Imagine calling a customer service line to figure out why there’s a random erroneous $50 overcharge on your bill. After spending hours talking to different people, it’s clear this dispute won’t be resolved over the phone, and hiring a lawyer to handle a low-dollar claim isn’t worth it. What’s the best way to resolve this dispute quickly? The answer for hundreds of thousands of people who have relatively small-dollar claims like this in a variety of contexts is a nearly century-old system called arbitration.

Arbitration is a faster way for both consumers and employees to resolve disputes with companies than filing lawsuits. Litigation is time-consuming and expensive, often taking years to work through the courts, while legal fees can typically chew up a third or more of any settlement or award. The only consistent winners are trial lawyers.