Systemic Change in the Legal Profession

[Editor's Note: These ideas will be presented (in much better form) and discussed at my presentation at the IAHL conference in May. For conference information: http://www.iahl.org/events?eventId=243996&EventViewMode=EventDetails ]

For the past decade, I've had the hobby of studying organizational development and social construction/transformation topics. Appreciative inquiry, spiral dynamics, values/strengths-based approaches, and many other theories are in my toolbox. I've applied these ideas to my work in the legal profession. Most of the time, I haven't shared the underlying theories and often I have mixed ideas from different disciplines into my models.

I've been working with Susanne Hoogwater. She's a graphic recorder: an artist who artistically captures what is going on in a meeting. She's also a lawyer and mediator who has combined all her skills into an amazing approach that you can read about on her website: www.peacemapping.com

A few weeks ago, I was describing my theory of the movement in law to Susanne so she could help create some graphics for Cutting Edge Law. A few days later, she sent me this video, which she said was very similar to the structure I'd been sharing with her.

Two Loops: How Systems Change from The Berkana Institute on Vimeo.

The video got me to thinking in a completely different way. What if I created something similar for Cutting Edge Law? With Susanne's artistic expertise, I've created a PowerPoint as an interim step. This was presented in February, 2011 at the retreat of the Project for Integrating Spirituality, Law and Politics in New York, and was very well received.

The presentation is still very rough and the slides don't cover most of the narration. The graphics will be tweaked to reflect what I've already learned from giving the presentation. Actually, there is a lot of work left to do but I'm going ahead and posting it here to stimulate feedback and further exploration. Please email your comments to me, post them on Facebook or on the site.

The Traditional Legal System:

What motivates the pioneers?

I think the motivation comes from a broad spectrum. On one end, there are those who are desperate. They change because they don't think they have a choice. Literally, they think it is change this or I will die! On the other end of the spectrum, there are the idealists who went to law school to make a difference and are determined to do so. They see the gap between the legal system they aspire to and the traditional model and they generate new models and ways of being in the law.

What values are the pioneers bringing to law?

What other values are missing from this list?

Combining the values of both the traditional and emerging system

The emerging models affect all level of transformation. For example, some focus on the personal transformation that is core to the transformation at all the other levels. In this diagram, we attempt to show the many models and approaches and to categorize them by the level of focus. We discussed how some of them hit more than one level but the graphic became too complex if we displayed that dimension. [For example, Contemplative Practices can come from the personal intention of addressing stress or can be a spiritual practice intended to save the world.]

Challenges and Opportunities for Actions:

Some of what Cutting Edge Law is doing: