New Lawyer, Second Edition

"An adversarial "client warrior" image dominates historical notions of the lawyer, and a commitment to "zealous advocacy" remains one of the core norms of the legal model. Yet structural changes within both the justice system and the legal profession have rendered the "warrior" notion outdated and inadequate, with a shift toward conflict resolution rather than protracted litigation. The new lawyer's skills go beyond court battles to encompass negotiation, mediation, collaborative practice, and restorative justice. In The New Lawyer, Julie Macfarlane explores the evolving role of practitioners, articulating legal and ethical complexities in a variety of contexts drawn from Canadian and American legal literature as well as from her own empirical research. The result is a thought-provoking exploration of the increasing impact of alternative, consensus-seeking strategies on the lawyer-client relationship, as well as on the legal system itself. This revised edition analyzes the impact of the huge rise in the number of self-represented litigants in family and civil court on the work of lawyers, including the particular challenges for lawyers working opposite parties without legal training. It presents updated research and extended discussion of the debate over access to justice, and the practical consequences for lawyers to address this issue (including the development of new legal service models such as legal coaching and unbundling of services). It addresses the expansion on legal technologies (including outsourcing, remote access, and online information) and their impact on both legal services and client expectations. The New Lawyer will be of interest to lawyers, law professors, law students, members of professional regulatory bodies, mediators, justice officials, and anyone who works with lawyers."--