Special Video Interview of Bruce J. Winick
Bruce Winick: An Agent of Social Change
Part 3: Lawyers and Judges as Therapeutic Agents. Professor Winick talks about his association with Judge (ret.) Peggy Hora and how therapeutic jurisprudence in action has transformed the courts, giving judges a lens for addressing the psycho-social problems which are dumped at the doorsteps of the courthouse. He discusses the role of the lawyer as a therapeutic agent and the importance of teaching relational skills to law students and lawyers and for lawyers to recognize that clients aren’t “bankruptcies” or “divorces” or whole people with a legal problem.
Part 4: Therapeutic Jurisprudence in Legal Education: Once we learn that, like it or not, we are therapeutic agents, it is transformative. Professor Winick talks about how such ideas are permeating legal education. He encourages law students to be moral agents and to consider ethical issues from the perspective of morality and fairness, to look back at the dreams of saving the world that inspired them to come to law school in the first place. He encourages law students to be in touch with the intrinsic values they wrote about in their law school admission essays.
Part 5: Therapeutic jurisprudence in divorce is the first topic, including the intersection of collaborative law and therapeutic jurisprudence. Like so many of our interviewees, Bruce also talks about Steve Keeva, author of Transforming Practices.
Part 6: Professor Winick talks about living life to the fullest as a legally blind person.
Part 7: Professor Winick talks about the new AALS section on Balance in Legal Education, how pleased he and David Wexler are about the reception of TJ and mentions several names along with an important award he was to receive a few months later. He talks about his yoga practice which brings balance,strength and a sense of spiritual connection that inspires his work.
