The Other Inside Us: On Culture-Sensitive Cause Lawyering
Tel-Aviv University Journal of Law & Social Change, Vol. 3, 2010
20 Pages Posted: 20 Oct 2011
Date Written: December 25, 2010
Abstract
This article discusses the cultural challenge posed by the provision of legal assistance to victims of domestic violence from among cultural minority groups. Due to the special nature of these groups, this kind of legal assistance must take regard of the particular cultural world of each victim, of her 'otherness', and of her special needs that require creative solutions. The article describes the dilemmas faced by lawyers who assist victims of domestic violence, which are greatly amplified when the latter come from cultural minority groups. Against this complex background, the aim of the article is to structure an innovative effective model of 'culture-sensitive' cause lawyering, based in part on principles drawn from models prevalent in the therapeutic field. This proposed model is accompanied by examples illustrating the need to place emphasis - already in the framework of theoretical and clinical legal education - on the development of skills and competencies borrowed in part from the therapeutic professions. The exposure of future lawyers to this 'other' conception of lawyering and the discovery of the other inside us, already in the early stages of legal education, has the potential to transform the law into a more humane and accessible social tool for the client. This approach accords with the perception of the law as an agent of therapeutic value to its audiences - a view which draws upon Therapeutic Jurisprudence and which runs like a thread throughout the article.
Note: Downloadable document is in Hebrew.
Keywords: therapeutic jurisprudence, cause lawyering, multiculturalism, social change, violence against women, domestic violence, clinical legal education, victims' rights, law as culture, collectivist communities, cultural sensitivity, gender theories, the liberal dilemma, feminism
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