An arbitration agreement is a clause in a contract that requires the parties to resolve their disputes through an arbitration process instead of going to court. It is a way of resolving a dispute without filing a lawsuit and going to court. Arbitration is a process for resolving disputes outside of the public court system, and it usually involves the submission of claims, which might otherwise have been brought to the public court system, for resolution by a private arbitrator. The arbitration process is similar to the proceedings in a court case: the parties may have lawyers, they exchange information, and there is a hearing where they question witnesses and present their cases. After the hearing, the arbitrator will make a decision. Arbitration agreements are usually signed at the beginning of a business relationship, long before there’s a disagreement. They are often just a few sentences long and are commonly found near the end of a larger contract under a heading such as “Arbitration” or “Dispute Resolution” . Arbitration agreements are frequently found in pre-printed consumer contracts with banks, credit card companies, financial service providers and brokers, home builders, insurance companies, communications providers, automobile and mobile home dealers, and manufacturers of various products. To reduce the costs and improve the efficiency of dispute resolution, businesses often require that their customers and employees sign an arbitration agreement. However, because arbitration clauses often appear as “fine print” in lengthy standard contracts, people often sign arbitration agreements without realizing that they are doing so.