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Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

First Page

263

Abstract

Family law practitioners play a delicate and important role in the lives of clients and their families. As lawyers, we have a duty and an obligation to listen to and understand the client's legal needs, while competently advocating to meet their goals and expectations. But how often do we really pay attention to the mental and spiritual needs of our clients to achieve their goal? Chances are we generally do not, since our own emotional baggage has been left unchecked. We have mastered the skill of tuning out the "red herrings" by trimming the excess, non-essential emotional noise that not only clouds our ability to properly frame the issues, but impedes our ability to have lunch before dinner time. We take diligent notes so we do not forget the important facts of the case, and create "to-do" lists of pleadings to file, issues to research, and items we want discovered. Our minds and fingers work quickly to conspire in "one-upping" our opposition as we aggressively purge our client's emotions on paper, and play the victim role at trial. But what if we paused for a moment to really know and understand our client's true needs beyond the scope of our duties as lawyers? This article invites family law practitioners to quiet our own souls by incorporating spirituality or mindful tactics into our own lives first. To go beyond the hourly rate, automated advice and performance, and dig deep inside ourselves to heal and increase our own level of awareness in order to extend consciousness to others. In doing so, we will plant a seed of long-term success and rewards for our clients, while nurturing and maturing the soul of the lawyer in the process.

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