Prof. Marjorie Silver of Touro Law Center has sent me the proofs of a book that she is editing, scheduled to be released in January 2017 by Carolina Academic Press. Titled Transforming Justice, Lawyers and the Practice of Law, the volume collects brave and insightful essays on the sometimes uncomfortable juxtaposition between teaching and practicing law on the one hand, and being a spiritually congruent human being on the other.
The publisher’s advance note provides:
Transforming Justice, Lawyers and the Practice of Law is a forthcoming anthology compiled by the editor of The Affective Assistance of Counsel: Practicing Law as a Healing Profession (Carolina Academic Press 2007). This new work is a collection of writings by participants in the Project for Integrating Spirituality, Law and Politics (PISLAP) and others actively engaged in transforming law, legal education and social justice into something that is collaborative rather than adversarial, that seeks to heal brokenness rather than merely resolve disputes, and that moves us toward The Beloved Community envisioned by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. more than fifty years ago. The book will showcase the abundant ways in which lawyers, judges, law professors and others are employing more communitarian, peaceful and healing ways to resolve conflicts and achieve justice. It is written for those who share similar goals and are eager to learn new ways to practice law and create a legal system that fosters empathy, compassion and constructive change.
PISLAP, referred to in the description, is part-community, part-movement that seeks to “develop a new spiritually-informed approach to law and social change.” It is a far-sighted and ambitious group of devoted and capable practitioners and academics whose work merits being on the radar screen of the legal community, and especially those of us who seek to practice in the field of resolving conflicts.
I am proud to be a chapter contributor to this volume and hope that it has a wide readership.
