training of mediators. She has published more than 25 articles on numerous dispute resolution topics and crafted the first book-length treatment of ethical dilemmas in mediation, entitled Mediation Ethics: Cases and Commentaries.

Allen Waxman, of counsel at DLA Piper, is the former general counsel and head of litigation at Pfizer as well as the general counsel and a business unit leader at other domestic and international life science companies. Allen was also previously a partner at two national law firms, and his practice has included trying civil and criminal cases, serving as national counsel in pharmaceutical product liability cases, acting as a resolution leader of mass tort and commercial cases, and most recently supporting efforts to deploy artificial intelligence to enhance the practice of law, including in mitigating risk as well as in prevention and resolving disputes. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Allen was the CEO of the International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR). Under his leadership at CPR, the organization launched a pledge for dispute prevention in business relationships and developed tools for more effective, efficient ways to both resolve disputes and prevent them where possible. Allen also developed and moderated a podcast, sponsored by the ABA, called “Avoiding the Dispute Before It Begins,” where he interviewed leaders in the dispute prevention field on implementing dispute prevention mechanisms.