Alternative Dispute Resolution Topics

Alternative Dispute Resolution Dissertation Topics

Info: Alternative Dispute Resolution Dissertation Topics
Published: 30th June 2025 in Alternative Dispute Resolution Dissertation Topics

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Dissertation Topic 1:

Rethinking Arbitration in Decentralised Finance (DeFi): Consent, Anonymity, and the Limits of Enforcement

Background Context

As decentralized finance (DeFi) continues to bloom, the traditional arbitration process is increasingly burdened by needing identifiable parties and contractual agreements. A majority of disputes where parties engage in DeFi involve pseudonymous users or secondary market intermediaries or a lack of a clear contractual relationship, which limits the utility of traditional arbitration. In the meantime, Kleros and other blockchain uses for online forms of Development and Resolution (ODR) systems provide an appealable way of producing and enforcing self-executing decisions fast but raise legal and procedural questions of fairness, enforceability and legitimacy (Ali, A, 2025; Kadioglu Kumtepe, 2025). In this context, significant knowledge gaps are identified regarding how dispute resolution frameworks must change to remain meaningful or relevant with the decentralized digital economy.

Research Questions

1. In what ways does the consensual nature of arbitration limit its use to disputes arising from DeFi?
2. In what ways can anonymity or pseudonymity in arbitration be conceived and adopted as having legal and practical validity within current procedural rules?
3. How can blockchain-native ODR outcomes be executed through formal legal systems e.g., consent awards?

Potential Implications

  • Legal Reform: Desirable rule change proposals which could amend procedural arbitration rules to accommodate forms of pseudonymity and relationships based on smart contracts.
  • Regulatory Design: Identification guidance for regulators on how to reconnect on-chain dispute processes with off-chain enforcement.
  • Access to Justice: A further understanding of sufficient low-cost and scalable options to resolve small-value DeFi disputes.

    • Suggested Reading

  • Ali, A. (2025). Advancements and Transformative Applications of Blockchain Technology. Journal of Engineering and Computational Intelligence Review, 3(1), 36-51.
  • Kadioglu Kumtepe, C. C. (2025). Blockchain and Smart Contracts for Avoiding and Resolving Construction Disputes and Enforcing Dispute Adjudication Board Decisions. Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction, 17(3), 04525023.
    • Do you want to work on the frontier between traditional legal systems and new approaches for decentralised digital economies? We can help you develop a dissertation in response to questions about enforcement and procedural justice in pseudonymous DeFi disputes – in the form of blockchain – native solutions. Contact us to develop something that looks to the future in digital arbitration and digital finance!

    Dissertation Topic 2:

    Smart Contracts and Dispute Avoidance in DeFi: Legal Limits of Automation in Financial Agreements

    Background Context

    Smart contracts can be praised for their facility for automating financial contracts/transactions, potentially providing some form of relief or eliminating disputes later on. But in the context of complicated DeFi transactions, contracts/features terms or phrases (for example, “best efforts” or “good faith”) can be notoriously slippery at best (Akinsola & Mary, 2025). This raises some challenging questions both about how much automation is possible and whether smart contracts can actually avoid disputes in decentralised financial spaces.

    Research Questions

  • What are the technical and legal limitations of fully automating DeFi contracts using smart contracts?
  • What types of DeFi financial relationships are most conducive to dispute avoidance via automation?
  • How could smart contracts be partnered with oracles and legal clauses to more effectively set down discretionary or contingent terms in a smart contract?

    • Potential Implications

  • Enhanced Legal Drafting: To better identify contract types or clauses that are the most amenable for automation.
  • Tech-Law Language Integration: To develop frameworks for leveraging human decision-making in
  • executing a smart contract. Contractual Efficiency: Improved design of DeFi platforms that take a user-friendly approach and minimise the potential for disputes.

    • Suggested Reading

  • Akinsola, O. K., & Mary, B. J. (2025). Smart Contracts and Corporate Governance: Automation, Legal Risks, and Benefits.
  • Kothandapani, H. P. (2025). AI-Driven Regulatory Compliance: Transforming Financial Oversight through Large Language Models and Automation. Emerging Science Research, 12-24.
    • Do you want to find yourself at the intersection of legal – technical innovations in automated finance? We can provide a dissertation pathway to development smart contracts and creating a tension between legal uncertainty, human discretion, and automation. Engage with us to develop a dissertation topic that unpacks the relationships between law, code and finance!

    Dissertation Topic 3:

    Jurisdictional Uncertainty in Cross-Border Crypto Disputes: A Comparative Legal Analysis

    Background Context

    DLT transactions also have no borders. When there are no borders there is uncertainty as to which jurisdiction can adjudicate a dispute. The parties could be anonymous (or pseudonymous), the digital assets are fungible, and courts do not know how to take jurisdiction (McCarthy, 2025) The muddled legal jurisdiction around disputes with crypto assets adds to uncertainty and confusion and ultimately impacts trust in the DeFi markets, if this is not already clear (Mienert, 2025)

    Research Questions

    • How do the different legal systems currently determine jurisdiction in disputes involving crypto-assets and DLT platforms?
    • What obstacles are posed by traditional choice of court clauses in the DeFi environment?
    • Do harmonisation proposals or model laws create any greater certainty as to jurisdiction in cross-border disputes involving crypto?

