Lawyers As Peacemakers

Lawyers as Peacemakers can teach lawyers new ways of finding satisfaction in thier practice and providing comprehensive, solution-focused services to clients; sometimes it's not about winning, it's about finding the best possible answer for everyone involved. These practices focus on a more holistic, humanistic, solution-based approach to resolving legal problems, an approach that many clients want and need.

Integrative lawyers are the harbingers of a new cultural consciousness and are leaders in social evolution. This books describes this fundamental shift in world view, exploring and drawing upon many disciplines and wisdom traditions, such as philosophy, science, psychology, and spirituality.

Apology and forgiveness are the building blocks of healing and reconciliation. Everyone has been the offender and the victim in relational conflicts. The decision and execution of apology and forgiveness determine the degree of intimacy in the future relationship. The foundation for this book is an understanding of the variety of approaches to apology and forgiveness so the reader can more intentionally manage her relationships. Instead of pushing one approach, the concepts are presented to assist the reader in considering factors that might influence the type of apology or forgiveness that is most appropriate for the situation.In addition to empowering the reader to better manage his own affairs, the book considers whether and how to encourage others to apologize and forgive. The advisor role is examined from the perspectives of a family member or friend, an attorney, and professionals in peacemaking roles like mediators, therapists, ombudspersons, human resource professionals, clergy, and a long list of others whose job it is to help people heal from interpersonal injuries. This book invites the reader into the classroom where this class has been taught to lawyers, mediators, and graduate students at Pepperdine University's School of Law. The classes welcome student viewpoints that run the gamut from sharing personal experiences that reinforce class concepts to ardently disagreeing with the author's perspective as only a law student can do. The classroom dialogue is replicated by the extensive inclusion of student journals in the book's narrative.

Describes and analyzes the Navajo peacemaking tradition of restorative justice, in which all participants are treated as equals with the purpose of preserving ongoing relationships and restoring harmony among involved parties.

This unique new handbook explains this emerging dispute resolution model of collaborative law that is helping family lawyers bring their clients through the divorce passage with integrity and satisfaction. Collaborative Law describes how this approach engages the unique problem-solving skills of lawyers to achieve settlements that creatively and appropriately customize outcomes in the way that few courts are able to achieve. In the collaborative process, fees and costs are minimized, high-quality legal counsel and negotiating assistance are built in, and the ability of divorcing spouses to cooperate and coparent is maximized to a dramatic extent.

Defines the crisis of the legal profession as a spiritual one rather than an ethical one, and urges lawyers to rethink their careers in terms of a vocation in the context of legal practice.