How to Track an ADR Provision After Signing

How to track an ADR provision is a dispute-path ledger from signing through notice, filing, award, or settlement, not another exclusive-remedy or jury-waiver tab. For each signed deal, log whether disputes go to arbitration, mediation, expert determination, a stepped process, or court; which body is named; what the clause covers; how expenses allocate; how the row interacts with exclusive-remedy and jury-waiver language; and status through close. Raziel's exclusive remedy tracking page is indemnity exclusivity. This page is whether the paper steers disputes into ADR instead of (or before) court.

This is not legal, tax, insurance, or investment advice. Raziel does not provide it. Copy the ADR sentence from the PDF. Do not invent a 9 percent or 6 percent default onto a silent deal, and do not paste either print onto a deal that has an ADR clause without copying the clause itself.

What this ADR ledger is (and is not)

An alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provision says certain disputes go to arbitration, mediation, expert determination, or a stepped path rather than (or before) court. Global Arbitration Review's Guide to M&A Arbitration (6th edition), citing the ABA Business Law Section's 2025 US Private Target M&A Deal Points Study (December 2025) at page 131, reports that ADR provisions peaked at approximately 35% of surveyed deals in 2008 and declined to 9% of deals studied in 2024. Goulston & Storrs, What's Market: Alternative Dispute Resolution Provisions (2023 study of 108 deals valued $30M to $750M), reports ADR declined from 35% in the 2009 ABA study to 6% in the 2023 study. Of those with an ADR requirement in that 2023 study, binding arbitration was 86%. When a body is named, AAA or JAMS is most frequent. Expense allocation (even split, loser pays, or allocated) fluctuates across studies. The ABA 2025 Study sample frame, as summarized by K&L Gates / Business Law Today (December 2025), is 139 publicly available private-target agreements executed and/or closed in 2024 or Q1 2025, middle-market purchase prices $25M to $900M (majority under $200M), with 42 simultaneous sign-and-close deals and 97 deferred. Those are study snapshots. Your dispute-resolution article controls.

This ledger is not exclusive-remedy tracking (whether indemnity is the sole post-close remedy), not specific-performance tracking (whether a party can force the close), and not jury-trial-waiver tracking (bench versus jury once you are in court). ADR is whether you are steered out of court at all, or through mediation or arbitration first. Expert determination for purchase-price adjustment or earnout accounting is often a different clause than a general ADR clause. Copy both if both exist.

Seven columns on one ADR row

Open one row per signed deal. Attach the dispute-resolution article, any expert-determination schedule, and the exclusive-remedy and jury-waiver clauses as pointers.

• Present or silent. ADR clause present, or silent (court is the default path unless another clause says otherwise). GAR / ABA 2025 p.131: ADR at about 9% of 2024 Study deals (down from a peak near 35% in 2008). Goulston 2023 study: 6% (down from 35% in the 2009 ABA study). Keep both prints labeled. Do not paste 9% or 6% onto a deal that has an ADR clause, and do not invent either print onto a silent deal.

• Method. Binding arbitration, mediation, expert determination, stepped (for example mediate then arbitrate), or silent on method. Goulston 2023: of deals with an ADR requirement, binding arbitration was 86%. Copy the verbs. Keep PPA/earnout expert determination on its own cell if it is a separate clause.

• Named body. AAA, JAMS, other named body, or unnamed. Goulston: when a body is named, AAA or JAMS is most frequent. Copy the exact name and any rules citation.

• Scope. Agreement only versus all deal documents (or a named list). Copy the scope sentence. A narrow agreement-only ADR path is a different book than an all-deal-docs path.

• Expense allocation. Even split, loser pays, allocated by the tribunal, or silent. Goulston notes expense allocation fluctuates. Copy your sentence. Do not invent a market default.

• Interaction with exclusive-remedy and jury-waiver rows. Pointer only. If exclusive remedy funnels post-close fights into indemnity, and ADR covers those fights, log both. If ADR exists, a jury waiver may never fire because the dispute never reaches a jury. Keep exclusive-remedy and jury-waiver dollars and text on those pages.

• Status. Copied, notice, filed, awarded, settled, or closed. When a demand, filing, award, or settlement cash moves, book the date.

Copy the clause, not the study percentage

Do not paste the 2025 Study's 9% (GAR p.131) onto a deal that has an ADR clause as if the print were the clause. Do not paste Goulston's 2023 6% onto a 2024-25 paper as if it were the 2025 Study print. Keep both labeled. Do not fold this row into exclusive-remedy tracking, specific-performance tracking, or jury-trial-waiver tracking. Exclusive remedy is indemnity exclusivity. Specific performance is force-the-close. Jury waiver is bench versus jury in court. ADR is the path into or out of court. Keep them separate so a dispute notice maps to the right cell.

When a post-close claim letter arrives, log whether the paper requires mediation or arbitration first, which body and rules apply, and whether an expert-determination clause for accounting sits beside the general ADR clause. That trail is what counsel will ask for before any filing.

When the ledger holds

The row holds if the seven cells are copied from the PDFs (or marked missing). It fails when you invent an ADR method, ignore a separate expert-determination schedule, or treat the exclusive-remedy or jury-waiver tab as if it answered the ADR question. Raziel's alternative asset dashboard is where the dispute clause, the notice, and any award or settlement cash should sit together. Raziel does not arbitrate your dispute. Copy the seven columns.