What is right with the legal profession? You are invited to answer that question

Back in May, I asked this question: "What is right with the legal profession?" Around that time I also suggested to Don Hutcheson, publisher of The Complete Lawyer, that he make that question a focus of one of the editions of his magazine because I think it is a question that can and should be explored from many angles and by many people. I am glad to see Don followed my suggestion and has included a survey on "What's right about the profession of law?" in the newest edition of The Complete Lawyer.

In the spirit of inquiry, exploration, mindset expansion, and such approaches as Appreciative Intelligence, I will continue to look at this question from several perspectives, both predictable and novel. What do you think is right about the legal profession? Please add your comments below or send me an e-mail. (I have been receiving lots of e-mails in response to the leadership poll, truly appreciate hearing from you, and will be posting all poll results in in the near future.)

The idea of looking at what's right, what's working, and then benefiting from that view is not new. As examples, more and more people are becoming acquainted with and using Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Intelligence, and the field of psychology has seen the growth of Positive Psychology. I am right now reading the new A Primer in Positive Psychology and recommend it to those wanting to balance the negative with the positive in considering situations (and professions).

Tojo Thatchenkery and Carol Metzker say in Appreciative Intelligence: Seeing the Mighty Oak in the Acorn:

Appreciation has its skeptics and critics as well as its advocates. Like a medical doctor who diagnoses what is sick in a patient in order to determine treatment, many

organizational change professionals seek deficiencies in a business or organization to set a course of action. The "Pollyanna" figure, or one who cheerfully looks for the best, is sometimes viewed as one who is unrealistic, naive, or overly happy. "Real" work is sometimes synonymous with seeking what is wrong or broken in order to bring it back to a steady state. Individuals or organizations are assumed by some people to be full of problems that should be fixed in order to see improvement.

. . .

Appreciating the positive -- focusing on the aspect of the oak that is healthy and thriving, not what is withering or unable to grow -- is a vital component of Appreciative Intelligence.  . . . By seeing what is valuable, constructive, or wonderful in the present, the doors open wide for a positive future.

Isn't there much that is "healthy and thriving," valuable, constructive, or wonderful," in the practice of law and the legal profession? I say yes.

Note (added August 27, 2006, at noon Mountain): While there are several good articles in the new edition of The Complete Lawyer, I want to highly recommend the interview of someone I have respected (and learned from through reading his articles) for many years Leonard Riskin. The interview is entitled "How Meditation, Yes Meditation, Can Improve Your Performance and Enhance Your Satisfaction with Work."

You can see Professor Riskin speak at a symposium on Mindfulness in the Law & ADR (click on the link below "Video Archive of this Event"); the symposium was sponsored by Harvard Law School's Program on Negotiation. Here is another Riskin interview; it includes many mindfulness resources.

Diane Levin has posted a link at her Online Guide to Mediation to the latest Riskin interview, and she has recommended a couple of articles from an earlier edition of The Complete Lawyer. If you are interested in what's happening in ADR and want to pick up many thoughtful tips and valuable resources, watch Levin's blog.