Friends at the Bar: A Quaker View of Law, Conflict Resolution, and Legal Reform

Introduction

Introduction “There is an essential ‘parasiticality’ (‘intertextuality,’ . . .) involved in the production of any text whatsoever, . . .”1 It seems presumptuous for authors to stress the significance of their work because they owe so much to those who wrote and researched in the field before. The most that many, including this author, can do is to explore new connections among already well-researched areas and make educated guesses, not definitive conclusions, about their meaning and significance. These are then presented to the reader for further consideration and reflection. By elucidating historical and sociological connections between Quakers and their many and varied encounters with law and legal systems, this book may provide a better understanding of the religious tensions between Quakers and the law, which continue to this day. After providing a relevant exposition of Friends’ beliefs, their historical beginnings in England and America, and cases they brought or defended in court, this book’s main task is to present the views of 100 Quaker lawyers on practicing law as they also practice their faith. Other lawyers, too, may feel similar tensions between their faith or conscience and what is required of them as zealous advocates of clients’ causes in today’s legal environment. Suggestions and insights on present-day shortcomings and future possibilities may initiate or reintroduce a discourse on the need for change in our legal rules and institutions so that practicing law might be more fulfilling and less tension-producing. Quakers who have had a rich communal experience with law for more than three centuries, especially those who are lawyers, may add ideas to such a dialogue. Perhaps this powerful historical tradition and Quaker lawyers’ own talents can contribute to new initiatives and give renewed thrust to extralegal dispute resolution, a matter of some significance to the Quaker lawyers. The reading experience might be enhanced if some queries are kept in mind: Are there lessons to be learned from early Friends? If so, can these be helpful in today’s world, beset as it is with conflict and tension between 1 2 Friends at the Bar individuals, cultures, religions, and nations? On a smaller but still important scale, can these lessons speak again to Quakers and Quaker meetings as well as to various larger communities? Can law be successfully practiced so there is less of a dichotomy between one’s “personhood” and one’s “lawyerhood”? If so, how? Is the legal profession effectively foreclosed to persons who want their personal and professional lives to be in harmony? Can Quaker lawyers contribute to ideas on how law practice can be more fulfilling and less conflict-producing? Can Quakers’ early use of mediation and arbitration to resolve disputes be appropriate today? Can it be beneficial within Friends meetings? Within the larger community? Are Quaker lawyers especially capable in practicing the various methods of alternative dispute resolution? Are mediation and arbitration more humane and gentle ways of solving disputes? Do they foster and promote community? Harmony? Equality? Simplicity? Are these peculiarly Quaker values, or are they more widely honored? In pondering these, readers may discover new questions. I hope some ideas and findings in the book can contribute to a renewed dialogue on legal ethics and legal reform and that, notwithstanding the emphasis on Friends’ thoughts about laws and legal systems, the book will interest readers who are neither Quakers nor lawyers. The thoughts, ideas, and opinions advanced may hold relevance for dispute resolution professionals and others generally interested in matters of ethics, law reform, social justice, and peace and cause them to participate by adding their own ideas and proposals to the discourse. The book is divided into two parts, each containing three chapters. The first part is historical and the second part is future-oriented, but both are linked by Quaker testimonies, which remain common and germane to both. Part 1, chapter 1, “About Friends,” provides an elucidation of Friends’ most important beliefs within the context of the original, silent, or “unprogrammed,” worship, which George Fox, William Penn, and other early English Friends brought to America. This primer on the testimonies, thought, and practices of Quakers will likely be of little interest to readers already familiar with Friends. But for those who are not, the chapter provides an overview and brief explanation of the “testimonies,” concepts, and language, their genesis in scripture, and their place in the thought of George Fox, the Society’s founder. A glossary provides definitions of words and phrases distinctive to Quaker parlance as well as definitions...