Scholar in Residence at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California
at Berkeley, is a public interest entrepreneur, an innovator in legal
education, a pioneer in the public interest law movement, and a long-time
meditator.
Empathy is a quality to be cultivated in
lawyers and the legal system
Held Mindfulness and Lawyer conference at UC
Berkeley
very successful, 180 attendees.
02:00 - Definition of empathy
see the world from others point of view.
make a connection with others emotionally
and cognitively
make connections with other's feelings is
core to me
O2:50 - Metaphor of empathy?
standing in others shoes and looking though
their eyes
experiencing the others heart
a person who is deeply empathetic - also can
free themselves from their own values, perceptions, and identity. don't
feel bound by their preconceptions
being locked into your own views closes you
off.
5:00 Wrote a article about Barack Obama,
justice and empathy?
California Daily Law Journal
Obama had made empathy an important value in
his campaign
Curing the national empathy deficit.
making empathic connection is essential
I was drawn to his unusual background,
living in Indonesia, etc.
because of unusual upbringing, empathy was
important to him
Obama also said that empathy was a quality
for judges to have.
I thought - how can you select Supreme Court
Judges?
thought about the way of actually doing it
people don't put empathy on their resume
how to find people who care about empathy
how do we recognize people with empathy?
how did a person spend their career
have they represented people who are
disadvantaged
did they get out of their own framework,
values, etc.
Obama is example. Was Harvard law review
editor but went to represent disadvantaged
11:50 I started thinking how you find those
people and bring them forward.
create a template questionnaire for judges
create an evaluation criteria for empathy
12:40 It's a revolutionary idea
if this criteria were explored and applied,
it would have huge ramification
it would change the legal process
it would change the way we educate lawyers
legal training in law today in not a
training in empathy.
now, empathy is rather a handicap in legal
education today
if empathy we're a criteria in selecting
legal judges, that would change.
and that would be a wonderful thing
13:30 Sounds like empathy really
spoke to you and your values?
I would trace that not to my own education
or upbringing
I grew up in a system with empathy deficits
High school - was competitive, analytic,
sarcastic wit
Empathy was not the way I was brought up to
think
didn't even realize I was living in an
environment where empathy was missing
15:00 Empathy started to grow some in
public interest law, 1970's
70's empathy was starting culturally
personally started with meditation practice,
early 80's
Something about meditation that cultivates
empathy
it opens the heart
see your own emotions
see points of commonality with others
instinct to defend my ideas gets weekend
ideas are a flow and don't cling to them
all of this creates a perspective which is
empathetic at it's core
17:50 What was the inspiration to
start meditating?
it was to reduce stress and become
centered and grounded.
I was living a very high stressful life
I tried it and it did help
gave me a few minutes to get easier,
could identify and work off of an
empathic connection with other.
20:00 How did your empathy developed from
then to the present?
mediation was helpful,
we assembled a unique and wide variety
of law students
as I become more open and receptive, had
opportunity to connect with many people
was not liner or easy
my preconceptions didn't simply
disappear but weakened
was in dialog with a lot of more ridged
paradigms
with meditation you don't have to push
away, but can let go
a great opening
23:21 Your empathy has been deepening
thought mediation and you're creating organizations around that?
Right, in early 90's created programs to
promote meditation
Created Center for Contemplative Mind in
Society
bring mediation to mainstream society
and make social changes in structures,
education, law, etc.
25:50 You wanted to support Obama and his
call for more empathy. You tried to do some organizing around that?
wrote this article
can empathy become an operative
criterion for judicial selection
unfortunately that ran into a political
hot potato
the republicans were critical - they
said it meant throwing away the rules and it was this vague notion
of following your heart.
Obama never meant that. he's too careful
and cautious.
he was thinking of a quality that would
compliment the usual kinds of virtues
analytical ability, fairness,
justice, loyalty to precedence
empathy is part of that cluster of
qualities
in Sotomayor nomination Democrats walked
away from it.
since that time empathy has
disappeared
it's a victim of the intense
polarization of Washington
29:20 At present time the empathy in
judicial selection inquiry is kind of at a dead end.
until the government starts to
function in a collaborative way
the ideas I had in creating a
increasing sophistication in developing empathy is not going to
happen for the present.
