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Show Frs of ffis kind in state at U of U Dispute resolution center established An Alternative Dispute Resolution Center, the first of its kind in Utah, has opened on the University Uni-versity of Utah campus to help Utahns settle their quarrels without going through costly court battles. Established by the Department of Communication, Communica-tion, the center offers to the campus and community com-munity assistance with negotiation, mediation and arbitration. Thirteen people who just completed nearly 200 hours of instruction and clinical experience will run the center, together with students making up the program's second-year class. ADR is a relatively new concept to Utahns but has long been widely used in more populous states such as California, whose overburdened court system requires disputes to go through ADR before coming through the courts. "Utah has the advantage of watching 20 years' development in other states where ADR is thoroughly established as part of what is coming to be called a multi-door courthouse said Dr. Richard D. Rieke, who, with Dr. Leonard C. Hawes, co-directs the ADR program. Both are professors of communication. "The concept is that when problems come in the front door, we provide avenues to people to help them solve their disputes in the quickest, happiest and least expensive way possible. "ADR begins with negotiation, goes to a mediation process where a neutral third party interacts with the disputants, and then to arbitration arbitra-tion during which a neutral party makes a deci sion under simplified and inexpensive proceduresall pro-ceduresall before we send them to the courtroom cour-troom and the more commonly known trial process," pro-cess," Rieke said. Hawes says ADR won't resolve every legal dispute. "The trick in ADR is in getting a sense of the willingness or readiness of the parties to settle. "If you have that, ADR can settle everything from barking dogs to property line disputes-divorce, disputes-divorce, child custody, and corporate mergers and acquisitions' Hawes said. Hawes, a longtime ADR practitioner, said he recently helped mediate settlement of a dispute between a dentist and his client caused by an action ac-tion of the dentist's assistant. "It turns out the dentist didn't know what that person had done and it turns out the client just basically wanted a heartfelt apology. It saved them heavens knows how much time and money by not going to court. "When court isn't appropriate but there doesn't seem to be any other recourse that people know about, what they'll do is take a lot of inappropriate inap-propriate cases to court just so they feel they've had their say. "One of the things ADR does is give all of the parties an opportunity to have their say, get their issues out on the table and heard and then work on the issues," Hawes explained. Settlements reached through ADR normally result in a "memorandum of understanding" signed by both parties. fa "A divorcing couple, for example, works out their terms, I write the memorandum as much as possible in their language and all parties sign it. This expedites the legal process and reduces the cost of legal assistance," Hawes said. Either side can withdraw from a memorandum after signing. "Mediation and negotiation are voluntary processes," he noted. Binding arbitration is the one ADR procedure that requires compliance by the disputing parties. "If either party breaks the terms of the agreement, agree-ment, they can be taken into court," Hawes said. The Utah Legislature is considering certification certifica-tion procedures and standards for ADR. "Once certification is in place, it's possible that when the bar and the judges become more familiar with it and comfortable with how it works, they're more likely to make ADR mandatory man-datory for certain kinds of cases," Hawes said. The ITs ADR Center is headquartered in 307A Leroy Cowles Building, 581-5825. Services will be provided at no cost by students in training under the supervision of a qualified or certified ADR provider. Services from graduates of the ADR Program will cost $50 an hour after an initial half-hour at no charge. The inaugural class included an attorney, at-torney, a law student, a human resource manager, a dentist, a fire chief and a city manager. |