In a direct test of the effectiveness of med-arb and arb-med, disputants in the med-arb procedures settled in the mediation phase of their procedure more frequently and achieved settle ments of higher joint benefit than did disputants in the med-arb procedure. KEY CHOICE POINTS IN THIRD-PARTY INTERVENTION Each of the four key types of third-party interventions are formal, however more informal types of interventions are also possible. We now consider some key choice points of third-party intervention