Written By: Mike Weatherford

Dispute resolution aims to help litigants find mutually beneficial solutions to their dispute without going all the way trial—even if that resolution happens just steps from the courtroom.

Harrison Bohn experienced this firsthand while working at the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, helping tenants facing eviction. He often found himself engaging in a fast-paced version of mediation right outside the courtroom doors.

“Sometimes we were having these conversations with opposing counsel five feet from the courtroom,” he recalls. “You’re making deals in as little as

By Matt Jacob

Many students who attend the Boyd School of Law at UNLV find their way to the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution because they have a passion for the center’s general mission: to help people settle legal disputes before their battle ends up in a courtroom.

Alix Goldstein was not such a student.

In fact, Goldstein didn’t get involved with the Saltman Center until her final semester as a Boyd School of Law student in spring 2023. That’s when she learned that the school’s Mediation Clinic was involved in a federal program in which Boyd students co-mediate civil rights claims

Mediation Clinic offers students the chance to develop valuable skills while co-mediating actual cases

Ever receive a parking citation you don’t believe you deserved? It happens all the time on UNLV’s campus, which is why the university’s Parking Services department joined forces with the Saltman Center to create the Parking Arbitration Program. Here UNLV Law students serve as trained arbiters, rendering decisions after hearing appeals from those who believe they were wrongly ticketed.  

UNLV Law’s Mediation Clinic is at the forefront of a statewide initiative that aims to mitigate the emotional trauma associated with child welfare cases by settling disputes at the mediation table rather than inside a courtroom.