Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators

• In-person oral procedure + shorthand /…1865–1925

  In-person oral procedure + shorthand / stenography

  The first generation of professional neutrals worked entirely through face-to-face conversation and oral testimony. The primary technology was the shorthand record: a stenographer transcribed proceedings that could run for days, producing a written record that the arbitrator or mediator could review before issuing a decision. The Pitman and Gregg shorthand systems, widely adopted in commercial and legal practice from the 1870s onward, gave arbitration proceedings a level of documentary accountability that informal oral agreements lacked. Commissioners of Conciliation in the federal Conciliation Service relied on their personal authority and persuasive skill; no external tool augmented the core dialogue.

• Written arbitration clause + AAA/FMCS i…1925–1970

  Written arbitration clause + AAA/FMCS institutional rules

  The Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 made written arbitration agreements enforceable in federal courts for the first time, transforming arbitration from a gentlemen's agreement into a contractually binding process. The American Arbitration Association, founded in 1926 through a merger of three predecessor organizations, published the first Code of Arbitration Practice and Procedure in 1931 and a companion Code of Ethics for Arbitrators. These procedural tools, not physical technology, were the era-defining instruments: they gave commercial and labor arbitrators a shared framework that standardized the work and made outcomes more predictable. The FMCS, created in 1947, gave federal mediators an independent institutional home and a body of professional norms.

  Effect on the work

  The institutionalization of ADR rules expanded the market for professional neutrals substantially: the AAA's first National Panel of Arbitrators had 480 members at its 1926 founding; by the late 1930s the Voluntary Labor Arbitration Tribunal was handling a rapidly growing labor caseload after the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.

• Photocopier + telephone + portable tape…1970–1990

  Photocopier + telephone + portable tape recorder (pre-ADR-software era)

  The practical toolset of the 1970s-era mediator was the photocopier (to manage documentary evidence), the telephone (for shuttle diplomacy between parties who had gone home for the night), and the portable tape recorder (as an alternative to stenographic transcription in informal settings). These tools expanded the geographic range of a single mediator: FMCS mediators could manage multi-location disputes by phone and mail in ways that would have required physical travel in the 1940s. The Pound Conference of 1976 launched the formal ADR movement in the United States; the multi-door courthouse concept Professor Frank Sander introduced created demand for a new class of court-connected mediators who would need exactly this lightweight mobile toolkit.

• Word processor + email + videoconference1990–2010

  Word processor + email + videoconference (institutionalization of private ADR)

  Email transformed the mediator's pre-session preparation work: parties could submit position statements, documentary evidence, and chronologies electronically rather than by courier; mediators could conduct pre-mediation calls by phone and follow up by email the same day. The word processor enabled arbitrators to produce polished written decisions faster and iterate on draft awards without the delays of typing pools. Videoconference technology, available to well-funded commercial providers (JAMS, AAA) from the mid-1990s, allowed international arbitrations to be conducted without the travel cost that had previously confined major international proceedings to established neutral venues like London, Paris, and New York.

  Effect on the work

  The 1990s ADR expansion, driven partly by these tools reducing friction, grew the commercial private ADR market significantly. JAMS expanded nationally through its 1994 merger with Endispute, becoming the largest private ADR provider in the country. Employment of counted arbitrators and mediators grew from an estimated 3,200 (1987) to approximately 5,000-5,500 (2000-2003).

• Online case management portals + e-disc…2003–2015

  Online case management portals + e-discovery tools

  The AAA and JAMS both launched web-based case management portals in the early-to-mid 2000s, allowing parties to file cases, submit documents, select neutrals, and track procedural deadlines online. For arbitrators handling commercial and employment disputes, the integration of e-discovery tools and structured document repositories transformed the pre-hearing phase: electronic document production replaced bankers-box deliveries. The eBay Resolution Center, designed by Colin Rule starting in 2003, handled tens of millions of consumer disputes per year using automated negotiation software that required no human mediator for the vast majority of cases, establishing a model that institutional ADR providers would later adapt.

• Virtual hearing platforms2015–2022

  Virtual hearing platforms (Zoom, Microsoft Teams) + document AI review

  COVID-19 in 2020 forced the widespread adoption of virtual hearing platforms that the ADR community had been piloting since 2015 for international arbitrations. JAMS, AAA, and FINRA all moved their hearing dockets to Zoom and similar platforms virtually overnight in March 2020. The transition proved more durable than expected: by 2022, a substantial share of commercial arbitration hearings remained virtual or hybrid, reducing hearing costs and allowing parties from different cities and countries to participate without travel. Document AI review tools (Harvey, CoCounsel) began entering the arbitrator's toolkit for pre-hearing document analysis, compressing the time required to review large evidentiary records.

• AI legal research + ODR platforms + AI…2022–present

  AI legal research + ODR platforms + AI document analysis

  From 2022 onward, AI tools reshaped both ends of the arbitrator and mediator's work. At the routine end, AI-powered ODR platforms (Modria/Tyler Technologies, deployed at 450+ courts; AAA ODR for disputes under $75,000; Smartsettle ONE for positional negotiations) handle large volumes of low-complexity disputes automatically, leaving human neutrals to focus on the edge cases the algorithms cannot resolve. At the sophisticated end, arbitrators handling complex commercial and construction disputes use Harvey, CoCounsel Deep Research, and Lex Machina for pre-hearing case preparation: AI legal research reduces the time for a comprehensive survey of applicable law from days to hours, and damages analytics tools give parties and neutrals a statistical picture of comparable outcomes in similar disputes.

What's changing in your day

Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.