About Us

Mission

To provide law-related and citizenship education for Utah's youth and communities through interactive educational experiences and curricula which foster in them an understanding of the law, the legal system, and their rights and responsibilities as engaged citizens.

Respect for the law is a mark of respect for the rights of others and an essential ingredient of a civil society. At times, this concept may be difficult to understand, particularly for the young. Often, youth see laws as unreasonable restrictions imposed by adult authorities on their personal freedom rather than as necessary safeguards to protect their rights and the rights of others.

Law Related Education (LRE) programs and curricula are designed to give people an understanding and appreciation of the law, the legal system, and their rights and responsibilities as engaged citizens. The programs employ legal processes and principles to help people find practical solutions to every day problems. Students in LRE programs are active, hands-on participants. Community resource persons who work within the legal system are an important part of the LRE team.

Law Related Education helps youth become effective, law-abiding citizens by promoting civic responsibility and and community participation. It increases young people's self-esteem and promotes a more favorable attitude toward authority figures. It may be used in school, counseling, probation, or institutional settings. LRE is an important part of the nationwide effort to prevent violence and restore mutual respect and civility to American community life.

History

In 1974, Scott and Norma Matheson, together with J. Thomas and Kay Greene, created Utah Law Related Education to provide law-related and citizenship education for Utah's youth and communities through interactive educational experiences. Since that time, LRE has served all of Utah's 40 school districts in grades kindergarten through twelve and many of its communities. In 1989, Law-Related Education Project, Inc. was incorporated as a permanent organizational home for law-related education programs in Utah.

Over the years, Utah Law Related Education has trained thousands of students, educators, community representatives, attorneys, court employees, juvenile justice professionals, and other legal professionals through a host of institutes, seminars, courses, and programs, such as the Mock Trial Competition, Salt Lake Peer Court Program, elementary and secondary Mentor/Dialogue on Democracy Programs, Teaching Law in the High Schools Seminar at the S. J. Quinney College of Law, Court Tour Programs, Youth Summits, We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution Program, We the People: Project Citizen, Representative Democracy in America, Conflict Management Programs, Mock Mediation Showcases, Juvenile Justice Programs, and Youth Summits.

Thank You to Our Kind Donors

Because of the generosity of our donors, we are able to provide civic education programs to schools and communities statewide.

Utah Law Related Education
645 South 200 East, Suite 101
Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Phone: 801-322-1802
Fax: 801-323-9732
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

If you would like to be involved with one of our programs, please contact the appropriate person directly.

Staff

• Executive Director: Princess Gutierrez, MPA, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mock Trial

• Mock Trial Director: Melissa Orton, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution

• Program Director/State Coordinator: Alexander Adriano, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Congressional District Coordinators:
  • Bill Spence, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
  • Rick Ochoa, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Salt Lake Peer Court

• Director: Sadie Gomez, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Program Coordinators: Nevaeh Parker & Alex Higuera, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Your privacy is important to Utah Law Related Education. This privacy statement provides information about the personal information that Utah Law Related Education gathers and the ways in which Utah Law Related Education uses that personal information.

PERSONAL INFORMATION GATHERING AND USE

The gathering of personal information from volunteers and donors will be used solely for communication between Utah Law Related Education and the volunteer/donor. Gathering of information for registration fees is solely to operate the program for which the information is gathered. No personal information will be sold, or distributed, except as required by law.

SECURING YOUR DATA

Utah Law Related Education will take reasonable technical and organizational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse, or alteration of your personal information and will store all of the personal information you provide on its secure servers.