Becoming a Restorative Lawyer: Reimagining Justice Through Healing and Connection

In a field long shaped by competition and conflict, a quiet transformation is taking place. The idea of the restorative lawyer invites legal professionals to see their work not only as advocacy but as a path toward healing, accountability, and community restoration.

This approach challenges the traditional adversarial system and offers a vision of law rooted in empathy and human connection.

The Limits of the Adversarial System

The conventional legal model focuses on procedure, persuasion, and winning. While it protects essential rights, it often overlooks the deeper human wounds caused by conflict.

Early in my career as an assistant prosecutor, I witnessed this firsthand. On the third day of a jury trial, a family member of the victim turned to me and said, “This is worse than a funeral.”

That moment never left me. It revealed how even courtroom “victories” can feel hollow — offering judgment without healing. Many clients later described the legal process as something that intensified their pain rather than easing it.

Discovering a Different Kind of Justice

Those experiences inspired me to ask: Could law be practiced differently?

My search led me to restorative justice, therapeutic jurisprudence, and transformative mediation — disciplines that view harm through a relational, not just procedural, lens.

My new book is illustrated with evocative photographs from Howard Zehr.

These frameworks helped me see that lawyers can serve as facilitators of repair and reconciliation, not merely as adversaries in battle. Over time, this perspective became the foundation of what I now call restorative lawyering.

My forthcoming book, Becoming a Restorative Lawyer (Good Media Press, 2025), illustrated by the  photography of Howard Zehr, explores this shift by proposing an alternative theory of the practice of law, as well as methods, approaches, skills, and techniques for the new practice. The points are illustrated by examples from my forty-plus years in practicing law.

What Is Restorative Lawyering?

At its heart, restorative law is about responding to harm with understanding, accountability, and repair. It’s an invitation to move toward practices that honor relationships, dignity, and community well-being.

Here are the core principles that guide this work:

1. Healing Over Winning
   Justice should repair harm, not just determine guilt or innocence, divide property or custody, or allocate financial restitution. A restorative lawyer concurrently focuses on emotional, relational, and social healing while advocating within the system.

2. Seeing the Whole Client
   True advocacy begins with deep listening. Restorative lawyers work to understand the context of the client’s story and see them beyond the events that bring them to seek legal counsel.

3. Agents of Transformation
   Restorative lawyers act as catalysts for change and personal growth, helping clients and communities find meaning and repair through the legal process.

4. Community Engagement
   Harm doesn’t occur in isolation. Restorative lawyering invites families, co-workers, and communities to participate in healing, encouraging collective responsibility.

5. Beyond Trained Tunnel Vision
   As Nils Christie once observed, legal professionals can become trapped by “trained tunnel vision.” Restorative law encourages creative, human-centered approaches even within formal systems.

6. Self-Reflection and Renewal
   Lawyers, too, need healing. Bearing witness to suffering can take a personal toll, and restorative practice promotes mindfulness, reflection, and growth.

7. Building Genuine Relationships
   Instead of reinforcing an “us vs. them” mindset, restorative lawyers nurture trust and empathy — foundations for authentic justice.

A New Way to Practice Law

To practice law restoratively is to reimagine the lawyer’s role entirely. It is an act of courage and compassion.

This vision aligns with a growing global movement toward restorative and therapeutic justice, where legal professionals integrate empathy, dialogue, and repair into their work.

As we approach Restorative Justice Month this November, I invite lawyers, students, and communities to explore this evolving approach.

My book, Becoming a Restorative Lawyer, offers stories, frameworks, and practical guidance for bringing healing into legal practice.

Together, we can create a justice system that not only resolves disputes but restores hearts, relationships, and communities. Visit my companion website restorativelawyer.com for more information.