Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Criminal Law Practice, and Relationship-Centered Lawyering

Abstract

This brief essay, prepared for a Chapman law school conference on therapeutic juriprudence and problem-solving courts, suggests that a therapeutic jurisprudence approach to criminal lawyering is consistent with notions of zealous advocacy, and that such an approach to criminal lawyering also fits nicely within an emerging framework of 'relationship-centered' lawyering. Relationship-centered lawyering is consistent with client-centered lawyering in exactly the same way that therapeutic jurisprudence lawyering is consistent with zealous advocacy: both approaches add a rich, interdisciplinary, and holistic ingredient to the traditional approach. Moreover, in the criminal law context, a relationship-centered approach will encourage therapeutic jurisrudence thinking to examine the role of the prosecutor, an area that has thus far not attracted sufficient academic attention. The present essay provides some examples from the prosecutorial arena and urges further development of therapeutic jurisprudence studies along those lines.

Keywords: therapeutic jurisprudence, relationship-centered lawyering, criminal law, prosecutors