A new edited collection titled The Other Side of the Bar: Conflict Transformation in Legal Practice brings fresh insights into how lawyers and mediators can navigate complex and multidimensional conflicts. Co-edited by Richard Jochelson, dean of law, and Laura Reimer, director of program development for the faculty of law, the collection offers a “theory-informed and practice-oriented resource” for legal practitioners and academics working to resolve disputes in today’s evolving legal landscape.

Based on current research, the collection explores conflict transformation in specific contexts. It includes advanced legal research, Indigenous approaches to conflict resolution, international arbitration and interpersonal communication. Reimer explained the book is designed “like a course,” including questions at the end of each of the 12 chapters. The hope is to provide legal educators an opportunity to utilize the collection as a textbook if desired.

A believer in “research as conflict transformation,” Reimer’s inspiration for this book stemmed partly from a conversation she had three years ago with Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Court of King’s Bench. After bumping into him at an airport, “the Chief Justice expressed concern that legal education ensures lawyers are equipped to address the different kinds of conflict the judges are seeing in the courts.”

Reimer noted, although “lawyers receive some training in mediation, arbitration and negotiation, the adversarial nature of our court system increasingly requires a need for expertise in conflict management.” Together, Reimer and Jochelson imagined “a collected book on conflict transformation for lawyers [expanding] outside of the traditional realms of litigation or mediation,” with an aim to include the entire legal sphere. After further discussion, they moved forward with the project, framing the book as an “essential [tool] to legal practice that would help practitioners navigate conflict in its various forms.”

Although advertised mainly through word of mouth, Reimer claimed the book has been eagerly awaited by the legal community, including Justice Sheilah Martin of the Supreme Court of Canada. While Reimer is optimistic the book will be well-received by the practicing bar, she is more concerned about the opportunities and conversations that it will open up for students.

She said, although there is room to offer the book as a special topics course, “without doubt, the contributors will be using their chapters in their [own] courses.”

She added in her capacity as director of the Desautels business accelerator, she is “toying with the idea of making this into some kind of summer institute […] a crash course in conflict transformation.” The goal, she said, would be to give people “an opportunity to be introduced to various ways conflict can be recognized, moved, shifted and responded to.”

Although targeted directly at the legal profession, Reimer acknowledged the types of conflicts this book addresses are the ones that many people face in everyday life. At its core, conflict is a balance of positions and interests, and Reimer explained this through a simple example. She agreed that at U of M “we’re one herd” and “despite its policies, there’s an effort inside the university to pull us back together.”

She suggested the success of the university’s “One Herd” mentality can be attributed to its ability to properly locate the interests of educators and students alike, despite their differing positions in life. This is the approach people should be taking on an individual level when it comes to their personal conflicts.

According to Reimer, this book works to explain that “if you can recognize what kind of conflict is in front of you, there are tools to help you transform it.”

The Other Side of the Bar will be released on Dec. 1. Reimer hopes to host a book launch at Robson Hall in January. Interested readers can now purchase the book on Amazon.com.