Audacious Visions Of A Better Future For Lawyer Well-being
The legal profession is globally facing an unprecedented mental health crisis and the layers of plaster that historically covered over the cracks is finally coming undone, exposing the fissures: alarming rates of lawyer stress, anxiety, catastrophic thinking, insomnia, substance misuse, depression, suicidal ideation- the list goes on. In the context of this tragic reality, is it audacious to envision a better future for lawyer well-being? I say it is not and what is more, it’s URGENT that we do so; it’s our moral and social responsibility to do so and I do not say this lightly, for humanity’s sake. Lawyer well-being impacts client well-being. Client well-being impacts those with whom they are in relationship with including children. During one lawyer’s career, s/he can serve thousands of clients, impacting hundreds of thousands in the ‘ripple effect’.
Audacity carries a two-pronged meaning. I say, how dare we have the audacity to continue damaging lawyers’ mental health and wellbeing by sustaining toxic law firm environments and combative adversarial systems that divide and separate, rather than connect and unite. How dare we aggravate our clients’ mental ill-health by inflaming conflict and prolonging litigation that serves to perpetuate this painful division and separation. The current endgame sustains the now antiquated and evidentially dysfunctional hierarchical pyramids of power ‘over’ people and the erection of sandcastles built on the foundations of wads of cash. This amnesia is costing us and generations to come, dearly. The shift to sharing power ‘with' people is here and the global movement is growing. I invite you to join and be a part of it.
I do not see this invitation to envision a better future for lawyer well-being as enterprising but rather, as an invitation to reconnect to our intuition, to our Higher Self, and to awaken to the ancient wisdom we buried and forgot, which is that we are one global interconnected human family- what affects one, affects us all. We deserve the best quality of life experience possible during our relatively short lives, which can only be attained if we acknowledge, address, and heal (in our context), through the legal justice process, our and our clients’ mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health.
My personal bold response following my own burnout was to open the first holistic law firm I knew of in Gibraltar in 2013, (www.amberlaw.com) to many a raised eyebrow. My vision for the future of lawyer well-being is that all existing holistic and therapeutic models of legal practice become the norm across all fields of law, globally. These include collaborative law, restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, mediation, problem-solving courts, preventative law, circle processes, and so on. Here, lawyers’, judges’ and clients’ well-being are not only prioritised but the end goal. Attaining justice is framed as attaining peace within through self-care practices that restore mental health and well-being, which consequently creates a safe space for compassion, empathy, forgiveness, and peace in relationship with others. This leads to conflict being more easily diffused and legal problems being resolved creatively away from court rooms.
What I know is possible, is justice as a return to our natural states throughout the experience of the legal process, where conflicts and legal disputes are seen instead of something to fear or an obstacle to overcome, as gifts, as opportunities for a gentle intervention to heal the wounds of the past that trigger the negative behaviours that lead to the harsh and damaging circumstances of the present.
In my and other’s holistic approaches, as lawyers we can achieve a more perfect justice by first restoring harmony, ease, and balance within, so that we can better serve and hold space for our clients to awaken to and heal their own trauma, the root cause which manifests as conflict in their relationships with others- hence, legal disputes. A more meaningful law practise grounded in values and virtues, creates a life aligned with our soul’s true purpose. Dis-ease is just a reminder that we have temporarily fallen out of our true selves. Being at ease, in health and well-being is our true nature. As lawyers we are guardians of our own and others’ well-being.
How can we achieve this?
1. By creating law offices as havens where we practice self-care routines integrated into our workday, such as breathing exercises and meditation ahead of opening hours; body scans, physical yoga stretches and hydration in between client meetings; practice mindfulness at client meetings and in court; and energy cleansing rituals at the end of each workday. Investing just a few minutes at each interval changes the energy with which we show up for ourselves and our clients.
2. By designing a safe space where clients, their trauma and pain are seen, heard, and acknowledged and an opening for healing the wounds of the past that are conditioning their present difficult circumstances, is supported by healing professionals who are an integral part of the law firm team in a multi-disciplinary approach.
3. By collaborating with like-minded lawyers to guide our respective clients away from the battle fields of hostile court rooms to non-hierarchical, gentle, round table/ circle processes of dispute resolution where all may collaboratively reach agreements and all are treated with dignity, compassion, respect, empathy, and non-judgment.
4. Where ‘winning’ means lawyers and clients have embarked on a journey of awakening to themselves, receive insights about the why the legal dispute emerged and are taught the tools necessary to become empowered to make better decisions about their future from a space of mental clarity and healed hearts.
My hope is that by shifting our concept of ‘law practice’ and ‘justice’ from the dualistic approach of ‘winners and losers’ to one of non-judgment, unity, and non-duality we work towards outcomes where we see each other first as human beings. Many of us are carrying our wounded inner child crying out for healing, and together we can raise the collective vibrational healing frequency: as John F Kennedy said, “The rising tide lifts all boats”.
As lawyers and our clients' guardians, let’s have the audacity to bring more light and love to this world.