Law Commons^™

Luck V. Justice: Consent Intervenes, But For Whom?, Jennifer W. Reynolds

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Consent in civil settlements should improve access to and delivery of justice by making luck (chance, contingencies, arbitrariness) less significant in process and outcomes. Consent-based processes and private settlement are supposed to support justice by redistributing decision-making power away from judicial-coercive authorities to the people most affected by the dispute. But consent today has become little more than a pro forma process lever for bypassing regulation, litigation, and other more formal structures. No longer does consent serve as a reliable bulwark against luck distortions and arbitrariness in legal systems. Opening shrink-wrap (consent to arbitrate!), being shunted into compulsory mediation (consent …