Laid-Back Lawyers’ Group Objects to Stress

Forget the lawyer jokes, says attorney Donna Eyman: deep down, most lawyers hate conflict.

So says one of the first members of the new International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers, a group for attorneys who want to trade the stressful “battle mentality” they learned in law school for a more respectful, compassionate, touchy-feely approach.

“I believe in positive lawyering. I believe in looking at the client as a whole person and doing anything to help them have less stress,” said Eyman, of Mission Valley, who says she’s been practicing holistic law for 17 years. “I look at what’s best for the client financially, emotionally and spiritually.”

Instead of humiliating witnesses in court and generating mounds of expensive paperwork, members of the holistic group say they look at each case as an opportunity for personal growth.

“I think people really want to use the disputes they find themselves in to better themselves,” said group founder William van Zyverden. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t be caught in illegal activities.”

For example, getting caught driving drunk might seem bad at first, but Eyman says it’s really an opportunity to seek treatment and turn your life around.

In divorce cases, likewise, Eyman advises her clients to release their anger at a spouse through counseling, not by spending thousands in court to get custody of the stereo.

She makes this clear when interviewing potential clients; about 10% she sends elsewhere because they harbor hostile intentions.

“If you’re vindictive or you want vengeance, I’m not your attorney,” she said.

Eyman adopted her holistic approach to life and lawyering after a tumultuous youth as a go-go dancer and single mother struggling with substance abuse. She traded in her go-go duds for a briefcase, but discovered that the stress of being an attorney was worse.

After four years in private practice, she burned out and stopped. For the next eight months, she reassessed her life, joined a 12-step program, started to meditate and re-emerged as a holistic lawyer.

She now serves as co-chair of the San Diego County Bar Assn.’s Attorney Assistance Committee, which helps lawyers with substance abuse problems, and is active in The Other Bar, a statewide group with the same aim.

“I believe there are a lot of recovering attorneys who are looking for a healthier, happier way to practice law,” she said. “I know there are a lot of lawyers out there who are unhappy and being forced to do battle when their heart is not really in it. But they don’t have a choice because they work for somebody else.”

Although there is a movement among the mainstream legal community to find less stressful, less expensive ways to resolve legal conflicts, the idea of practicing law with a “less adversarial” spirit hasn’t really hit the mainstream, said Harvey Saferstein, president of the State Bar of California.

“There are a lot of lawyers who relish the fight,” he said.

Van Zyverden, who runs the Holistic Justice Center in Middlebury, Vt., founded the holistic lawyers group last December with seven members. Now it has about 160 members in five countries and 33 states, including 36 lawyers in California, he said.

“I have lawyers from all over the world calling me saying this is what they want,” he said. “I think many lawyers are too caught up in how they’re viewed by other attorneys or clients to follow their heart.”

Excited by the group’s popularity, van Zyverden recently incorporated another nonprofit organization called the International Network of Holistic Professionals. It’s for non-lawyers who want to adopt a holistic approach to their jobs.

His peaceful, non-adversarial approach seems to sit well with followers of some Eastern religions and the New Age movement, he said, because of its emphasis on seeking inner peace.

Holistic attorneys often choose private practice, van Zyverden said, because their philosophy makes it hard to fit into mainstream, “gladiator-type” profit-oriented law firms.

For example, Eyman said a big law firm would never grant her eight weeks off for transcendental mediation every year. She also carries a light caseload so she can give her clients lots of personal attention, a practice that reduces her income substantially.

“I have a moderate lifestyle. Material things aren’t important to me,” she said. “I don’t need a big house. I don’t need a new car. I don’t need jewelry. I need peace of mind.”

Also a maverick, Van Zyverden says he’s not really accepted by his colleagues in Vermont. When he hung up his “Holistic Justice Center” sign, another lawyer implied that he was “a wimp,” a label he wholeheartedly rejects.

“They think being a holistic lawyer means practicing wimpy law,” he said. “Well, I don’t think you can humiliate someone on the stand and gain something from that.”