Chapter 1Introduction to Court Annexed ADRWhenthetermAlternativeDisputeResolution(ADR)cameintogeneralusage it referred to a process that was alternative to the court system.1However, the ADR processes truly independent of the court system are nowbeing invoked as an integral part of litigation.2The term court annexed issomething of a misnomer because ADR can be integrated into a litigationprocess in a variety of ways not necessarily comprehended by the wordannexed.3This relationship between the court and ADR ranges from a formalorder incorporating ADR into the litigation schedule to more informal courtaction that merely acquiesces in, recognizes, or validates resort to an ADRprocess before the trial of the case.4Chief Justice Peter Underwood of theSupreme Court of Tasmania saw ADR and the courts like a department storewith the quality goods, trial process in accordance with law, on the upperfloorsandabargainbasementoralternativedisputeresolutioninthebasement. Close collaboration between the