The New Lawyer

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 Yet structural changes within both the justice system and the legal profession have rendered the “warrior” notion outdated and inadequate, with a shift toward conflict resolution rather than protracted litigation.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.