The AUJ say of Amber’s Holistic Law Model, “Perhaps the time will come when this approach is the norm”
Featured in the Alliance for Unitive Justice June 2022 Newsletter!
A growing number of lawyers who entered the profession in the last few decades are finding ways to practice law--and be fully grounded in connection while doing so. British Barrister, Acting Solicitor and Mediator Amber Turner who has practiced law in Gibraltar since 1998, opened Gibraltar’s first Holistic Law firm in March 2013. During the pandemic, in 2020, Amber set up a global platform so that law students, lawyers and clients globally could benefit from her unique well-being model of practicing law. For example, Amber describes how she connects with new clients in terms that "old timers" in the profession would have a hard time even imagining. They were trained to spend the first interview with the client listening for points they can include in their winning theory of the case. Amber approaches the first client interview like this:
"I begin by doing a short body scan and taking three deep nostril breaths which regulates my nervous system. This helps me be fully present for my client and to create a safe space of non-judgment for them. On meeting my client, I engage all my senses to take in what s/he is communicating non-verbally. What is their body language informing me about? What is the tone and pace of their speech? I feel into my own body as my mirror neurons create a direct internal experience of my client’s emotions, helping me empathize with what they are feeling. I am listening deeply with compassion. This all informs my questions and conclusions about my client and their case. I understand that my client’s mental, emotional, physical and spiritual states are often colored by childhood trauma, and these are intrinsic to the emergence of their legal problem or conflict.
"I consider what professional support they need as an opportunity (maybe the first ever) for a gentle, transformative intervention towards healing, for example: psychotherapy, animal assisted therapy, counseling, family constellation work? I may teach my client basic breathing techniques and the practice of mindfulness to support a shift from a ‘fight, flight, freeze’ state to a more relaxed state of mental calm. This reduces stress and anxiety, aids memory in the recollection of events about the case and empowers the client to make better decisions. We explore together (if possible and appropriate) creative ways of resolving the legal problem or conflict away from the court room, fully aware that adults and children can be (re-)traumatized by the adversarial ‘justice’ system. We may then either enter a private and confidential agreement, withdraw (any) claims filed in court or with the tribunal; or we may file a consent order reflecting the agreed terms."
Following her own ‘holistic’ approach, Amber has avoided contested hearings in many cases by using her system of connecting and referrals described above. Amber describes an exchange with the judge in one of her court attendances as follows (Gibraltar is a British overseas territory thus she refers to the judge as “My Lord”):
“One time, on attending at the Supreme Court the judge mentioned that I had not been before him for a while. I answered, 'My Lord, I pride myself on such periods of absence. It means that we are sensibly and sensitively settling cases amicably. If attending before your Lordship, this means that sadly, both my learned colleague (for the ‘other’ side) and I have failed our clients. Court ought to always be the very last resort'.”
Perhaps the time will come when this approach is the norm.