Launch of CuttingEdgeLaw.com Around the Corner & Summer New Lawyer Tour is Underway!

The New Lawyer Tour: Catalyzing a Movement

The Movement
Law is undergoing change toward a more holistic, humanistic model. This change is evolving in all areas of the law and takes on many faces. In the past ten years, over 10,000 lawyers in most states and around the world have been trained in collaborative law, a model used to help divorcing couples reach amicable resolutions. Restorative justice is a worldwide movement focused on healing the harm of crime, with hundreds of programs including inside the Department of Corrections in eighteen states in the U.S.. Thousands of problem-solving courts take a healing approach to crime and social problems, focusing on getting to the bottom of problems like drug-related crimes, homelessness, mental health-related crimes, by treating and providing support for overcoming the core issues. Lawyers are learning new skills for bringing people together, solving problems, resolving conflicts, and finding alternatives to battle.

While in some ways, the change has been rapid, given the urgency of addressing many of the world's problems, these changes can't happen fast enough. There is perhaps no more pressing a time in history, as we stand witness to global unrest, earth changes, and a volatile economy, that our focus, as a society, shift toward working together. As politicians, community leaders, advisers, board members, and trustees, lawyers are among the most influential members of our society, yet their intelligence and skills have often been misplaced in polarizing people. They’re miserable (they compete with dentists for the highest suicide rate) and their clients are miserable. From the despair of polarization, many lawyers have discovered that there were alternatives.

Some created those alternatives (like Stu Webb who created collaborative law) and others have discovered the alternatives and transformed their lives and practices to incorporate new ideas and trends. While positive and innovative trends are reported in mainstream media from time to time, the depth and breadth of the movement toward a legal profession focused on peacemaking, problem-solving, and healing conflicts has not been showcased. Many lawyers don’t yet know about the expanded options available to them. These new approaches to the practice of law are more than a light sprinkling of innovation, this is a worldwide movement.

The Magazine

CuttingEdgeLaw.com provides a community gathering place for sharing experiences, ideas, and concepts that are arising within a movement in the law. It responds to the urgent need to report on these positive innovations in law. On our pages, lawyers who are pioneers know that they are not alone, that others are hearing the call to positive action and using their legal training to make the world a better place. They're expanding the time-revered roles of lawyers in creative and non-traditional ways that are more satisfying and contribute to making a difference in the world - while improving career satisfaction and life balance. Our content will educate mainstream lawyers about new concepts. It will give much-deserved attention to the pioneers in the movement. It will share tools to more fully integrate transformative and comprehensive law concepts into day to day legal practice. It will provide the space for critical examination of the issues confronting the lawyers who are stepping out and trying the new approaches, a community where ideas can be discussed and methods explored.

CuttingEdgeLaw.com is unlike the traditional legal trade magazines. Rather than focusing on the latest litigation victories and defeats, we will focus on the roles of lawyers as healers, peacemakers, problem-solvers, and champions for justice. We aren’t looking for the “Super Lawyers” who made $6MM on moving money between two behemoth corporations over a technicality but rather the lawyer who healed a conflict between two parents in a custody dispute or a lawyer who helped a murderer come face to face with the family of his victim and give them the gift of a sincere apology. We’re here to support the explorations and promote the most workable and inspiring options for the legal system. Imagine the legal system as a resource for creating whole, vibrant, loving communities? If we transform our practices, how do we reach clients? How do we earn a living on healing and peace-making when the world is used to viewing lawyers as a polarizing force?

Who We Are

Our publisher and managing editor, J. Kim Wright J.D., is a pioneer in the field of law as a healing profession. A graduate of the University of Florida College of Law, she passed the North Carolina Bar in 1994, her third bar exam and the only membership that she currently maintains. Still practicing law part-time, she understands the challenges and rewards of a new paradigm of legal practice based upon peacemaking, problem-solving, and healing conflict. She was the original founder of the Renaissance Lawyer Society, a non-profit organization of lawyers “supporting legal transformation and innovation”.

