Associate Professor of Law; Mediation Clinic Director
B.A., 1989, Marquette University; J.D., 1992, University of Michigan; LL.M., 1997, Loyola University Chicago
Room 105K | Phone: 501-916-5451 | Email
Assistant: Dylan Gibson | Room 105 | Phone: 501-916-5404 | Email
Kelly Browe-Olson is the Director of the Mediation Clinic and an Associate Professor of Law. In addition to directing the Mediation Clinic, she also teaches Family Law, Mediation and Negotiation Seminars, ADR, and Domestic Violence courses. She oversees state-wide Special Education and Dependency/Neglect mediation projects. She helped create the UA Little Rock Graduate Certificate Program in Conflict Mediation. She is a passionate advocate who focuses on educating law students, judges, lawyers, and other professionals on conflict resolution and communication.
Professor Browe-Olson currently serves as the Chair of the Arkansas Parent Counsel Commission, on the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) executive board and on the editorial boards of the Family Court Review and the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Magazine. She was previously on the executive board of the AALS ADR Section and the President of the Arkansas Conflict Resolution Association and served as the co-chair of the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution annual conference from 2015 – 2018. She has served on numerous boards and committees for the Arkansas Administrative Office of the Courts’ Court Improvement Project; the Arkansas Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission; the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission; Arkansas Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Arkansas Women’s Leadership Forum. Nationally she has been a resource for the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, the Family Court Review and the National Child Welfare Decision-making Network. She won the Bowen School of Law Faculty Excellence Award for Public Service in 2004 and 2013.
Professor Browe-Olson is a frequent national speaker and trainer on communication, mediation, domestic violence and children’s legal issues. Before coming to Bowen, she was the Child Law Mediation Projects Coordinator and taught clinical and ADR courses at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she served as a Senior Editor of the Loyola Children’s Rights Journal and also held a graduate fellowship. Earlier, Professor Browe-Olson spent almost three years working as an attorney and General Counsel at Hilltop Communications, a small telecommunications company. Professor Olson’s publications include:
- Chapter 26, FAMILY CENTERED DECISION MAKING AND ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION, Child Welfare Law and Practice, (complete revision to previous version) Duquette, Haralambie and Sankaran, Editors, National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC), Bradford Publishing Company, Summer 2016
- Book Review: The Conflict Paradox: Seven Dilemmas at the Core of Disputes by Bernie Mayer, 54 Fam. Ct. Rev. 530, Summer 2016
- Practical Challenges: One Crucial Skill: Knowing How, When, and Why to Go into Caucus, ABA Dispute Resolution Mag., Winter 2016, at 32
- Workgroup Member and Editor, Association of Family and Conciliation Court Guidelines for Child Protection Mediation, 51 Fam. Ct. Rev. 605 (2013)
- Screening for Intimate Partner Violence in Mediation, ABA Dispute Resolution Mag., Fall 2013, at 25
- Family Group Conferencing and Child Protection Mediation: Essential Tools for Prioritizing Family Engagement in Child Welfare Cases, 47 Fam. Ct. Rev. 53 (2009)
- Special Editor (with Bernie Mayer), Special Issue of the Family Court Review, Mediation and Conferencing in Child Protection Disputes, Volume 47, Number 1, January 2009
- Family Group Conferencing and Child Protection Mediation: Essential Tools for Prioritizing Family Engagement in Child Welfare Cases, FAMILY COURT REVIEW Volume 47 No. 1, January 2009
- Special Editor (with Nancy Ver Steegh), Family Court Review, Inter-professional Collaborations on Domestic Violence and Family Courts, Volume 46, Number 2, April 2008
- Book Editor (with Nancy Ver Steegh), Innovations in Family Legal Practice, AFCC Publication January 2007
- The Importance of Using Alternative Dispute Resolution Techniques and Processes in the Ethical and Informed Representation of Children, 6 Nev. L.J. 1333, Spring 2006
- THE BOOKSHELF: Martin Guggenheim, What’s Wrong With Children’s Rights, 44 Fam. Ct. Rev. 330, Spring 2006 (Book Review)
- Abuse, Neglect and Dependency Cases in Juvenile Court, Chapter V, ADR Handbook for Judges, ABA Section on Dispute Resolution Publication, September 2004
- Lessons Learned From a Child Protection Program: If at First You Succeed and Then You Don’t…, FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 41 No. 4 480-496 October 2003; reprinted in On Teaching Family Law, Essays from the Family Court Review, May 2004