I'd love to see it happen in the future,
because I'm convinced judges and lawyers perform better if they
perform empathetically
a lawyer is a better lawyer if he has
an empathetic sense of his client
it's better lawyering
legal education is short sighted in
not framing it that way.
31:00 - In my teaching at UC Law school
I teach mediation and specifically cultivating empathy
my students just did a code of
personal and professional responsibility - and several put in 'to
practice law with empathy'
revolutionary!
31:40 Within the court framework there's
empathy between lawyers, clients, judge, jury,. How is everyone
connecting?
The lawyer who understand the importance
of connecting with everyone in the courtroom is going to make him
function better.
the process will work better if everyone
has this perspective, or if even just one person has this.
it would make it a more civil process,
that's a big deal
speaks to more just outcomes
33:30 How can we build a culture of
empathy?
If we had this conversation 2 years ago
I would have been more optimist.
I thought we had a unique opportunity
because we have an empathic president.
we could disseminate the ideas through
government, corporations, education, nonprofits
they could all start identifying these
qualities and then try to disseminate them
if you are doing a new search for a
president of a university, one of the qualities we're looking for
would be empathy
I thought Obama could help us make a
cultural transformation
Had a series of conversations to asses
the possibility of establishing such an initiative
for a while it looked like it might be
promising
we agreed we shouldn't make it
exclusively about Obama
we should find other people. both
sides of the isle.
and bring forward empathetic
candidates
a lot of these people don't want to
run for office
we were looking at how to identify
these qualities, support them,
in the last 18 months as civility has
declined, and receptivity to this has almost vanished
I'd love to revive that inquiry and I
continue to believe that Obama has these qualities
37:40 One thing I found really
discouraging - who are others that have these qualities?
people who have this empathic,
reflectiveness, - are not around
the system selects against these
qualities and people
they don't assume positions of
leadership
38:20 Sounds discouraging?
It's very discouraging.
I have given up on it in a way. That's
the sad truth.
I hope that things will permit us
to circle back and come round
that there will be another opportunity.
2010-06-29 - Quiet
Justice Greater Good Science Center - Article
"Charles Halpern has been leading a
movement to promote empathy and mindfulness in the practice of law."
2009-01-29 -
Running on Empathy
"In July, in the midst of the primary campaign, President Obama spoke to
a Planned Parenthood conference in the District of Columbia. After
criticizing the Supreme Court’s “concerted effort to steadily roll back”
access to abortion, he turned his attention to the selection of judges.
But he did not fall back on the old question of whether judges should be
committed to a woman’s right to choose abortion. He took the discussion
in a new and unexpected direction."
Obama promotes empathy
He embodies empathy
promotes empathy in Justice
Empathy is important for lawyers
helps create connection to clients
Important for Judges
"empathetic understanding can see behind the
arguments, and reach a deeper understanding of the problems as the
litigants see them, increasing the likelihood of a wise decision. "
"re-value empathy would go far in restoring
wisdom as an important quality for lawyers to cultivate."
2009-01-29 - Video: Charles Halpern on
Empathy, Meditation, and the Practice of Law
A talk presented at the Baldy Center - University at
Buffalo Law School, Friday, September 25, 2009 by Charles Halpern, founding
Board Member of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society.
00:00 Introduction - Baldy Center
workshops, conferences, symposium
Charles Halpern - effective law practices
Background - Yale law school, meditation, UCB
04:00 Begin -
06:30 Mediation - survey of attendees
begin with meditation
09:00- 15:30 meditation
16:00 Why mediation and Law?
