idealawg

Blog Glob: Justice calls for more than one size fits all

Excerpts from "Justice calls for more than one size fits all" (WA Today):

THE debate raging about the role of courts and barristers and the size of counsels' fees is but one aspect of the much broader problem of the role of our justice system and its reform. It is a debate that asks us as a community to think deeply about how we can best deal with conflicts and the problems underlying them.
. . .

Other approaches to justice have emerged recently that influence the way the justice system functions, including restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence,

International Association of Holistic Lawyers holding their annual conference May 15-18, 2008

From the IAHL Web site:

The 2008 Annual Conference, May 15-18, 2008, will be held at The Retreat Center in Plymouth, Michigan. The theme for the conference is Authentic Lawyering:  Practicing from the Heart.

Plans include Ward Powers as a keynote speaker.  A lawyer, he created and produced One the Movie, a film about the concept of oneness.  Lorraine Weber, who is head of the Detroit Metro Bar Association--and a shaman--will open the conference.
. . .
IAHL Mission Statement:

The International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers' mission is to transform the practice of law, through education and support of holistic practice.

Our Vision:

The IAHL envisions a world where lawyers are valued as healers, helpers, counselors, problem-solvers, and peacemakers.  Conflicts are seen as opportunities for growth.  Lawyers model balanced lives and are respected for their contributions to the greater good.

Register here.

Colorado in February: "Transforming the World, One Conflict at a Time"

This event will be held February 15-18, 2008, near Denver, Colorado. Who are the target attendees? From the event flyer:

For MBB Members and Professionals Working in Dispute Resolution: Lawyers, Judges, Peace‐builders, Mediators, Arbitrators & Psychotherapists, & Systems Designers, Educators and Students .

Also from the flyer:

Speakers:

• Kenneth Cloke, JD, LLM, Ph.D., President of Mediators Beyond Borders
• Daniel Bowling, Esq., Co‐Author Bringing Peace into the Room
• Erica Ariel Fox, JD, Harvard Program on Negotiation Insight Initiative
• John Paul Lederach, Ph.D. & Herman Weaver, Ph.D, “Peacebuilding: Songs from the Road”

Topics for Discussion:

• Why Mediators Beyond Borders?
• Strategies to Help Save the Planet
• Current & Planned Projects
• How to Form Project Teams
• Potential Partners & Funders
• MBB Chapters & e‐Support
• Learning What Skills are Needed
• Training, e‐Library & Conflictpedia
• Indigenous/Environmental Disputes
• Culture, Prejudice & Bias Reduction
• Role of VORP & Restorative Justice
• Bias Awareness
• Truth & Reconciliation Processes

See the flyer for more information.

Note (added at 3:55 PM Mountain): Vickie Pynchon who was kind enough to tell me about this event also blogged about it today at her Settle It Now Negotiation Blog.

Conference later this month: Lawyers As Peacemakers, Lawyers as Problemsolvers

Lawyers As Peacemakers, Lawyers as Problemsolvers will be held Sunday, October 28, 2007 and
Monday, October 29, 2007, in Memphis Tennessee. From the conference brochure (PDF) . . .

According to the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, a “new conception of law practice” and of what it means to be a lawyer is taking hold within the legal profession. The legal academy and the legal profession are considering innovative approaches to the practice of law-including diverse paths such as collaborative law, restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, transformative mediation, holistic law, and problem-solving courts. These opportunities offer attorneys broader dimensions in pursuing their professional responsibilities in client counseling and advocacy, conflict resolution and the promotion of social justice.

National speakers are . . .

Upcoming conference in November: Law as a Healing Profession

The Law as a Healing Profession conference will be held Sunday, November 4, 2007 and Monday, November 5, 2007 at Touro College Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center in Central Islip, New York.

From the conference brochure (PDF) . . .

The inspiration for this Conference was Touro law professor Marjorie Silver’s
anthology, The Affective Assistance of Counsel: Practicing Law as a Healing Profession:

This book is subversive. It aims to undermine the legal profession’s prevailing gladiatorial paradigm. It is, to use Professor Leonard Riskin’s phrase, something off “the lawyer’s standard philosophical map.” It promises a vision of practicing law that is very different than that taught in most American law schools.

There exists tremendous discontent among the practicing bar. Many lawyers have found themselves unhappy or unfulfilled in their practices. Compared to other professionals, lawyers suffer disproportionately from excessive stress, substance abuse, and other emotional difficulties. Many find themselves demoralized or disillusioned about the practice of law.

Here’s the good news.

Therapeutic jurisprudence, mediation, restorative justice, fear, and love: Some available reading for you

The Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration has just created a page on its Web site at which papers from the Third International Conference on Therapeutic Jurisprudence held in Perth, Australia, in June 2006, may be downloaded. Downloadable papers may be accessed by clicking here. The papers with an author's name as a live link are the ones available. The papers you may access include . . .

• The Case for a Paradigm Shift in Civil and Commercial Dispute Resolution – Moving from Fear to Love: A Solicitor’s Perspective
• Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Providing Some Answers to the Neutrality Dilemma in Mediation
• Calgary Domestic Violence Court Project and Therapeutic Jurisprudence in a Canadian Context
• Therapeutic Jurisprudence Sentencing Principles In A Canadian Context
• Bridging the Gap: the use of an innovative liaison role to enhance multidisciplinary effectiveness within Drug Treatment Courts
• Just Treatment: Testing the limits of therapeutic jurisprudence
• Applying a combination of restorative justice and therapeutic jurisprudence: a social research project in Roebourne, Western Australia
• Pre Plea Therapeutic Intervention by Courts

Click for more about therapeutic jurisprudence.

