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Attorneys for Spiritual
Advocacy (ASA) recognizes the need for a new way to resolve legal issues.
The traditional approach is outdated and disastrous, having been built
upon intimidation and fear. As a society we have developed effective tools
to deal with our emotional and medical problems. To resolve them, we recognize
the need to be personally involved. But for deep-rooted reasons, legal
problems have historically been the exception to the creative, rational
ways we handle other problems.
Staring the legal
issue in the face often produces the flight syndrome, causing clients
to employ the dump truck method. Most clients carefully dissect all evidence
of the problem from their otherwise contented lives, tuck the extraction
away in a huge envelope, plop it down on some lawyer's desk with a hearty
retainer, saying, "Here. Fix it and let me know when it's over"?
The dump truck method
is an expensive, risky way to go. Attorney services are expensive, especially
when the lawyer has to step in and do the whole job without any direction
or participation by the client. In spiritual advocacy, our clients partner
with us taking a responsible, hands-on, team-work approach to their legal
problems. This is one important way our approach differs from the traditional
practice of law.
A System that Intimidates
For almost as long
as the court system has been in place, people have complained about its
workings. The solutions handed down are not satisfactory. And handed down
is precisely the right terminology. You sit there for the most part, powerless,
waiting for the next round to mete out the next disempowering and dictatorial
consequence. As a result, the legal participants - the very people most
interested in their disputes - have very little to do with their cases.
Attorneys scoop up the problems, dress them with legal jargon and offer
them for legal determination. Then in comes Lady Justice to pick a winner
and loser. The result - the disputing parties are intimidated and often
outraged by the process.
The Tug-of-war
is Fueled
Each case usually
starts out as an emotional tug-of-war between two or more disputants.
They haven't tried or haven't been able to resolve their matter - so they
each bring in an attorney. The goal in bringing the matter to counsel
is to terminate the dispute. However, at this point the typical dispute
veers out of control - both emotionally and financially. Escalating factors
take over. Emotionally, your ego is inflated. You're fed up and you're
going to make your opponent pay for it. It's all your adversary's fault
and you're going to pay them back. Little do you realize that, in the
long run, it is you who pays.
Your opponent feels
the same way. Your respective attorneys jump on the egotistical bandwagon.
For them, it becomes a battle of wits. Drawing a weapon before your opponent
becomes a strategy. Each time one attorney unleashes a weapon, opposing
counsel retaliates with a bigger, better, and more expensive tactic. A
deposition notice summons up another deposition and an elaborate set of
written interrogatories. The drums pound, the elaborate battle dance proceeds
in stages, and each stage takes on grander proportions. The litigation
frenzy is in full swing. Emotions become highly charged. Egos rule. Paper
generates. Calendars fill up. Expenses soar. What was once your nest egg
is used by your attorney to conduct the battle. The result - legal participants
feel unheard and ripped off by a complicated legal system and by attorneys
who charge too much. The fact is, most people are not heard, the court
system is unduly complicated, and attorneys are expensive.
A New Way of Lawyer-Client Team Work
Unless we as a society demand that our lawyers work for us with
us, rather than for themselves, we will continue to see our legal
system deteriorate to a battleground where everybody ends up a loser.
Our legal system is not broken. It is certainly not perfect, but
with the transformation it has undergone over the past decade, it
is on its way to becoming a far better system. Our attorneys are
not unethical and self-centered. They are just lost in a system
that marks them as warriors. Now it is time for the legal consumer
to re-evaluate the way in which they approach the system. It is
time to quit pointing fingers and start personally and intelligently
responding to legal issues. Each of us must take on this responsibility.
The spiritual or holistic orientation toward law offers each of
us, lawyers and clients, the opportunity to transform the way legal
issues are handled.
Our Way of Advocacy
ASA is built upon these principles. Initially, we meet with you
and intelligently discuss the issue at hand. In this session the
history of the issue is the focus as well as what you would like
to see as its outcome. At the next meeting we express legal opinions
in a straight-forward conversational way and discuss the many ways
to resolve the issue. Law is not difficult or intimidating if it
is presented in a succinct way. The many ways of team work are discussed
and commitments are established as to how we will partner with you
in your case. Your legal, emotional, financial and personal interests
are identified and set as priorities in your matter. We work with you in any way we can to best fit your needs. One of our
most important objectives is to tailor our services to your budget
and your requirements. We are known to mentor clients through self-representation
and small claims representation. We can provide as much or as little
as you want. Our services are all about ease and empowerment, and
we do whatever it takes to achieve that end.
Don't think for a
minute that ASA's lawyers are timid, unable or unwilling to advocate your
dispute in a compelling, strenuous manner. We have been trained as legal
advocates and love nothing more than legal advocacy. We just practice
our legal advocacy in a more direct, socially responsible manner with
a high degree of client interaction. We also see our practice of law as
something more than fixing a legal problem.
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