Practicing In the Interests of Justice in the Twenty-First Century: Pursuing Peace As Justice

In these comments I suggest that in our current world, both international and domestic, practicing in the interests of justice includes-indeed, should give great priority to-the peace-seeking and problem solving aspects of lawyering. I continue to see this as counter-cultural to the more common practices of lawyers who are argumentative, persuasive and articulate debaters, who believe fervently and vigorously that seeking justice, on behalf of a client or cause, means advocating for and winning a legal claim. To the contrary, seeking peace for parties (and, indeed, nation-states) in conflict, searching for consensus solutions to seemingly intractable public policy and legal disputes and creatively negotiating new relationships, transactions, partnerships and entities are all, for me, essential parts of practicing in the interests of justice. I will try to elaborate why I think so, briefly, here