Making law therapeutic for lawyers - Therapeutic jurisprudence, preventive law, and the psychology of lawyers

The integration of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) with preventive law (PL) offers a uniquely satisfying and humanistic way of practicing law. The author uses the psychological data on the personality characteristics of lawyers to argue that TJ/PL is particularly well suited for lawyers with certain personality traits atypical of lawyers generally. These traits reflect altruistic, humanistic, or interpersonally oriented values; 2 of these atypical traits have been empirically linked to career dissatisfaction among lawyers. Because of the pervasiveness of the problem of lawyer job dissatisfaction, solutions are needed. TJ/PL is more than simply an alternative way of practicing law; it may actually hold the key to solving some of the problems currently besieging the legal profession.