Today’s justice system and the legal profession have rendered the “lawyer-warrior” notion outdated, shifting toward conflict resolution rather than protracted litigation. The new lawyer’s skills go beyond court battles to encompass negotiation, mediation, collaborative practice, and restorative justice. In The New Lawyer, Julie Macfarlane explores the evolving role of practitioners, articulating legal and ethical complexities in a variety of contexts. The result is a thought-provoking exploration of the increasing impact of alternative strategies on the lawyer-client relationship, as well as on the legal system itself.

Dr. Julie Macfarlane is a professor of law at the University of Windsor and an experienced mediator, facilitator, and conflict resolution educator. She was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2020. Macfarlane is the author of The New Lawyer: How Settlement Is Transforming the Practice of Law, and has researched and written extensively on the topics of dispute resolution and self-represented litigants.

Julie Macfarlane's profile page

The New Lawyer is the first book to thoroughly research and describe the massive changes in the legal profession and practice in the last three decades, and to make a serious attempt to predict what will happen in the decades to follow … an outstanding effort. Readers will not be disappointed.

Law and Politics Book Review, Vol 19. No. 7

Professor Julie Macfarlane is onto something here. As she does in the Preface to The New Lawyer, I too would recommend this book not only to those lawyers who may be disillusioned with what she calls the “warrior mentality ” of legal practice but also to lawyers who may be sceptical of the alternative legal image […] Macfarlane ’s compromise convergence produces a happy hybrid that many lawyers can relate to and already see within themselves — a lawyer who is both a fighter and a settler and who helps the client both engage with conflict and make a “game plan for victory.”

Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Vol.46

The Justice system is ever changing and Ms. MacFarlane has enunciated some constructive alternatives to the public concept of lawyers as courtroom battlers. The author outlines the new lawyer who has shifted strategy to also consider mediation and restorative justice. The book is useful to trial lawyers in that it outlines how to benefit by learning how to best use these options.

Barrister, Issue 87

It is a researched and learned discussion and is an extremely valuable […] book for anyone wanting to understand the broad changes in advanced western democracies which have been and are still happening. It highlights some issues and tensions which will impact how best to carry out your role as a New Lawyer. […] On the whole the book is thought provoking […]. I do not know of any other attempt to deal with the whole issue so well. Ms. Macfarlane is to be congratulated.

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