By Greg Fry

Kamloops lawyer featured in Harvard Law publication

Mar 29, 2018 | 10:54 AM

KAMLOOPS — A major honour for a Kamloops lawyer, mediator, and family law arbitrator.

The April issue of the Harvard Negotiation Law Revue features an article written by David Paul focusing on the use of therapy dogs in family law mediation.

His hypothesis is grounded in the widespread use of therapy dogs to assist people in other stressful situations.

“Divorce is a stressful and difficult time for the entire family and I wanted to explore how to reduce that stress,” Paul says, adding the idea came to him while pursuing his Masters degree in law from Osgoode Hall.

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“I believe that the use of dogs in mediation for the right people is going to de-escalate conflict, it’s going to help build trust amongst partners in a mediation and create a more positive energy in the room that will allow the parties to get a result that is in everyone’s best interest – including children who can be seriously affected by their parents separation.”

He plans to apply his research and move it into practice as he starts to train his puppy “Charlie” to become Canada’s first certified therapy dog in family law mediation.

Paul admits he was in awe when he found out his article was going to be published.

“I think there was a sense of ‘I can’t believe this is actually actually happening.’ I was shocked.”

You can read Paul’s article by clicking here.