Amber Law Holistic Lawyer Movement

Bright Med Gibraltar World Music Festival- Celebrating the value of Convivencia - Coexistance

It was a pleasure to attend at Bright Med’s Gibraltar World Music Festival as well as at other events hosted this week. The music festival is powerful because it sees artists from countries otherwise at war or in conflict, playing together in peace and harmony, bringing to audiences that very message.

As a Lawyer – to be honest as a human being- signing up to experiences which enliven the soul and solidify values is in my view, a must. This is why I make space in the busy work diary for Bright Med’s annual music, talks, film events and workshops. Their vision is ‘convivencia’, or 'coexistence’ and peace; and this is what we as humans ought to be striving for, be it in our families, homes, workplaces and friendships- and I submit, what Lawyers, Magistrates and Judges ought to be striving for in our legal systems, through which thousands of people pass year on year.

Practising as a Barrister for almost 2 decades has meant hundreds of court attendances, where the space and parties involved in the dispute are, ‘divided’. I have always understood at a mental, emotional and intuitive level that this ‘opening stance’ is already harmful for all involved. It is anti-therapeutic from the start. The legal system does not lend itself, at least in the Family and Children context where I have been more engaged, to develop into a more therapeutic experience for the participants along the process. How can it do so, when the dividing line is drawn and the adversarial process is of itself, accusatorial, confrontational, oppositional and antagonistic?

This is why I developed a Holistic Legal Practice, established my own law firm and became an accredited Interpersonal Mediator, training under Mike Talbot, founder of UK Mediation. Families and children in civil matters do not belong in court rooms (I distinguish this from cases of violence and abuse where court attendances are of course, necessary- but I see these cases as ‘criminal’, rather than ‘civil’).

The celebration of ‘coexistence,’ unity, or peace, must in my view, be at the forefront of the minds of policy makers shaping a, ‘civilised’ and ‘progressive’ society. Many Academics, Lawyers, Magistrates and Higher Court Judges across the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK, have since the mid-1980s become agents for positive transformation, by bringing people participating in legal systems together and working with them towards the common goal of restoration, rehabilitation and healing in both civil and criminal contexts.

Bright Med’s ‘Convivencia', or ‘coexistence', is then in my view, a cultural, social and educational platform to engage with to bring about that very understanding, for people of all ages and stages of life and at different levels of life experience across the board, as well as across borders. I congratulate founders Yan Delgado, his wife Fatosh and their amazing team for their visionary work.

For further information, please contact: amber@amberlaw.com