Note: This is the third installment in a four-part series of blog posts; you’ll find part one here, part two here, and part three here.

The notion that lawyers are in a unique position to restore peace is far from new.  Abraham Lincoln urged lawyers, “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.”

As practitioners we are called to tap our creativity and compassion to see beyond, around, and within the limited solutions offered by the law.   Peacemaking is more restorative, more involved, and infinitely more work than ending a lawsuit with a dollar figure, or a criminal case with a period of years.

About two years ago, Rachel Monaco-Wilcox took a bold step outside of the traditional estate-planning realm in which she had gained expertise and respect.   She had become increasingly frustrated with “the failure to implement appropriate legal solutions because humanness was being shoved into corners.”  Underlying relational conflict would be ignored, then it would surface; the legal work would be stymied.  She came to a place where she needed, in her words, to find a way to work in the law that was compatible with her gifts, or leave it altogether.  Rachel needed to rekindle the passion that led her to law school in the first place.

This kind of self-examination is, incidentally, foundational to peacemaking.  

A mediator must constantly ask:  What biases do I bring to this table? Can I move beyond them to mediate effectively, or must I honor my own integrity and the persons in this process, by referring the matter to another professional?   This is not unlike the process of evaluating one’s own career choices, as so many lawyers do throughout their years in the law.   What biases have I developed as a result of my work?   Am I able to objectively consider my choices?  If not, what help should I call on?

Rachel’s self-examination prompted her to train in mediation.  Now, Rachel helps people involved in an elder-related issues work through them with a very creative, flexible, and adaptive process.  That process builds upon the law, but instead of the law driving the conversation, a wise understanding of the law is incorporated into the solution.  

In any practice area, we can be agents of peace.  We can help others define their conflict, and act as a guide as they decide how and when it will be resolved.  We can offer a safe and creative space under the umbrella of the law, to foster peaceful resolutions and non-violent ways of arriving there.

I do not suggest peace at any price.   Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. had it right when he observed that justice is a condition precedent to peace.   More often than not, pursuing justice involves necessary disturbance of peace.   Great imbalances of power demand rectification, for peace to be just.

Some suggest that non-litigious ways of solving disputes subvert our legal system and erode the exercise of legal rights.  Old processes demand modification when they no longer fulfill the functions they were designed for, and our thinking must evolve.   The most important reason for pursuing peacemaking processes defies codification, or quantification.   It is simply this:  by showing the way and helping others to learn how to work together to arrive at their own solutions, we best honor their, and our, dignity.  

Consider.   A woman in her late 40s is ready to wash her hands and call adult protective services; she is so tired of trying to help her aging mom whose health is in jeopardy, but desperately wants to maintain her independence.   Their relational history is hard, and they are at an impasse, unable to speak to speak to each other without dissolving into argument and obstinance.  Enter Rachel.  After a mediation process involving pre-meetings and lengthy dialogue, they came to an agreement about Mom’s care.   This tentative step toward reconciliation changed their way of communicating, and the results went far beyond the care plan arrived it in the mediation.       

Peacemaking begins with ourselves.   The practice of law is under attack from within.   We need only look at the large number of blogs, websites, and social media populated by lawyers lambasting the profession, or decrying money “wasted” on their law school education.  Books and consultants for lawyers about how to reshape career, or get into another one, abound.   Looking at the profession in a new way may breathe life into a lawyer’s waning spirit.

In the beginning of this four-part series, I talked about my pre-law school sense that there was “something more” to the practice of law than simply knowing and applying the law.   The “more” is recognizing that there are many, many solutions to the same problem, and the law provides only a piece of that puzzle.   The “more” is being a good steward of the respect people and society afford us.   The “more” is honoring the dignity of all persons.  The “more” is a commitment to changing society for the better.   The “more” is understanding when and how to call upon our skills as counselors, advocates, peacemakers.   The “more” is being deliberative about our careers, taking the time to figure out the highest and best use of our gifts and talents.  The “more” is knowing that You possess the Power of One, and it is formidable.