Velvet
Rodriguez
Mediation
Meet the Team
VRP Mediation has an awesome and qualified team of mediators ready to help with whatever dispute you may have.
Velvet Rodriguez
Attorney-at-Law, Court-Rostered Master Mediator, Arbitrator
Velvet Rodriguez is the owner and Managing Law Partner of VRP Mediation Services, PLLC, in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Park City, Utah. As an experienced Attorney-Mediator, Velvet has resolved over 4,000 cases throughout her 25-year career. Velvet specializes in high-conflict cases and is currently on the Board of the Utah Chapter of AFCC. Velvet has also trained and presented for the State of Utah's Annual Judges Conferences and for nationally recognized organizations like the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Association for Conflict Resolution, and Arbinger Institute.
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Although most well-known for her mediation skills in family law, Velvet also specializes in contract, commercial, estate, victim-offender, and landlord-tenant mediation. Velvet offers both represented and pro se mediations, arbitration, and legal counsel. She prefers zoom, but will mediate in person upon request.
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Qualifications:
Education:
- J.D. from BYU J Reuben Clark Law School
- B.A from BYU, double Major in English Literature and Spanish translation and interpretation, minor in French.
- Trained in international dispute resolution at Northwestern State University
- Certificate for international dispute resolution from Universidad de Guanajuato Mexico and University of New Mexico School of Law
- AFCC certified
- Domestic Violence Specialist
Experience:
- Attorney bar certified active since 2002
- Mediator since 1998
- Court-rostered mediator
- Over 4,250 cases resolved
- Adjunct Professor at BYU J Reuben Clark law school teaching victim-offender mediation​
- Adjunct professor at UVU teaching basic mediation and advanced mediation
- Adjunct Professor at BYU teaching basic mediation and advanced mediation
Carolyn Nichols
Attorney Mediator
Carolyn has practiced in all sectors of the law in her 47 years of legal practice. Family, criminal, hospital, corporate, administrative, child welfare, transactions and litigation. She spent 25 years as a child welfare prosecutor for the Office of the Attorney General where she was a Child Welfare Law Specialist. Prior to that she was in-house counsel for a Fortune 500 Company where she did class actions, health law and liquor compliance for the largest liquor retailer in the country. She worked at a litigation boutique law firm, and represented hospitals and non profit entities. She also spent time as an administrative law judge.
She has been mediating since 2019 and is credentialed in Utah and Texas. Her mediations are via Zoom to increase the efficiencies for everyone involved
Judge Lee Dever
Retired District Court Judge, Attorney Mediator.
Judge Dever is an Inactive Senior Judge. He was appointed to the Third District Court in August 1995 and served Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele counties. Judge Dever received his law degree from the University of Houston Law School in 1975. His first position was with the firm of Stephens & Associates in Houston. He moved to Salt Lake in 1976 and worked as a solo practitioner. He then worked as a prosecutor from 1978 to 1982 in the Salt Lake County Attorney's office. He was a partner in the Vernal law firm of McRae & DeLand from 1982 to 1987. Judge Dever accepted a position as Assistant Attorney General and for the next eight years served in several capacities in the Attorney General's Office, including that of Deputy Solicitor General. At the time of his appointment to the bench, Judge Dever was serving as Chief of the Public Affairs Division in the Attorney General's Office.
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Judge Dever has been mediating since retiring in 2015. His mediations are via Zoom.
Testimonials
Leilani Whitmer, Attorney
As an attorney, I really appreciate being able to work with Velvet. She is brilliant, compassionate, and hard-working. She helps both parties get good deals, and finds solutions that work for everyone instead of having to go to trial and have the judge make decisions that don't work for anyone. Velvet is a rockstar!