Arbitration is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons such as (the "arbitrators", "arbiters" or "arbitral tribunal"), by whose decision (the "award") they agree to be bound  Arbitration in the United States and in other countries often includes alternative dispute resolution (ADR), a category that more commonly refers to mediation (a form of settlement negotiation facilitated by a neutral third party). It is more helpful, however, simply to classify arbitration as a form of binding dispute resolution, equivalent to litigation in the courts, and entirely distinct from the various forms of non-binding dispute resolution, such as negotiation, mediation, or non-binding determinations by experts.