- Costs are a fraction of the costs of litigation
- Can be started quickly and usually is concluded within a short timeframe
- Focused on participants' needs for the future, rather than blame for the past
- Helps preserve ongoing relationships, where that is important
- Informal, non-adversarial, and much less emotionally stressful than litigation's win/lose approach
- Disputes resolved in private, rather than aired publicly
- Agreements, reached by participants themselves, tend to be more lasting
