Preventive Law

 

   The name says part of it. The focus of preventive law is like preventive medicine--anticipating problems and planning for them so that clients don't run into unnecessary legal problems or take unnecessary risks. It is also about assisting people by identifying legal rights they might not even know they have. 

 

     Edward Dauer, the Co-Founder and Past President  of the National Center for Preventive Law, has written about the inclination of lawyers to use the tools they know best. (There is a saying about how when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.)  When lawyers focus on litigation, everything begins to look like a lawsuit. If lawyers expand their "toolchest" to include alternative dispute and problem solving tools, the options for their clients also expand.

 

     This approach has many possibilities, especially in the corporate setting. Imagine a corporate legal department with a preventive law focus. Instead of focusing on litigation, the corporate attorneys would be focusing on educating staff to predict and prevent litigation. The attorney would be an integral part of the training and development effort. When Renaissance Lawyer's Carolyn Hansen worked for Ralston-Purina International, she reduced the department budget by one-third with this approach.

 

      There is a Preventive Law Reporter, a publication of the University of Denver School of Law. You can also check into www.NCPLAW.org or www.preventive-law.org  for more contact information.

 

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