The Comprehensive Law Movement
by Associate Professor Susan Daicoff

The rapid development of several seemingly unrelated disciplines in the last decade of the twentieth century heralds the emergence of a new era in the law -- one in which law and legal practice may be more humane, humanistic, healing, restorative, curative, sanative, therapeutic, beneficial, interdisciplinary, collaborative, and comprehensive. In this new era of "comprehensive" law and lawyering, law seeks to optimize the effect of laws and legal action on people, theirrelationships, communities, and society. Lawyers thus may function as more positive and creative agents in the lives of their clients and in society in general.

This new era may be emerging in response to widespread dissatisfaction, both within and without the legal profession, with law's traditional approach to resolving legal problems. It increasingly has become evident that clients, society, and attourneys are equally dissatisfied with lawyers and with the American legal system. Clients complain about their lawyers, about the system, and about the outcomes of legal processes. About one in five lawyers is dissatisfied with his or her work. About one in five lawyers is even psychologically impaired by clinically significant levels of mental distress. In fact, there is a "tripartite crisis" in the legal profession, consisting of a decline in professionalism among lawyers, low public opinion of attorneys, and lawyer dissatisfaction and distress.

Traditional, extralegal dispute resolution mechanisms in society have failed and we have become overly dependent upon litigation to resolve interpersonal conflicts. As a result, society is suffering from the effects of relying too heavily on law's adversarial, other-blaming, posturing, and hostile approach to conflict resolution. Anecdotes abound about minor interpersonal disputes that erupt into full-blown litigation, rather than being resolved via a simple apology or heartfelt interpersonal interaction.
Fortunately, a number of alternative approaches to law and legal practice are developing to replace the current system's monolithic reliance on adversarial litigation. I characterize these alternative approaches as "vectors" of a "comprehensive law movement," because I see them all as moving towards a common goal -- that of a more holistic, humane and psychologically optimal way of handling legal matters. The vectors include: preventive law, therapeutic jurisprudence, creative problem solving, procedural justice, holistic justice, collaborative law, restorative justice, transformative mediation, law and socio-economics, affective lawyering, and the specialized court movement. Most have developed since 1990.

The vectors converge in seeking to optimize the wellbeing of people, interpersonal relationships, communities, and society. The emotional and psychological consequences of law and legal processes are evaluated. Lawyering takes a more holistic approach to solving legal problems, often taking into account people's needs, values, resources, emotions, and relationships. Bridges are forming between the vectors and hybrid disciplines are evolving from their integration. If this synthesis continues, a widespread movement in the law towards a more humane process will coalesce. It could ultimately result in a vast transformation of legal practice, legal education, dispute resolution, and thus society in general.

Only a handful of American law schools offers courses relating to the movement and its vectors. Florida Coastal School of Law, due to its unique mission and dedication to innovation, is poised to be a leader in legal education with respect to this exciting new movement. FCSL, which always has offered cross-disciplinary skills training for law students, has included "comprehensive law" in its curriculum. Comprehensive law's specific, multi-dimensional training introduces students to innovative means of lawyering, that hopefully will prepare them for the practice of law in the twenty-first century.