Under the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act of 1998, all federal district courts are required to offer at least one form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as an alternative to civil litigation. This article discusses settlement conferences as the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas's form of ADR. Parties submit a settlement conference statement so that the court can gauge if a conference is appropriate, and parties are required to attend the conference with their counsel. The author outlines settlement conference procedure and discusses counsel's role in a conference. Though the court "has a great deal of confidence in its alternative dispute resolution program," parties and counsel should not "depend on the settlement conference to resolve the case" and should still prepare for trial (p.22).