Since 1999, she has been speaking, writing, and interacting with lawyers about this new paradigm of law. In fact, she is widely recognized as one of the leaders defining and guiding the movement. In her work, she has met thousands of lawyers and has developed meaningful connections with key leaders who are influential with thousands of other lawyers. She has consulted with media, mainstream, professional and alternative. After years of working in the field, she identified the need for a central information resource and “virtual community center”. She began development of CuttingEdgeLaw.com in November of 2004. CuttingEdgeLaw.com brings her commitment to a new paradigm of law together with years of study of transformational technology, social change, conflict resolution, socially responsible business, human dynamics, neuroscience, and learning theory and provides a vehicle for her self expression. Kim also teaches as adjunct faculty of her alma mater, Warren Wilson College, in Asheville where she majored in Business Management and International Studies. Currently, she is traveling around the country and claims Asheville as her home base.

Our videographer, Michael Matthews, brings a broad skill-set and unique perspective. Majoring in philosophy and psychology at East Carolina University, he has always been curious about people and the world. After college he worked for a year and a half as a resident counselor at a Crisis Intervention Center before launching a three year adventure of hiking/hitchhiking around the US, and Canada, exploring different cultures and the wonders of the Natural World. He spent extensive periods of time living with Nature. He actually settled down and raised a family for a few years too - his daughter, Amanda, is his pride and joy.

Michael taught primitive survival skills to young people and adults for more than a decade, using the powerful metaphors of living with Nature to empower people in new ways. Along the way he added Energy Healing, Hypnotherapy, and Body Work to his self expression. His love of travel and exploring different cultures has taken him around the world. Michael has touched many lives with his teaching and healing wisdom.

And, he has always had his camera with him. He expanded his artistic range beyond still photography into Videography while working on a documentary short about Chiapas, Mexico which was shown at the first Asheville Film Festival and found that he loved video production, editing, and the power of that medium to tell stories that impact people in positive ways. A few months ago, in a conversation with Kim, he mentioned that if he could do anything he wanted to do; he would travel and make a documentary about people making a difference. Since Kim had been planning the world tour, one thing led to another and it became apparent that Michael was the perfect videographer for the job.

We are joined by a legion of supporters – from Lisa who is helping with paralegal duties in Kim’s absence to Woody & Jim, the Drupal wizards, two Steves who are also computer guys, and Jennifer L., our able editor who is now off to work on her graduate degree in non-fiction creative writing. Dozens of contributors have provided us with content so far and we're grateful to those who've allowed us to interview them.

The World Tour

The New Lawyer Tour aims to document and celebrate lawyers whose work distinguishes them as pioneers in peacemaking and champions of justice. Kim and Michael have already conducted conducting dozens of interviews with interesting, inspiring lawyers who are leaders and innovators. In many cities, our hosts are organizing gatherings of kindred spirit lawyers. We've learned from past experience that many of these pioneers do not know even those in their own cities. Connecting them is an important part of the world tour. The gatherings will fertilize the concepts behind the magazine and convey the message that the work being done by pioneering lawyers is not just in small enclaves but is actually a nationwide, even a worldwide movement. We have visited law schools and connected with key members of the Humanizing Legal Education group - which was recently recognized and validated by being named as a section of the American Association of Law Schools. We are filming along the way and posting edited versions of the interviews on You-Tube: www.youtube.com/cuttingedgelaw. When the site is up, these interviews will be organized and linked from our online magazine.

After our launch, Kim will blog about the tour and we’ll be issuing press releases and creating buzz along the way. We expect to enroll a number of bloggers on different topics to add to the content. And, of course, we aim to sign up subscribers, advertisers, etc. Since we’re already filming, we’re laying the groundwork to turn our film into a one-hour documentary. We intend to distribute this documentary to law schools nationwide as well as to major media outlets, spreading the seeds of the ideas in yet another way.

We are educational, informative and interactive. Our cutting-edge new media approach allows us to be a portal into this new paradigm of law, providing news feeds, You-Tube clips, and topical blogs, which allow for dialog where lawyers can be the leaders in bringing about a new kind of society.

Transformative Power of Conversations

Much of recent sociological and social change theory and research has been focused on the power of dialog, particularly of questions, as a tool for social transformation. Margaret Wheatley and Malcolm Gladwell are two authors whose work has influenced Kim's perspective on growing a movement. Kim has also studied Appreciative Inquiry, Partnership Explorations, Non-Violent Communication, and Kindling Group Magic among many other tools for using conversations to empower, enliven, and inspire. She takes that depth and breadth of knowledge into her interviews, evoking ideas that inspire action on the part of the speaker and listeners.

