A former judge and a pioneer that helped bring mediation to the province of Alberta just launched a new business that will help families after hours who are facing urgent legal disputes. It's called Resolution On Call and it's the only practice of its kind in Alberta. Deborah Prowse started a career in social services over 30 years ago and though she spent time as a judge in the Provincial Traffic Court, she tends to veer back to family law. "The idea behind it is that so much of life occurs outside of nine to five," Prowse said. "It's hard to find resources that are responsive and can assist, particularly on long holiday weekends or over the holidays." Say for example a family had a legal conflict involving access to children during a holiday. Rather than waiting to get into their lawyer's office during regular hours and when an appointment is available, Resolution On Call would be able to provide services right away. Prowse, who has also previously sat as panel chair on Human Rights Commission, said her business doesn't take clients from lawyers, it just provides services during urgent matters that can't wait for regular hours. "This is to be a resource that assists lawyers. If it is a Med/Arb (mediation-arbitration) for example, it's a two-step process in which we start out with mediation and then if they aren't able to resolve the issues themselves we transition into an arbitration process. Then the result of that arbitration, the decision that's made by the arbitrator, would actually be a temporary or short-term decision until they can get back into touch with their lawyers or if they've got matters that are waiting a pending court decision. So, it's just to assist them in the short term in the emergent situation," Prowse said. "It brings together my love of social work and law and conflict management. I was one of the early trainees in mediation practice here in Alberta. I think families really need to be given the tools to resolve things themselves. And only in the extreme cases where they can't resolve something should an arbitration decision be required," Prowse said. "This is really helping families find a fair and quick resolution to issues."
