overalltalk2003

THE COMPREHENSIVE LAW MOVEMENT: Law as a Healing Profession: 

THE COMPREHENSIVE LAW MOVEMENT: Law as a Healing Profession Professor Susan Daicoff Florida Coastal School of Law

PREVIOUS RESEARCH: 

PREVIOUS RESEARCH Lawyer, Know Thyself – empirically-derived traits of the “lawyer personality” The Tripartite Crisis: deprofessionalism, low public opinion, lawyer distress and dysfunction Focus on solutions for atypical lawyers (e.g., those with an “ethic of care,” humanitarian traits)

ABA SURVEY - 1993Peter D. Hart Research Associates: 

ABA SURVEY - 1993 Peter D. Hart Research Associates

PUBLIC OPINION POLL - 1991: 

PUBLIC OPINION POLL - 1991

DEPRESSIONAmong Law Students & Lawyers: 

DEPRESSION Among Law Students & Lawyers

ALCOHOLISMPercentage of Alcoholic Drinkers: 

ALCOHOLISM Percentage of Alcoholic Drinkers

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESSBeck, 1995-96: 

PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS Beck, 1995-96 2.27%

CAREER SATISFACTIONSatisfaction With the Practice of Law: 

CAREER SATISFACTION Satisfaction With the Practice of Law

GROWING DISSATISFACTION?Summary of ABA/YLD Surveys: 

GROWING DISSATISFACTION? Summary of ABA/YLD Surveys

LAWYER DISTRESS: A Constant 20%?: 

LAWYER DISTRESS: A Constant 20%?

HOW LAWYERS DIFFER...: 

HOW LAWYERS DIFFER...

THE “LAWYER PERSONALITY”: 

THE “LAWYER PERSONALITY” competitiveness materialism; value economic bottom-line need for achievement; ambitious under stress interpersonal insensitivity “Thinking” MBTI preference “rights” orientation dominance aggressive under stress DRIVE 2 ACHIEVE INTERPERSONAL RELATING STYLE pessimism?

Testosterone Levels: Lawyers, Blue Collar Workers, and Other Professionals: 

Testosterone Levels: Lawyers, Blue Collar Workers, and Other Professionals

THINKING/FEELING (Myers-Briggs Dimensions - Richard, 1994): 

THINKING/FEELING (Myers-Briggs Dimensions - Richard, 1994) Lawyers - Male Lawyers - Female Most Males Most Females

“THINKING” vs. “FEELING”Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Dimensions: 

“THINKING” vs. “FEELING” Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Dimensions THINKERS: value justice, rationality, truth, & objectivity; decisions don’t reflect own personal values; can be cold & calculating; good problem-solvers FEELERS: value harmony, interpersonal rel’ps., praise & mercy; apply their own personal values to make decisions; seek to do what’s right for self & others; sensitive to the effect of decisions on others

MORAL ORIENTATION(Gilligan-Based Categories - Weissman, 1994): 

MORAL ORIENTATION (Gilligan-Based Categories - Weissman, 1994) 33% 17% 50% 22% 35% 43%

“ RIGHTS ORIENTATION” vs. “ETHIC OF CARE” Gilligan-Based Dimensions: 

“ RIGHTS ORIENTATION” vs. “ETHIC OF CARE” Gilligan-Based Dimensions RIGHTS: weighs conflicting rights & duties; seeks fairness, justice, & equality; maintains & applies rules, standards, & role oblig’ns. to arrive at clear, absolute answers CARE: contextual; focuses on harm to people; seeks to avoid harm, maintain & restore rel’ps. & protect others from hurt; decides by assessing relative harm to & vulnerabilities of parties

“NEW” Lawyer STUDIES: 

“NEW” Lawyer STUDIES Undergraduates more likely to acquit when defense attorney was aggressive & male Male and female trial lawyers’ testosterone levels higher than nontrial lawyers; lawyers’ levels like other white-collar workers’ but trial lawyers’ like blue-collar workers’ Lawyers evaluate options economically ($); nonlawyers swayed by psychological factors

“NEW” Lawyer STUDIES: 

“NEW” Lawyer STUDIES Private practice lawyers = prefer Introversion, Intuition, Thinking (NT); ISTJ, ENFP, INTJ ESTP, ISFP, ESFJ, ESFP Judges = prefer Thinking, Judging (ST); ISTJ, ESTJ ISFP Admin. Attorneys = prefer Intuition, Thinking, Judging (NT); INTJ, ENTJ Lawyers just like corporate executives (TJ)

“NEW” Law Student STUDIES: 

“NEW” Law Student STUDIES Interest in public interest work diminishes in law school Ethic of care is not the same as Feeling Pessimism linked to high grades & depressn (bad things all my fault; good things pure luck / ISG vs. EUS attributions) Optimism linked to low grades Introversion & Thinking linked to high grades

