Current RLS Cable Issue

My sincere apologies for the unreasonable and inexcusable delay in getting the Cable to you. I take full responsibility for not having gotten it out and especially apologize to those whose events have missed the exposure of publication. Several people have asked about it and I know that many of you count on it.

By way of explanation, I have had some exciting life transitions in the past few weeks. I never expected to take a law job again but I recently have joined the law firm of Peace-Making, www.peace-making.com. I can't tell you how much I am enjoying the practice of law again! And, as you all know, it keeps me busy. I am actually taking the Oregon bar exam in July, my fourth state bar exam since 1989.

Shortly after I took the job, I also experienced a computer crash and lost 376 valuable emails. Some of those included events for this calendar. So, this is a very sketchy but at least updated version of the Cable. Stay tuned. I will continue to update it as I recover information.

I am grateful for and to the Renaissance Lawyer Society board of directors for taking on so much of the responsibility, especially Donna Boris, Vice President, who led the way on planning our conference in Fort Lauderdale in February. I continue to be excited by all that is happening in the legal profession and proud of all of you for the contribution you make to transforming it. Warmest regards, Kim

IACP (International Association of Collaborative Professionals) is soliciting your ideas for speakers for their next networking conference in Vancouver, B.C. The conference starts on Friday, October 17th, 2003 and continues through to Sunday, October 19th, 2003. We are looking for both ideas for the conference as well as the names of speakers from your community who, in your opinion, have the vision and inspiration to make this conference a success. On Saturday, October 18th, 2003 we'll be meeting in the Wosk Centre for Dialogue which provides a unique forum for networking. See www.sfu.ca/dialogue for a view of this incredible site. Anyone interested should send me a note via email - pklaw@dowco.com.

Mindfulness in law on Saturday, Mar. 15, part of conference from March 14-17, 2003, Integrating Mindfulness-Based Interventions into Medicine, Health Care and Society, 1^st Annual Conference for Clinicians, Educators, and Researchers, sponsored by the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. Contact: http://www.umassmed.edu .

-April 3-6, 2003 San Francisco Bay Area Lawyers Retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, sponsored by the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. Contact: http://contemplativemind.org. The purpose of the gathering is to bring together members of the San Francisco Bay Area legal community, local legal scholars and clinicians, judges, mediators, and other legal professionals from the area to learn and practice meditation together. We’ll also explore contemplative practices such as yoga, Qi Gong, and walking in nature, and will consider key questions about the connections between contemplative awareness, social justice and law. The retreat will primarily focus on a type of meditation drawn from Buddhism, but the retreat is open to people of all religions or with no religious affiliation at all. There is no particular experience necessary to attend the gathering, other than an interest in learning contemplative practices and exploring these themes together. Anyone from the Bay Area interested in registering for the retreat can contact Heidi Norton at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, at heidi@contemplativemind.org, or visit our website at www.contemplativemind.org/programs/law.

June 19-21, 2003 . A workshop on Expanding Mediation Skills through Mindfulness and the “New Grid” at Pepperdine University Law School Institute for Dispute Resolution, taught by Leonard Riskin and Ferris Buck Urbanowski. Contact: Ms. Lori Rushford at Lori.Rushford@pepperdine.edu or 310/506-4655 or the website for Pepperdine University Law School Institute for Dispute Resolution, http://law-www.pepperdine.edu.

The Center for Mediation in Law offers the Mediation Intensive Training which provides both experienced mediators and those new to the field with the perspective and skills necessary to work within the Center's model of mediation. Participants learn what it takes to shift from a stance of advocacy to one of mediation - for professionals and parties alike.

Program highlights:

Reaching an agreement to mediate;
Establishing parties' responsibility for decisions;
Supporting each party's autonomy while encouraging mutuality;
Understanding fully each party's point of view while remaining neutral;
Dealing with conflict by enhancing understanding;
Employing analytic skills in clarifying issues and goals;
Integrating the law into mediation;
Generating bases for decision other than law;
Developing creative options that address differing needs and interests;
Working with parties' attorneys and other professionals.

The learning addresses the practical, theoretical and personal dimensions of integrating a mediative perspective into your practice. Format includes presentations, demonstrations and your active participation in case simulations. Dates and Fees: Mediation Intensive Training April 30 - May 4, 2003. The program fee is $1,025. Lodging and meals are an additional $325 (shared accommodations). Private rooms, if available, are at additional cost. Meals for commuters cost $160. Reduction in fee is available on the basis of economic hardship. Site: Bailey Farms, a residential conference center, 45 minutes north of New York City in Westchester County. To maximize the learning, they recommend that you stay at the facility. For more information go to http://www.baileyfarms.org/. The Mediation Intensive Training is conducted in collaboration with the New York Law School's Center for Professional Values and Practice. For more information http://www.mediationinlaw.net/.

"First Wednesdays" has been moved to Second Sundays! To be more accessible to law students, we have moved from the First Wednesday to the Second Sunday of each month. The next call is 9 to 10 Eastern/6 to 7 Pacific on Sunday evenings. To participate, call 620.584.8200, then extension 943399 at the above date and time. Second Sundays is a monthly conference call for law students around the world interested in participating in the movement to transform the practice of law and the legal system. For more information, email kevinginsberg@renaissancelawyer.com.

Pathways to Partnership." American Humane Association 2003 Conference June 4-7 Minneapolis, MN. The 2003 Conference is the opportunity for anyone interested in family group decision making (FGDM) to build partnerships to advance this invigorating way of engaging families in creating solutions to concerns that impact the safety, permanency, and well-being of children, young people, and their families. The deadline to submit an abstract is November 1, 2002. For information on the 2003 Conference, please visit AHA's website at http://www.fgdm.org/.

