Susan L. Brooks (Drexel), Reimagining Lawyering: Supporting Well-Being and Liberation, 52 Hofstra L. Rev. __ (2024):
Given the tremendous turmoil we continue to experience throughout the globe, the present moment calls on us as legal educators to reimagine how we teach and practice law to incorporate more heart-centered, purpose-driven, and embodied sources of wisdom. Our approach needs to center relationships and respect for the dignity of all human beings in mindful and wholehearted ways. This call to action brings to mind Tikkun Olam, a Hebrew term meaning “repairing the world,” which is similar to ideas in many cultures that encourage us to embrace the beauty and the brokenness, the light and the shadow in each of us, and devote our lives as much as possible to seeing and lifting up the sparks of light we find in ourselves and others.
To develop this idea of Tikkun Olam further, I offer four “Rs”: Relational Consciousness, our interconnectedness and interdependence with all beings; Radical Acceptance, seeing ourselves fully and acting with self-compassion; Realignment, the opportunity that is always present to “re-turn” or turn again toward our core values and aspirations regarding how we want to show up in the world; and Repair, concrete steps toward repairing past and ongoing harms, which is a necessary part of our responsibilities to ourselves and each other.
Toward these goals and aspirations, I have been developing a healing-centered approach to lawyering, which draws from the same collective sources of wisdom as Tikkun Olam and my previous work on “relational” and “wholehearted” lawyering. This approach also represents a framework and a set of guidelines for how we can reimagine lawyering. The six ingredients reflect a combination of perspectives, principles, and practices that can help support well-being and ultimately contribute to a culture of belonging and liberation among law students as emerging legal professionals: (1) contextualized, multi-dimensional lens; (2) relational worldview; (3) strengths orientation; (4) agency; (5) transparency and trustworthiness; and (6) safer/braver spaces.
