Experience equals results.
In 1992, Joe Paulk was a respected and successful trial lawyer with a thriving practice in civil litigation ... and a dislike of the status quo in mediation and arbitration.
Not yet a "true profession," mediation was then dominated by practitioners who lacked specialized training. The majority also lacked meaningful trial experience, making it nearly impossible for them to understand and objectively assess the core issues in the cases they attempted to resolve.
Paulk believed the legal field deserved better -- professionals with specialized training in dispute resolution and the practical trial experience to apply it effectively. In short, the kind of experience he had. And so, Dispute Resolution Consultants was formed.
Over the last twenty eight years, Paulk has assembled an outstanding team of mediators, arbitrators, private judges and special masters, each with years of litigation and/or judicial experience, and all with ADR training from top-notch law programs at Harvard, Pepperdine, and the American law Institute.
Today, the DRC team is exactly what Paulk himself once sought -- a mediation firm in which trial attorneys in both Colorado and Oklahoma can have confidence.
The Good Listener
"People come to DRC from all over the world and they know me as the mediator with the dogs," Joe Paulk says. "There are certainly worse things to be known for!
"Paulk began bringing his Australian Shepherd, Annie, to work over 15 years ago. Annie was a nationally certified pet therapy dog, and she was an instant hit with clients. Today, he continues the tradition by having Katie (also a certified pet therapy dog) and with him on most days.
"People can be anxious and under a lot of stress during a mediation, and the dogs have a calming influence on the lawyers, on clients, and on me," Paulk says. "She'll just sit there with you, and it’s very therapeutic."