LINK BETWEEN PERSONALITY & SATISFACTION: 

LINK BETWEEN PERSONALITY & SATISFACTION “Thinking” Associated With Satisfaction: “Thinking” and “Judging” Associated With Greater Job Satisfaction Among Attorneys (Richard, 1994) Rights Orientation Correlated With Satisfaction: Rights Orientation Correlated With Career Satisfaction Among Female Attorneys (Weissman, 1994)

TRADITIONAL LAW PRACTICE: 

TRADITIONAL LAW PRACTICE Competitive Aggressive Ambitious Emphasis on winning (dominance) Rights-oriented Logical, analytical Materialistic, law-as-a-business

ATYPICAL LAWYER TRAITS: 

ATYPICAL LAWYER TRAITS “Feeling” Preference on MBTI Ethic of Care in Moral & Ethical Decisionmaking Altruistic Nonmaterialistic Collaborative Noncompetitive Nonaggressive

LAW AS A HEALING PROFESSION - The Movement: 

LAW AS A HEALING PROFESSION - The Movement Coalescing Extraordinary Fit With Atypical Traits 10+ “Vectors:” Transformational Mediation Creative Problem Solving -Procedural Justice Therapeutic Jurisprudence -Holistic Justice Restorative Justice -Collaborative Law Preventive Law -TJ/PL Problem Solving Courts -Law & Socioeconomics? Law & Spirituality, Mindfulness Meditation, …

March, 1998: The Vectors of the CL Movement: 

March, 1998: The Vectors of the CL Movement Therapeutic jurisprudence Restorative justice Holistic justice Problem Solving courts (DTCs, DV cts, MH cts, UFCs) Procedural justice Therapeutically oriented preventive law Creative problem solving Collaborative divorce law Transformative mediation Law & socioeconomics? Preventive law

PRECURSORS: Why now?: 

PRECURSORS: Why now? Shift to Post-Enlightenment philosophical values (connectedness, community) End of the Cold War (them vs. us mentality) Tripartite crisis in legal profession Societal overuse of litigation to solve problems Influx of women and others into legal profession

INTERSECTION of the Vectors: 

INTERSECTION of the Vectors Therapeutic jurisprudence Restorative justice Holistic justice Drug treatment courts; domestic violence courts; mental health courts Procedural justice Therapeutically oriented preventive law Creative problem solving Collaborative divorce law Transformative mediation Law & socioeconomics Preventive law OPTIMIZING HUMAN WELLBEING (harmony, healing, reconciliation, moral growth…) ”RIGHTS PLUS:” FOCUS ON EXTRALEGAL CONCERNS (needs, goals, beliefs, morals, resources, relationships, community, psychological state of mind …)

SubIntersections: 

SubIntersections Avoid Interpersonal Conflict & Litigation Share Equal Power Collaborative Therapeutic Interdisciplinary Consistent w/ Lawyers’ Own Morals

ORG’L CHART OF THE CL MOVEMENT - Plus: 

ORG’L CHART OF THE CL MOVEMENT - Plus Therapeutic Jurisprudence CreativeProblemSolving Holistic Lenses: Processes: Collaborative Law Restorative Justice Preventive Law Litigation & other judicial processes Facilitative Mediation Transformative Mediation Evaluative Mediation Arbitration Procedural Justice DTC’s; specialized courts TJ/PL Religious/Spiritual Traditional (win/lose – binary) Law & Socioeconomics Negotiation/Settlement

CHALLENGES: 

CHALLENGES Need for synthesis; divisiveness of vectors Ethics code’s emphasis on zealous advocacy Law’s traditional emphasis on individual rights CLP seen as paternalistic Need for addt’l training of lawyers Personality misfit for many lawyers Glacial rate of change in legal education Marginalization as feminine, female

PROPELLERS: 

PROPELLERS Low public & client satisfaction w/lawyers Low public opinion of lawyers Lawyer job dissatisfaction & distress Overuse of litigation as problemsolving strategy; litigiousness of society Societal need for better conflict resolution processes Philosophical shift towards “connectedness” Feminine values balancing masculine values

APPLICATIONS: 

APPLICATIONS Law school courses CLE for lawyers Post-graduate LL.M. programs Retooling of experienced, burnt out lawyers Attracting different personality types to law school Improving client and societal satisfaction with law and lawyers Improving society’s conflict resolution skills

CONCLUSIONS: 

CONCLUSIONS “Lawyer, Know Thyself” Goodness of Fit Between Personality and Practice Equality of Comprehensive Law Approaches and Traditional Law Practice

Thank you for viewing. All information derived from empirical studies conducted by others.Citations available on request or in my bibliography (on web page).: 

Thank you for viewing. All information derived from empirical studies conducted by others. Citations available on request or in my bibliography (on web page). Comments welcome - please e-mail me at sdaicoff@fcsl.edu