ODR Gone Wild!?

Signed September 17, 2018, and effective September 19, 2018 (that’s the day of this post), The Supreme Court of the State of Utah issued Standing Order No. 13, for an “Online Dispute Resolution ('ODR') pilot project”! See it here.

What took them so long? No Lawyers Allowed was light years ahead.

Okay, maybe not light years. But, certainly days ahead (and maybe legal-light years ahead because the law moves like a glacier). That appears to be how fast the legal world will be changing in the near future.

No Lawyers Allowed comes along with its on-line dispute resolution program and virtual arbitration, and BAM! Days later the Utah Supreme Court issues its own on-line dispute resolution option. How cool is that?

The on-line world brings many conveniences to our lives today. And, the Utah Supreme Court’s willingness to embrace on-line dispute resolution platforms seems to suggest that the justice system is ready for conveniences offered by on-line platforms like No Lawyers Allowed.

No Lawyers Allowed has been waiting for this day. We built No lawyers Allowed believing that if we built it, they would come. Well, here they are.

Welcome. Welcome to one and all!

Contrasting Utah Supreme Court’s Small Claims Online Dispute Resolution Pilot Project with the No Lawyers Allowed platform reveals some interesting observations. First, they are on-line, and we are on-line.

Second, they are a pilot program. But, we’re not just testing this out. We’re for real. We are live.

Third, their program does not offer mediation. No Lawyers Allowed does.

Fourth, their program involves the court system and making filings in the public record. Ours does not.

Fifth, their program issues a decision, and that decision can take well beyond 120 days before it is issued and there are five pages of [confusing] rules that go along with it. The only program at No Lawyers Allowed where a decision is issued (arbitration) and it takes 84 or fewer days.

Sixth, their decision-issuing program has 12 rules, with 51 subparts (which require hiring a lawyer to understand). No Lawyers Allowed arbitration rules fit on a single page of paper.

But, hey, we’re both on-line, right? Well, okay, they will be on-line, at some point. For sure. But, as of this post, there is nothing on the "West Valley City Justice Court" Website (where the pilot is being tested; is that even in Utah?) about the pilot project.

Don't worry, though. They’ll catch up. And, hey, maybe you’ll understand their rules by the time they do?

Meanwhile, No Lawyers Allowed is live and ready to serve! It is as simple as 1, 2, 3. Register the dispute, get set, and go get the dispute resolved!