It is understood that if an attorney takes too active a role in peacemaking he/she may not be effective in a functional legal role. However, Mary H. Mocine, a Buddhist priest and attorney who practiced law for 18 years, stated it well in her article “Realizing Kindness” that being kind does not mean not being fierce when it is appropriate.
Ms Mocine writes that being kind in an adversary system can be an act of courage. Since attorneys are trained to be zealous advocates, it is difficult to imagine being kind. Though, being kind does not mean not asserting a well supported argument or opinion when it is appropriate to defend a client’s position.
Peacemaking means being flexible, and being open to opinions outside of one’s assumptions. By attaching too strongly to assumptions, one may be more concerned with proving that he/she is right versus doing what is best for the company at the moment. For instance, sometimes a case may need to be settled not because a company believes that it has done something wrong, but because it does not have the resources or time to continue a fight. Another example, sometimes contracts negotiations may not conclude because an attorney is too stuck on its standard boilerplate language not because a company lacks a suitable product line. Peacemaking is about not being too stuck to a position, where the lack of trust in human interactions may result.
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