[WorldMaker]

Also the vast majority of contracts these days have "Arbitration clauses" that require all disputes to go through an arbitration process rather than lawsuits in the courtroom.

While there is a great debate to be had that many "Arbitration clauses" far too often curb consumer rights to civil courts (so called "tort reform"; putting limits on what your legal rights are as a consumer), arbitration has "always" been seen as the default first and lawsuits as the necessarily hard next step if arbitration fails (and if a given arbitration clause allows someone their rights to a fair trial in a court of law).