Relationship-centered lawyering: social science theory for transforming legal practice

Susan L Brooks; Robert G Madden

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser -in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough. -Abraham Lincoln These words of Abraham Lincoln conjure up the the image of the "citizen lawyer", an image that is perhaps close to the idealized view that inspired many of us, and continues to inspire countless individuals to pursue the legal field. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor once stated that, at its best, the legal profession embodies three values: practical wisdom, civility, and, most importantly, good citizenship.' "A good lawyer understands that she is an officer of the court, a representative of organized society at its best. And a lawyer who is educated about the moral power of the profession can, in turn, be a teacher within society -passing on civic lessons to the next generation." As we embark on the twenty first century, the legal profession is experiencing a deep and widespread yearning to recapture the past images of esteemed lawyers, and at the same time, to articulate a forward-looking vision of the lawyer that mirrors the dramatic changes that have occurred within this profession as well as in our larger and increasingly global society. This yearning is reflected in the convergence of a number of movements that have swept across a wide swath of the legal profession -from practitioners to the judiciary, to researchers/scholars and to legal educators. These movements have taken on different core challenges: How can the law more consistently promote the well-being of its subjects? Is there a way to practice law preventively, similar to preventive medicine? Is there a way to make legal processes less adversarial, more humanistic, more responsive, or even transformative in a positive way for the participants? And, how can legal education be reformed to contribute to bringing about desirable changes in the practice and in the profession? This article represents an effort to compile and organize the responses to these challenges in order to create a unified and cohesive framework that we refer to as Relationship-Centered Lawyering. Taken as a whole, this collection offers a model of practice that directly responds to the call for a revitalized understanding of professionalism and professional training when it comes to the practice of law. A unique feature of this framework is its empirically tested scientific base. This relational approach is grounded in well-accepted principles and theories primarily drawn from the mental health fields of social work and psychology. Relationship-centered lawyering draws from theories of human development and social interaction, including family systems and attachment theories. They also include approaches to procedural justice, and models of practice, such as those focused on strengths, empowerment, and cultural competence.

Relationship-centered lawyering: social science theory for transforming legal practice

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Relationship-centered lawyering: social science theory for transforming legal practice

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