mediation has spiritual connection
a secular mediation developing in US now
make you more effective
healthcare field for stress, pain
started meditating in 1981 - his background
was helpful - centered, stillness,
good for lawyers
history of meditation and law
meditation for judges - have stresses
stress reduction
31:50 Dali Lama has quality of empathy and presence
the word wisdom - has disappeared from public discourse
35:00 Practicing and cultivating wisdom
align work and values
life in balance
reflection
gain
clarity of vision
no good and bad guys
no self-righteousness
39:25 legal education - some criticisms
good skills to learn instead - mediation, interviewing,
listening,
47:00
Empathy flows from mediation
skills
making connection to client, advisory,
judge
see the world from their shoes
very useful skill
48:00 Obama says empathy is critical for
judges
a challenge for legal profession
need education to teach empathy
rethink law school curriculum for
empathy
we don't teach empathy we denigrate it.
empathy gets in your way
50:00 Sotomayor and empathy
first time it surfaced
he was attacked
conservatives attacked it - as bias
Obama means empathy for all
breath of empathy
in shoes of diverse people
51:50 needed for sustainability in law
field
Course at Boalt - Law and Mediation
58:45 inattention in law school is high
62:30 Q and A
Empathy is part of human conditions - 360 degree
of empathy versus biased empathy
Republicans say you can't be empathic, you want
empathy for class of people
Obama didn't go all the way, didn't give a full
explanation of empathy?
64:30 I agree empathy is part of our makeup.
we are more or less empathetic due to;
genetics, culture, etc.
65:00 Cultures and societies deal with empathy
differently - different levels
Buddhism - built on interrelatedness
some cultures are more individualistic
community and interconnection is weaker
65:30 Some professional education lift up empathy -
social work and nursing for example lift up empathy
some professions empathy is undervalued
empathy quotient is not elevated -
66:15 people coming into law school with empathy
feel alienated
and tend to pull out
66:20 I don't believe I was raised with a high
empathy quotient
that's why I was such a successful law student
I knew how to play the game
I looked for the principles, was not involved in the
suffering of the people
67:00 I moved from a low empathy score to a higher
score
attribute partly to meditation practice
imbalance in law profession
hold empathy up as a value in law to strengthen
empathy likely to make us better lawyers
makes for a more just society
68:00 Difference of east and west - west values individualism - meditation for self?
culture of individualism
straighten individualism or try to create balance
meditation and empathy shape conduct
need lawyers with more wisdom
need a justice system that deserves to be called a
justice system
aspiration to build empathy more fully into the
justice system
70:11 Where to draw the line with empathy, (stress,
profit motive leads to productivity)?
(greed self interest have done a good job driving progress)
need a 360 degree empathy - put yourself into all the shoes
For some, stress leads to productivity - for others
health breakdowns and loss of productivity
you suggest economic success is purely from profit
motive - that's not my sense
food and drug administration, rules, give stability
empathy - see it whole and more fully
public interest law - see 360 degrees
78:15 Empathy as Enlightened self interest? 5
it doesn't tell the whole story about we have been
so successful
it's a piece
78:50 Meditation - as professors how?
richer dialogue
comparative
law - a lot to learn from other countries
low student attention - there' as culture of disrespect
87:00 Students come in with empathy but it gets
beaten out, how to support-nurture empathy for law students?
person of deep empathy - she felt her heart shrink
in law school
how to deal with low empathy?
1. recognize the phenomena
there are many ways to deepen empathy
address a culture that makes people feel attacked
make it clear empathy is valued and respected
meditation is one way, many other ways
bring all students (individualistic as well) into
the culture of empathy
90:28 How to address boredom of meditation?
Be part of a supportive meditation community (!!!!)
Bay Area Working Group on Law and Meditation
(Hastings, USF, UCB)
94:30 Seeing the world in that way - people who are
not positive?
my model - the Dali Lama
suffered from the Chinese
he has vigorous support of his culture without
rancor toward them
seeing the world as black and white hats (good vs..
evil) is not going to do it
Mandela - was on Robin island - but had forgiveness
see shades of gray
difficult - global warming - balance of earth at
stake
99:20 About respect for wisdom back into law
profession?
notice that it's been gone
practice of wisdom
what does it look like?
have the conversation
align work with values
adversarial law - alternatives?
102:15 Mediation is an important legal skills I
have, get the anger out, not taught in law school - any programs?
many law schools using mediation now
create programs
106:30 China -
Now have entrepreneurial creativity for creating teaching
material
