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Holistic Philosophy Law Practice Mindfulness

Legal Problems as Transformational Opportunities

America appears largely entrenched in an approach to life that emphasizes immediate remedies to unpleasant feelings and situations. Visit most physicians complaining of anxiety, sadness, or digestive problems and you are likely to leave with a prescription for some pharmaceutical remedy. If sitting in boredom wondering where one’s life is going, it is easy enough […]

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Holistic Philosophy

Client Tip #4: Always Know Who Is Working On Your File

Over the past few decades, the predominant structure of law firms in the United States has been a multi-tiered hierarchy that most highly compensates firm owners (or partners) at the top of the hierarchy who are successful in generating new clients for the firm. Most often, the business generated by these “rainmakers” is channeled down […]

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Holistic Philosophy

Client Tip #3: Shed the Victim Mentality

The vast majority of legal problems share a common denominator: a sense that another has violated one’s sense of how things should be. If you are a party who believes you have been wronged, there may be a tendency to point towards the other as an example of the unfairness of life, or how others […]

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Holistic Philosophy

Client Tip #2: Let Go of the Ego

Legal disputes, almost by definition, upset our egoic notions of how life “should” be. Another person or corporate entity has done something that does not square with our ideas of how things should operate, or things that we have done somehow violate the standards or expectations of another, or those of society at large. Moreover, […]

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Holistic Philosophy Mindfulness

A Temporary Restraining Order – For Your Mind

In the context of preparing for a hearing on a civil harassment restraining order, it occurred to me that on a basic legal all that most of us want is a life in which we feel free to interact openly with our environment – the freedom to go where we want and be who we […]

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Holistic Philosophy Mindfulness

Client Tip #1: Surviving Legal Problems

As an individual facing legal issues or decisions, you may be struggling to reconcile the way your life is with long-held conditioned beliefs of how life “should be.” Your current life situation may include the breakdown of a marital relationship, job loss, loss of freedom, financial difficulties, or physical injury. While these are all painful […]

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Holistic Philosophy Mindfulness

A Holistic Approach to Debt

The degree of financial overextension in America represents the intersection of cultural conditioning and personal responsibility. For most of us, the American Dream was inculcated early in life, instilling the idea that if we got an education, worked hard, etc., then our lives would take shape in a way “better than” that of our parents, […]

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Holistic Philosophy Mindfulness

A Holistic Approach to Divorce

As with most other forms of human conflict, divorce can often trace its root to a disconnect of one or both partners to their core sense of being. This disconnect was likely present at the time the couple met and, in most cases, has persisted either saliently or always lurking in the background throughout the […]

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Holistic Philosophy Law Practice

Mindfulness, Thought, and Conflict Resolution

Much of traditional law practice, especially that involving litigation or conflict resolution, involves an attempt to understand past events in terms of “facts” recalled by involved parties, then analyzing these recollections in the context of legislation, regulations, or prior court opinions.  Because of this orientation, the first question an attorney is likely to ask of […]

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Holistic Philosophy

Pitfalls of the Adversarial System

Yesterday I received a series of e-mails form opposing counsel in a divorce matter (even the term “opposing” counsel has no place when trying to work through issues raised by a couple separating after more than ten years of marriage, but this is the recognized terminology). The e-mails were peppered with CAPITAL LETTERS, and the […]