    Potential Implications

  • Harmonisation Proposals: Contribution to global harmonisation and conflict of law reform discussions that deal with digital finance generally.
  • User Protection: Greater legal certainty for retail and institutional consumers of DeFi.
  • Court reform proposals: Proposals that create realistic suggestions for how courts may manage disputes involving digital assets.

    • Suggested Reading

  • McCarthy, S. (2025). Transforming Arbitration: Exploring the Impact of AI, Blockchain, Metaverse and Web3.
  • Mienert, B. (2025). Managing cross-border DeFi DAOs in the EU: legal complexities and regulatory perspectives. In Decentralized Autonomous Organizations in the Legal Landscape (pp. 293-310). Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Are you thinking about rethinking the relationship between globalised legal systems and digital, borderless crypto transactions? We can help you to develop a dissertation that furthers the harmonisation of jurisdictional rules and dispute resolution in a multi-jurisdictional context. Engage with us to develop a dissertation topic that is globally minded in the area of digital jurisdiction and comparative law!

    Dissertation Topic 4:

    Default Arbitration for International Crypto Disputes: Between Party Autonomy and Procedural Efficiency

    Background Context

    Some writers have argued that were requested about offer and acceptance arbitration should be viewed as the default dispute resolution process for all business-to-business crypto contracts, unless stated otherwise (Delacruz & Olanrewaju, 2025). However, this position provides a new challenge for the existing principle of consent relating to arbitration.

    Research Questions

    1. Is default arbitration an appropriate form of dispute resolution for high-value DeFi disputes, without consent or explicit agreement of the parties?
    2. What are the legal and ethical limitations to the process of default arbitration about the autonomy of said parties?
    3. How will national arbitration laws adjust and respond to facilitate or limit the usage of default’ arbitration?

    Potential Impact

  • Arbitral Innovation: As a potential next step in relation to existing ‘default arbitration’ theories, as it relates to DeFi commerce.
  • Regulatory Contribution: Indication of preference for national law reform or the rejection of consent erosion.
  • Procedural Efficiency: As a potential method to allow increased throughput of B2B smart contracts in processing.

    • Suggested Reading

  • Delacruz, M. & Weber, S. (2025). Default Arbitration in the Age of Decentralisation. International Arbitration & Business Law Review, 17(1), 60–91.
  • Olanrewaju, A. G. (2025). Harnessing Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols for institutional asset securitization in cross-jurisdictional banking ecosystems.
    • Are you keen to critically reconceptualize consent and efficiency in smart contract arbitration? We can help you investigate the legitimacy and legal viability of default arbitration regimes for DeFi. Join with us to develop a dissertation topic that critiques and advances procedural justice in decentralised arbitration!

    Dissertation Topic 5:

    Pseudonymity and Anti-Money Laundering in Crypto Arbitration: Legal and Regulatory Tensions

    Background context

    While anonymity is fundamental to many DLT platforms, most legal regimes impose full identification of parties involved, which is especially important to satisfy anti-money laundering (AML) regulations (López, 2025). There seems to be considerable tension between anonymity and enforcement.

    Research Questions

    1. Can pseudonymous arbitration meet lex arbitri AML, KYC, and public policy requirements? 2. What possible mechanisms can be utilized to ensure anonymity while complying with the AML regulations? 3. How do arbitral institutions deal with verifying identities in disputes related to DLT?

    Potential Impacts

  • Policy frameworks: Frameworks for anonymised arbitration that satisfy AML at law.
  • Encouraging privacy where possible through legal mechanisms that balance objectives of enforcement and the protection of identities of the parties.
  • Possible institutional reforms or changes to policies and procedures impacted by institutional frameworks when administering arbitration of disputes of crypto transactions.

    • Suggested Reading

  • López Rodríguez, A. M. (2025). Location, Location, Location! Virtual Real Estate Disputes in the Metaverse and Blockchain Dispute Resolution. Willamette Journal of International Law & Dispute Resolution, 32(1), 44-67.
  • Bhardwaj, H., Chukwuebuka, O. J., Masilo, M. A., & Guglani, P. Arbitration in Cryptocurrency and Forum Shopping.
    • Are you curious to explore the legal and regulatory tensions around regulatory compliance and user privacy in blockchain arbitration? We can help you explore ways to produce a dissertation that considers AML-compliant models of dispute resolution using pseudonymous systems in the crypto-economy. We can also support you in selecting a dissertation topic in Alternative dispute resolution.

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