Utah Bar Foundation
| Date | 01 November 1997 |
| Publication year | 1997 |
| Pages | 38 |
| Citation | Vol. 10 No. 9 Pg. 38 |
Utah Bar Foundation's Newest Grant Recipient
Utah Dispute Resolution
Jane Semmel, J.
Utah Dispute Resolution (UDR) provides residents of Utah with quality mediation and conciliation services, including information and training in alternative dispute resolution, as well as the means to successfully, informally, and cooperatively resolve their disputes.
The above mission statement might strike some attorneys as mission impossible. However, not all disputes must remain fixed in an adversarial mode that inevitably leads to court. Many conflicts are appropriate for other means of resolution. Mediation, a voluntary process in which the mediator remains neutral and does not decide who is right or wrong, can often assist antagonists in settling their differences. The goal is a signed agreement that is satisfactory to the parties and enforceable as a contract.
Utah Dispute Resolution, housed in the Law and Justice Center, has been offering free mediation and conciliation services as an alternative to litigation since its establishment in 1991. With continuing support from private foundations and the Utah State Bar, UDR has evolved into a significant and legitimate community resource. Now, as a new recipient of an IOLTA grant and with fresh leadership from a board of directors and a recently-hired executive director, UDR is hoping to expand its services, its panel of mediators, its funding base and its profile.
While the primary target of UDR is Utah's poor population, whose legal needs are generally unmet, UDR also contributes a forum for those individuals who cannot afford a lawyer, yet do not qualify for free legal services. With a roster of some 60 mediators (less than half are attorneys), UDR i is able to facilitate agreements that generally result in preserving relationships and leave participants with a sense of satisfaction.
Already operational is a UDR office, aptly called the Solution Center, located at the Horiznnte Instruction and Training Center, an alternative public high school. "People like to stay in their own neighborhoods," says Susan Bradshaw, explaining the success of Horizonte, where not only are local disputes mediated on the spot, but conflict resolution skills are taught to teens in the classrooms. Talks are underway for creating similar facilities in the Sorensen Multi-Cultural Center (formerly Glendale) and in West High School's peace center...
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