The Interviews

Ruth Rickard, a member of the board of the International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers, often says that there were 100 people who started this movement. Synchronistically, Renaissance Lawyer Society launched with 100 founding members. So, we've set out to find the 100 - many of whom are actual RLS founding members and some who were founders of the movement in spirit. We're going to ask these pioneers to tell their stories; share their challenges and insights; and talk to us about what they're up to next. Where is the cutting-edge of this movement going next?

Of course, the movement has grown to way, way more than 100. As we cross the country, we'll be looking for the next wave of early adopters, mavens, and innovators. We'll be interviewing many of those 10,000 collaborative lawyers, dozens of restorative justice advocates, therapeutic judges, community lawyers, authors, and representatives of all the many faces of the movement. As we conduct our interviews, we'll be looking for diversity of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, geography, practice area, position, and perspective. We'll interview the famous names in the movement, folks who have gotten lots of media attention, and we'll interview the folks who are known only in their quiet circles.

The Gatherings

As we've prepared for the launch of the summer tour, we've been amazed by the opportunities for interviews. The movement has grown to include thousands of lawyers, many in concentrated pockets. We could spend two weeks in Dallas, interviewing several people a day and we wouldn't have gotten beyond the tip of the iceberg. A month in San Francisco probably wouldn't be enough. We’re looking for ways to address the challenge of being as inclusive as possible. In some cases, we'll have group interviews and discussions so we can include everyone.

These gatherings offer another opportunity as well. Several years ago, Kim held potlucks in communities as she traveled. She discovered that she often knew dozens of pioneering lawyers in a city but that they didn’t know each other. Many lawyers thought they were alone even though there were kindred spirits right around the corner. These kindred spirits may potentially be new friends, trusted colleagues, or co-conspirators. So, as part of the tour, we have again been gathering lawyers. Where our schedules allow, we’ve been meeting with local lawyers in restaurants and in private homes. Connecting these kindred spirits is an important part of the world tour. The gatherings will fertilize the concepts behind the magazine and convey the message that the work being done by pioneering lawyers is not just in small enclaves but is actually a nationwide, even a worldwide movement.

Law School Visits

Bringing our movement to law schools is critical to its growth. As we have travelled, we have started to visit law schools and interview key leaders in Humanizing Legal Education, as well as the leaders who are helping to shape the New Lawyer. We will recognize the law schools that are finding creative ways to innovate and still maintain their high academic standards.

The Documentary

In the past, Kim has worked with several documentary and television producers and with the film studio and hopes to use these connections to further disseminate this information.

Ways to be involved

• Sponsorships
• Be interviewed/introduce us
• Places to stay
• Press contacts
• Advertising
• Write, blog, coach

For more information, contact us by email or by telephone - the information is in the footer.

Sample topics & content:

Restorative Justice (When Martin Luther King said “Justice is love correcting that which revolts against love”, he was describing restorative justice.)
Collaborative Law
Mediation that focuses on transformation of conflict
Therapeutic Jurisprudence which examines the healing opportunities of courts
Holistic Law
Creative Problem-Solving as a tool for resolution
Contemplative Practices connecting the lawyer with spiritual values and addressing the stress of law
Law & Healing for both lawyers & clients
Legal Coaching & Counseling as an approach which empowers the clients and uses lawyers as advisers
Preventative Law to identify and solve problems before they reach conflict
Community Lawyering where lawyers take on community problems like sub-standard housing
Humanizing Legal Education where law students learn to keep their feelings while learning to think like lawyers
Integrating Law, Politics & Spirituality
Problem-Solving Courts where multi-disciplinary teams work to get to the heart of issues like drug problems, homelessness, mental health and use courts to solve them.
Multi-disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Practices where lawyers work with therapists and other experts
Peacemaking
Lawyer Well-Being & Healthy Lifestyles
Lawyer Personality & Psychology
Lawyers in Relationships
Stress Reduction
Ethics & Professionalism
Cooperative Law
Conflict Resolution
Skills & other skills for a new paradigm of law like LISTENING to each other
Appreciative Inquiry
We are educational, informative and interactive. Our cutting-edge new media approach allows us to be a portal into this new paradigm of law, providing news feeds, You-Tube clips, and topical blogs, which allow for dialog where lawyers can be the leaders in bringing about a new kind of society.