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June 17, 2026

IOA and ABA Form Joint Taskforce for Ombuds Model Act

The International Ombuds Association and the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution's Ombuds Committee have created a joint taskforce to coordinate future work on the proposed Organizational Ombuds Practices Act. The model legislation is intended to serve as a template that individual states may adopt, establishing a statutory framework for Ombuds offices and, if enacted by state legislatures, providing legal protections consistent with the IOA's Standards of Practice. The new taskforce will develop recommendations regarding next steps for advancing the proposal. 

The taskforce brings together representatives from both organizations and reflects the growing cooperative relationship between the IOA and the ABA's Ombuds Committee. Members of the taskforce include Paul Sotoudeh, Bruce MacAllister, Sarah Klaper, Mark Patterson, and Matt Ricke, with support and guidance from Ellen Miller for the IOA and Jen Michel for the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution. The proposed Act has been under development for several years through the ABA and is designed to strengthen legal recognition of Organizational Ombuds programs and reinforce the profession's standards relating to independence, impartiality, confidentiality, and informality. The IOA said the collaboration will help shape the legislation's future development and strategy for adoption. (IOA Blog.) 

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous6/17/2026 5:56 AM

    Following, and cannot wait to hear more! Just one of the many exciting things abuzz within the Ombuds profession!

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  2. Anonymous6/17/2026 6:30 AM

    Excellent news. This is a step in tje right direction, especially for academic ombuds, who make up the majority of the IOA membership. Next step needs to be to get the accreditation bodies to require ombuds; this will prevent the Patrerson Effect, where institutional chief executives simply decide to close offices. They can't do that with Institutional Planning and Effectiveness offices and they shouldn't be able to do so with ombuds.

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    1. Mark P.7/07/2026 6:54 PM

      I'm strangely honored to have this sad phenomenon named after me. I'm glad to be involved with this project now.

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  3. Liz Hill6/17/2026 8:43 AM

    I so appreciative of this task force for taking the next steps to implement the Model Act, which the ABA House of Delegates passed in February 2026. And thanks to the many people and the years of work (I think we are now at 9 years) that got us to this point.

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  4. Anonymous6/17/2026 9:27 AM

    Fantastic!

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  5. Anonymous6/17/2026 12:11 PM

    So grateful to all of the work that has been put in and that continues to be put into this extremely important initiative!

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