Touro Law Center in Huntington, New York, will be the site for a unique Conference on April 6^th-7^th: Lawyering and its Discontents: Reclaiming Meaning in the Practice of Law. The Conference will bring together interested practitioners, judges, and academics involved in what Professor Susan Daicoff has coined the Comprehensive Law Movement. It includes Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Collaborative Lawyering, Transformative Mediation, and other approaches that aim to transform the practice of law into a force that is healing rather than hurtful. Participants will explore factors that have contributed to lawyer distress and client disappointment, as well as a variety of personal, professional and institutional approaches to dissipating that distress. When lawyers find ways to practice law that optimize their clients' well-being and their own, they can recapture the moral vision that originally attracted them to the law and find joy and meaning in their practices. For more information, and to register, please visit our website: www.tourolaw.edu/complaw.

International conference on Psychology and Law, with streams relating to TJ and RJ. Edinburgh, Scotland. July 9-12, 2003. This is the second international psychology and law conference supported by the APLS, EAPL (and now also the ANZAPPL). As at the first, in Dublin 1999, there will be streams of papers on or relevant to TJ and RJ. The theme for one day (not precluding streams on other topics) will be 'Alternative Justices' and there is likely to be a pre-conference course on 'Problem-Solving or Specialist Courts.' For further information see: http://www.law.arizona.edu/depts/upr-intj/www.law.soton.ac.uk/bsln/psych&law2003/ Coordination of Therapeutic Jurisprudence papers and symposia for the International Law-Psychology Conference: Dr. Barbara Sturgis (email: bsturgis1@unl.edu) of the University of Nebraska has agreed to coordinate the submission of abstracts for proposed papers and symposia relating to TJ.

Maureen Holland, a board member of the Renaissance Lawyer Society, has also been invited to present at the Weaving the Future of Peacemaking Conference and Expo, Weaving the Future of Peacemaking Conference and Expo, scheduled for April 3-7, 2003 at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel, Atlanta Georgia. http://www.apeacemaker.net/.

11th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONFLICT RESOLUTION
"Sharing Tools for Personal/Global Harmony"

AT A TIME OF PROFOUND CRISIS - a time that calls for new thinking, new vision, new understanding, and new ways of relating in an increasingly interdependent global community. We invite you to join an international gathering of leading thinkers, peace activists, and healers making a difference in their communities, their societies, and the world by building capacity for peaceful relationships.

May 8 - 18, 2003 St. Petersburg, Russia
(Formal conference program May 9-14)

Sponsored by Common Bond Institute (USA) & HARMONY Institute (RUSSIA),
in cooperation with Association for Humanistic Psychology

JOIN over 50 presenters and hundreds of participants from around the world for another dynamic program.
http://ahpweb.org/cbi/home.html

~ Continuing Education Credits available ~

A multi-disciplinary/multi-cultural conference that has received support from Former President Clinton, Former President Yeltsin, St. Petersburg Governor Jakovlev, and is endorsed by over 70 leading-edge organizations and universities internationally. Part of the Hague Appeal for Peace Civil Society Calendar. - OPEN TO ALL.

This joint US/Russian sponsored event FOCUSES ON all aspects of conflict transformation, from the intrapersonal - to the interpersonal - to relationships between groups, organizations, cultures, and societies - and ultimately between us and other species.

PRESENTATIONS explore conflict resolution within diverse contexts, including: arts/creativity, cross-cultural/ethnic, ecology/environment, economics/business, education, gender, global/regional conflict, health/healing arts, human rights, organizational/community, psychology/psychotherapy, and transpersonal/spiritual.

In addition to the variety of topics being addressed this year is an increased emphasis on the dynamics of Terrorism and "The Other" throughout the world, Trauma, and issues in the Middle East, South Asia, and Balkans.

Many opportunities are offered for hands-on practical skills training, sharing of programs and curriculums, intensive dialogues on theory and perceptions of conflict and resolution, important networking and collaboration, and a powerful intentional community experience. Participants have come from over 60 countries and all continents, providing excellent opportunities for important networking contacts between peace builders representing many organizations and societies. The program attracts individuals in key positions in their respective societies, some from both sides of existing conflicts, who can model and teach these skills to many others.

6 DAYS of all-day institutes, workshops, roundtables, and community meetings. 55 program sessions, and a full slate of evening activities and social / cultural events.
4 DAYS of pre- and post-conference cultural events, tours, and professional visits and meetings in St. Petersburg during the 300 year celebrations.

NOW MORE THAN EVER, WE INVITE YOU to join us in endorsing nonviolence in the world and sharing the methods to achieve it.

For Information, Proposal and Registration forms, CONTACT:
COMMON BOND INSTITUTE (USA),
Steve Olweean, Conference Coordinator
12170 S. Pine Ayr Drive, Climax, Michigan 49034
Ph/Fax: 269-665-9393 E-mail: solweean@aol.com
Full details available at WEB SITE: http://ahpweb.org/cbi/home.html

Would you like to host a Renaissance Lawyer gathering in your area? It can be as simple as a potluck or a meeting in a restaurant with like-minded lawyers who are doing their part to transform the legal system. It is a great way for collaborative lawyers to meet restorative justice practitioners and transformative mediators to meet holistic lawyers. Email Kim to connect with others in your area.

First Wednesdays: Law Student Salon will resume in March. See Humanizing Legal Education, above. Contact Kevin Ginsberg at kevinginsberg@renaissancelawyer.com for details.

If you wish to have an announcement or share an event, please email CableSubmissions@renaissancelawyer.com. We retain the right to exclude anything we think doesn't apply to transforming the practice of law.
Edited by J. Kim Wright.