A formal pledge made by the then Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, in March 2001 committing government departments and agencies to settling legal cases by ADR techniques whenever the other side to litigation agrees to it.

The ADR Pledge was updated and replaced by a new Dispute Resolution Commitment, announced by Justice Minister, Johnathan Djanogly, on 23 June 2011.

For more information on the new Dispute Resolution Commitment, see Legal update, Government launches Dispute Resolution Commitment.