SCOT E. DEWHIRST is a partner engaged in the private practice of law with the Columbus, Ohio firm of ARTZ, DEWHIRST & WHEELER, LLP. His areas of practice include dispute resolution, zoning, personal injury, business, estate planning and criminal/traffic law. He was a 1974 graduate of The Ohio State University with a B.A. degree in International Relations, and he received his Juris Doctorate from Capital University Law School in 1978. He has been Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Center for Dispute Resolution at Capital University School since 1984. He has been an Adjunct Professor of Law since 1987 teaching courses in Mediation, Negotiation and Interviewing and Counseling. He was a Co-Founder and board member of Community Mediation Services of Central Ohio and has been actively involved in dispute resolution since 1977 as a mediator, arbitrator, trainer, and program director.
Mr. Dewhirst has developed mediation projects in both Jamaica and Nicaragua and has conducted numerous training programs in both countries. He was approved and trained as a mediator and arbitrator in the Dalkon Shield Arbitration Program. He has also been an independent contract mediator for both United States Arbitration and Mediation and National Alternative Dispute Resolution Services, Inc. He regularly provides mediation services and training , and he is co-author of "The Mediator Handbook". Mr. Dewhirst has also produced 8 mediation videos used across the United States and Jamaica. Mr. Dewhirst has also coordinated and participated in the development of new negotiation training programs, written materials, and 8 negotiation videos for national distribution by Nationwide Insurance Corporation, and he has conducted numerous programs in insurance negotiation.
Mr. Dewhirst was appointed by the Columbus mayor to the German Village Historic Preservation Commission in 1988. He completed 4 terms of service through 2000 when he was appointed to the Board of Commission Appeals for the city of Columbus, serving as the Chair of the Commission until 2003. In 1994 he was appointed by Mayor Gregory Lashutka to serve as the Co-Chair of the Steering Committee for the rewrite of the Columbus Zoning Code. He was a lead presenter at Ohio Historic Preservation Office state conferences on the subject of the legal basis of historic preservation and has conducted historic preservation training programs in the legal issues of architectural and zoning review. He was a co-author of REINVEST-REUSE-RENEW: A Blueprint for the Development of a Historic Preservation Program.
Previously, he was the Executive Assistant to the Columbus City Attorney acting as the Claims Manager for the city of Columbus and attorney for the Columbus Development Department. In his position as Development Department attorney he was legal counsel for the Columbus Development Commission, the Board of Zoning Adjustment, the Building Commission, the Graphics Commission, the Historic Resources Commission as well as 18 other neighborhood and historic review commissions. Prior to that he was Assistant City Attorney in the Prosecutor's Office and served as Director of the Columbus Night Prosecutor Mediation Program for seven years - a program scheduling between 40,000 to 50,000 thousand mediations per year.
