legal sanity

Posted at 8:25 PM on June 3, 2004 by Arnie Herz

Lawyers as Everyday Peacemakers: Reframing

Lawyers as Everyday Peacemakers:
Reframing the Attorney-Client Relationship
for Optimal Conflict Resolution in the 21st Century and Beyond
by Arnie Herz

(As appeared in the February 2004 issue of ICM Update, a publicatoin of the Institute for Conflict Management)

As a resource of first resort for people in disputes, the legal profession is uniquely positioned to be on the 21st Century’s conflict resolution front line. For lawyers, opportunities for deescalating and ending conflict begin when prospective clients first walk in the office and continue as the legal process unfolds at the negotiating table, in a forum for alternative dispute resolution, or before judge and jury.

Unfortunately, these opportunities often go unrealized. Clients usually are unaware that, more often than not, there is a huge difference between the goal they pronounce at an emotion-filled initial consultation and what they really want to gain from the conflict situation. Equally unaware, and otherwise disinclined to think outside the box, lawyers do little to help clients pinpoint and pursue real goals – realistic, just, and reasonably attainable outcomes that meld the clients’ needs in the present with their hopes for the future.

Out of sync with such real goals, attorneys and clients end up investing an enormous amount of time, money, and emotion chasing superficial outcomes that do not meet the clients’ real needs. The waste of resources, the client dissatisfaction, and the attorney burnout born of this impaired dynamic have become so prevalent, that they are considered par for the course of doing business in our legal system. And, so, legal consumers and service providers alike have largely adapted to the malaise that plagues the profession.

But, there are a growing number of practitioners and academics who are trying to change the status quo of a legal industry that tends to kindle rather than extinguish conflict. Although aligned in different movements and organizations, they share the belief that it is possible to raise the bar and revitalize the lawyer’s role as a conduit for resolving conflict in a way that promotes the clients’ real interests and overall wellbeing. In this way, they see the potential for lawyers to become this century’s quintessential peacemakers.

As a practicing lawyer and mediator, I share this vision for the reformation of law as it is commonly practiced today. Without sacrificing vigorous and savvy representation or financial gain, legal service providers can better serve consumers and more effectively resolve conflict by reframing the hub and heart the legal profession – the attorney-client relationship.

Reoriented for optimal health, the attorney-client relationship is a symbiotic one forged on a multi-step process of goal-setting and goal-attainment. Although it is more readily stated and understood in linear form, this process is essentially a fluid and flexible one, and its component steps can be revisited as attorney, client, or the evolving conflict scenario requires.

The first step in the process is helping clients identify real goals for the conflict they face. This step is pivotal because it ensures that the legal system is being engaged for good reason and in good faith. After trying to glean real goal options, the attorney-client team may find that none exist and that, consequently, perpetuating the dispute would be a waste of their time, energy, and resources.

Assuming that there is a real goal to pursue, attorneys move the process forward by compelling clients to recognize and surmount any hurdles caused by inner obstacles - distortions in the clients’ perception of the conflict at hand caused by the clients’ emotional state and reactive patterns. Once this roadblock is cleared, lawyers can then focus the process on overcoming any outer obstacles to goal realization, such as power imbalances between the parties or challenging points of law.

With inner and outer obstacles leveled, the next step in the process is making a goal-oriented game plan incorporating effective strategies and skills clients can readily understand and help implement. At the end of the dispute, attorneys lead their clients through the final step of getting closure by helping them contextualize the conflict and its ultimate resolution in terms of the clients’ larger life interests.

After becoming well-versed in how the attorney-client relationship functions in peak form, all professionals working in the legal arena – whether lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, or judges – can find optimal solutions to the conflicts brought to them. As a result, client and attorney satisfaction grows and the legal profession revives and thrives as a vehicle for everyday peacemaking in the New Millennium.