A 'Lawyer for All Seasons': The Lawyer as Conflict Manager

52 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2011

See all articles by Michael Thomas Colatrella Jr.

Michael Thomas Colatrella Jr.

University of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law

Date Written: September 13, 2011

Abstract

This interdisciplinary Article explores why interpersonal conflict management principles and skills are essential to good lawyering and, thus, why law schools should teach these principles and skills to all their students. In demonstrating the immense practical value an understanding of interpersonal conflict management principles and skills have in the practice of law, this Article examines case studies involving organizations that have dramatically reduced legal costs, among other benefits, by abandoning a solely legalistic approach to conflict and embracing conflict management principles. The lessons learned from these studies and the interpersonal conflict management principles that underlie them support the idea that the legal profession’s transformation from one that emphasizes a narrower legalistic approach to one that embraces a broader conflict management approach applies to all lawyers and benefits all clients.

Keywords: Legal education, Dispute resolution, Conflict resolution, Conflict Management, Conflict, Interpersonal conflict, Alternative dispute resolution, Legal costs, Case method, Legal profession, Legal skills, Organizational conflict

Suggested Citation

Colatrella Jr., Michael Thomas, A 'Lawyer for All Seasons': The Lawyer as Conflict Manager (September 13, 2011). Pacific McGeorge School of Law Research Paper No. 11-04, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1926455

Michael Thomas Colatrella Jr. (Contact Author)

University of the Pacific - McGeorge School of Law ( email )

3200 Fifth Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95817
United States

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