Humanizing Legal Education Symposium-Washburn University School of Law

From the Humanizing Legal Education Symposium Web site . . .

Washburn University School of Law, the editors of the Washburn Law Journal and the Symposium Planning Committee are pleased to host Humanizing Legal Education, a symposium/conference. Humanizing Legal Education, now a section of the American Association of Law Schools called "Balance in Legal Education," is a movement that responds to recent studies suggesting that legal education, at least at some law schools, adversely affects law students in disturbing ways. Presenters and conference attendees will explore the likely causes of the problem and ideas for improving law students' law school experiences.

. . . More than 30 speakers will be presenting their ideas, including the national leaders in the field: Larry Krieger, Susan Daicoff, Barbara Glesner-Fines, Gerald Hess, Bruce Winick, Paula Lustbader and Daisy Hurst-Floyd.

Sessions include . . .

• Plenary: "Empirical Insights on the 'Why' and 'How' of Humanizing Legal Education" [By one of the gurus and leaders of the humanizing legal education movement Professor Lawrence S. Krieger]
• Law Student and Lawyer Happiness
• Integration and Peer Bullying in Law School
• Responding to Specific Student Stressors: Maintaining Scholarships and Students with Disabilities
• Psychology and Student Well-Being
• Stressors and Stress Intervention
• Neuroscience and Multiple Intelligences
• Focus on the Well-Being of Today's Students (Two of the three workshops under this session topic focus on the millennial student)
• Plenary: "You Are Not in Kansas Anymore: How Law School Orientation Programs Can Help Students Fly Over the Rainbow" [By Professor Paula Lustbader]
• Courses, Teaching Methods, Curriculum and Student Needs
• Plenary: "The Comprehensive Law Movement and its Relation to Humanizing Legal Education" [By Professor Susan Daicoff, author of author of Lawyer Know Thyself: A Psychological Analysis of Personality Strengths and Weaknesses, on my list of recommended books in the left side bar]
• Students, Service Learning and the Comprehensive Law Movement

Looks like attendees will spend a very busy and productive couple of days. There is no conference fee and many of the meals are provided. Space is limited and only a few slots remain. If you are interested, sign up right away to secure one of the slots.

An event in DC, another in Santa Fe, and one in the past: Complexity, conflict, future, mediation, theater, Aikido, and negotiation

My colleague and friend Irene Sanders is presenting at a Smithsonian event Creating a Sustainable Future in a Complex World on October 27, 2007.  (I have interviewed Sanders here at idealawg.) The event's description reads in part . . .

Change always occurs for a reason, in response to something else. We may think that change happens so rapidly in our world that we can’t influence it. But we can and do.

This seminar addresses the question of how science and government work together to bring about a future where freedom, privacy, and progress converge to offer security and opportunity. Through multimedia presentations, experts and scholars show how various disciplines—including biology, economics, physics, information sciences, and politics— converge at critical points to effect change, or co-evolution. This is a fundamental principle of complexity theory.When we understand how these processes work, we can participate in creating a sustainable future, not only locally but globally.

A second event is occurring in Santa Fe. On September 24 through 28, 2007, Gini Nelson of Engaging Conflicts is giving a seminar Being Human: Exploring Our Blind Spots and Biases. Nelson writes . . .

Upcoming teleseminar includes Gerry Riskin, Larry Bodine, Gina Sauer, and Ed Poll

The Lawyer Mastery Tele-Summit 2007 is being held March 26 - 30. From the Summit Web site:

Are  You Ready To Experience The Success, Freedom, And Satisfaction Of A 21st Century Lawyer?

Discover How A New Wave Of Law Professionals Are Breaking Down Barriers...

... And Building More Profitable Firms, Boosting Their Income And Careers Faster, Serving Clients' Interests Better, Lining Up Their Work With Their Values, And Still Having Plenty Of Time And Energy To Enjoy A Personal Life At The End Of The Day!

Announcing The First Annual Lawyer Mastery World Wide Tele-Summit: Will You Be Joining 9 Of The Law Profession's Brightest Leaders As They Reveal The Cutting Edge Tools, Knowledge, And Trends Shaping A Happier, More Successful Life For The 21st Century Lawyer?

A supreme invitation and dispute resolver: "Please tell me your story"

In the Summer, 2006, issue of yes! is an article about the healing use of soap opera in war-torn places. I link to it because it is another testimony to the influential power of storytelling. I have talked about the role of storytelling in law firms for "mentoring, marketing, managing, more."

From "Can Soap Operas Save the World?":

As literary scholar Barbara Hardy has noted, “We dream in narrative, day-dream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, doubt, plan, revise, criticize, gossip, learn, hate, and love by narrative.” In short,we humans are creatures of story.

The persuasive role of disputants hearing each other's stories is known to most skillful resolvers of conflict.

When two enemies truly hear and understand each other’s stories, they discover their shared humanity. And that, says Marks, is the common ground they can build on.

Note (added June 21, 2006): Please take a look at an aligned post by Diane Levin at Online Guide to Mediation.

Relis finds evidentiary support for the value of bringing plaintiffs and defendants face to face, despite the efforts of counsel to keep them apart.