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Unauthorized
Practice of Law (UPL)/ Authorized Practice of
Mediation (APM)
In
January 2000, the Board of the Society of Professional
in Dispute Resolution (SPIDR) authorized the formation
of a Task Force, made up of conflict resolution
practitioners from a variety of backgrounds, to
explore the unauthorized practice of law (UPL)
issue in relation to the conflict resolution field,
and to mediation, arbitration, and relevant hybrid
processes. Anticipating the merger that has since
resulted in the formation of ACR, representatives
from the other two founding organizations (AFM
and CREnet) served on the Task Force from its
inception. In 2002, this Task Force produced a
draft report for the ACR Board’s consideration.
In June 2004, after careful consideration, ACR’s
Board of Directors adopted a report that frames
the UPL issue in terms of the appropriate practice
of mediation, not in terms of the authorized or
unauthorized practice of law. Thus, the focus
of this report is the authorized practice of mediation
(APM).
ACR Policy
Statement
In October
2006, the Board adopted the following policy
statement as submitted by the Standards
Committee and the UPL Task Force:
ACR affirms
that mediation is a distinct practice with
its own body of knowledge, foundational
principles, values and standards of
practice. While ACR recognizes that the
definition of and penalties associated with
the unauthorized practice of law are matters
of state law, ACR affirms that mediators who
practice mediation consistent with standards
of conduct approved by ACR should not be
considered to have engaged in the
unauthorized practice of law. If an ACR
member is charged with unauthorized practice
of law, ACR will provide assistance and/or
support as may be appropriate.
Members who have
encountered or who anticipate encountering
allegations of unlicensed practice of law
should contact Executive Director Doug Kleine at dkleine [at] acrnet [dot] org,
Greg Firestone at FirestoneG [at] aol [dot] com,
or Sharon Press at presss [at] flcourts [dot]
org.
About
ACR's Legislative and Public Policy Leadership
ACR's
Legislative and Public
Policy efforts are focused on promoting
the field of conflict resolution to the general
public; informing members about, and shaping,
important public policy developments in the field;
and creating the structures for ACR to support
the growth of the field.
The
Legislative Public Policy (LPP) Committee is chaired
by Gregory
Firestone, Ph.D.
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