The New Lawyer, Second Edition

The New Lawyer analyzes the changes that are transforming the role of lawyers, the nature of client service, and how law is practised – including how lawyers seek resolution before trial – to stress the need for new approaches to lawyer/client collaboration if the legal profession is to remain relevant in the twenty-first century.

Julie Macfarlane is a distinguished professor and professor of law at the University of Windsor and the director of the National Self-Represented Litigants Project. She is the recipient of the David Mundell Medal for Legal Writing (2016), the Institute for Social Policy Understanding Scholar of the Year Award (2012), and the International Academy of Mediators Award of Excellence (2005). She is an active mediator and consultant on conflict resolution interventions, a public speaker, and an advocate for change. Her award-winning blog can be found at http://representingyourselfcanada.com/blog/.

Nancy A. Welsh, Professor of Law, Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania State University; chair of the Section of Dispute Resolution of the American Bar Association, 2016–17:
A provocative and hopeful vision of the ‘new lawyer’ who has chosen to embrace a more inclusive calling ... With Macfarlane’s guidance, it may be possible to reclaim the pragmatic nobility of the legal profession.

David Hoffman, founding member of Boston Law Collaborative, LLC; John H. Watson, Jr. Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School; and Boston’s “Lawyer of the Year” 2016 in the field of mediation:
The legal profession needs a wake-up call, and The New Lawyer resoundingly provides it. Macfarlane persuasively critiques the outmoded habits of the profession and lays the foundation for the new settlement-oriented, problem-solving approach to lawyering.

Andrew Pirie, professor, University of Victoria Law School:
For anyone who is considering going to law school, who is presently in law school, or who is already in legal practice, The New Lawyer is a must-read. Dr. Macfarlane paints a compelling picture of the future of lawyering and the significant role of legal education in helping create that picture. If the experience of my students reading the book at the University of Victoria is any indicator, Macfarlane’s description of the new lawyer will resonate with all persons interested in a progressive and honourable legal profession. The book might even signal an end to lawyer jokes!

Forrest (Woody) Mosten, collaborative lawyer and mediator; adjunct professor at UCLA School of Law; author of Collaborative Divorce Handbook (2009):
Building on her cutting edge research on lawyering, with The New Lawyer Professor Macfarlane has established her place as a leading thinker in the areas of legal access, negotiation, and dispute resolution. With an easy-to-read style breaking down complex and nuanced issues and the use of interviews with practising lawyers, Macfarlane eloquently educates the reader on the problems facing legal services and proposes workable solutions for the future. This book should be required reading for law students, practising lawyers, and policy makers in legal education and the organized bar.

Chip Rose, lawyer and mediator; director, The Mediation Center, Santa Cruz:
This is a remarkable book. I recommend it to all as a profound explanation of the somewhat glacial revolution in legal services that began in the 1970s. It is a landmark book that speaks to the entire legal profession about itself. Professor Macfarlane’s empirical research and laser-like observations show how the distinctive threads of legal and facilitative approaches to conflict interrelate and form the fabric that is emerging from their confluence. A real-life vision of a changing landscape.

Susan Hansen, Hansen & Hildebrand, Milwaukee; past president, International Academy of Collaborative Professionals:
This book is brilliant! Professor Macfarlane analyzes the changes in the legal profession as fewer and fewer cases go to trial and legal information (and misinformation) abounds on the internet. The New Lawyer is a fascinating analysis of the shifting public perception and expectations of lawyers as well as ways that the practice of law has changed in recent years ... This is an extraordinary research-based analysis of the past, present, and future of the role of lawyers in our society. Thought-provoking for anyone interested in the future of the legal profession.

Lorne Sossin, dean of the Osgoode Hall Law School, York University:
This updated and expanded edition of The New Lawyer is required reading for law students, lawyers, litigants, judges, and everyone else disillusioned by what the legal system has become. Julie Macfarlane’s key message – that there is a better way, focusing lawyers on dispute resolution advocacy and on the importance of solving people's problems rather than on winning cases – continues to resonate.

Andrea Kupfer Schneider, professor of law and director of the Dispute Resolution Program, Marquette University Law School:
In this fully updated version of The New Lawyer, Professor Macfarlane tackles the key issues of the day. Her intelligent analysis of the legal market, engaging storytelling, and savvy advice provide fascinating and necessary guidance to future generations of lawyers.