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Holistic Law
Note: This is a follow-up o f the
article by the interviewee in the
Martin Luther King special edi
tion that was published on Janu
ary 13 (page 9,Section C).
Maurice J. Attie is a Los Ange
les based attorney who has been
practicing law forclose to 35 years.
Mr. Attie has received several
honors and awards from UCLA
where he attended college and law
school. He is known as a “lawyer’s
lawyer” by his colleagues.
Maurice’s unique approach to
law has changed the lives o f many
o f his clients, and has also “lost”
him several clients, he is quick to
add. Mr. Attie encourages all cli
ents to resolve their external dis
putes through the processing of
their internal issues. He gives them
powerful techniques with which
to do this work. While most law
yers as a group are working against
change and trying to maintain the
status quo, Mr. Attie is at the
forefront o f presenting refreshing
new ideas to people in and outside
the legal profession. There are
often many more choices avail
able than those conventionally
offered, he says. Mr. Attie ex
presses them publicly and pri
vately in his unique way.
Q: What is Holistic Law?
Maurice Attie: A Holistic Law
yer is focused on the whole per
son: physical, psychological, emo
tional andspiritual. It’snotaques-
tion o f just solving the problem as
the client presents it. It’s a ques
tion o f looking at all the parties
concerned and all the issues and
Interview by Joy Ramos
all levels of the client. When we
get a client who comes in with a
legal problem, we see this as an
opportunity to benefit every
body - how everybody can
progress, become more evolved
and become better off as a result
o f the apparent conflict that
brought the client through the
door.
Q: What lead you to becoming
a Holistic lawyer?
Maurice Attie: I was a con
ventional lawyer from the time I
started in January, 1965 through
about 1990. Even though 1 met
my spiritual teacher in 1974, I
didn’t understand the principles
o f Living Ethics he was teaching
also applied to the practice of
law.
But I became more and more
uncomfortable with the legal as
pect o f my life. I was seeing how
things work on a deeper level and
watching and experiencing the
practice o f law done in a conven
tional way. In time, it became
impossible forme to practice con
ventionally, so in 1990 or 1991,1
shifted to a holistic practice. I
thought I was the only holistic
lawyer,but it w asn’t true.
Q: How do you use Holistic
Law in your practice?
Maurice Attie: I offer clients
three options rather to solve their
legal problem rather than one. I
say to a client, “Your first option,
with regard to all issues is inner
processing.” Everything we ex
perience in the physical reality is
just a reflection o f some inner
issue. When the outer stuff ap
pears to be troublesome, it means
there’s some inner stuff that
hasn’t been taken care of. It’s
just a calling card from the Soul.
The inner processing can make
the outer stuff shift which is ex
actly why the Soul is giving us
that experience.
The second option is what I
call the “Mediative Option” where
we view the situation as an op
portunity to better all the parties
involved. In other words, I say to
the client, “How can I best im
prove the situation o f the person
who is your opponent?” We work
together in the process o f creat
ing betterment for all parties.
The third and last is what I call
the “Relegated Option”, the last
and least one I like. T hat’s where
we actually do the legal work -
whether it be litigation or nego
tiation - on the surface at least in
a relatively conventional way. I
instruct the client by explaining,
“Look, you’re the person that
brought this issue in. This is the
reality you created. It’s impor
tant for you to stay conscious
and aware o f all stages o f what
we ’ re going through.” The c 1 ient
is encouraged to actively partici
pate in a multi-level way: physi
cal, emotional and spiritual with
regard to each stage o f w hat’s
going on, so that the client basi
cally is able to track the flow o f
the case. This attunement is the
learning process for the client.
Q: Why do you prefer law in
this manner?
M aurice A ttie: Feeling the
shift in consciousness o f my cli
ents is very fulfilling and gratify
ing for me. The pleasure 1 get in
seeing people do the inner pro
cessing and knowing that it has
touched their Soul is what this
work isallabout forme. It’s likea
calling. It’s now clear to me that
my mission in this life is to be in
the justice system and to help the
practice o f law shift for others.
The main reason 1 travel around
the world and lecture on this sub
ject is to share this passion. It is
that powerful a force within me to
get the message out to as many
people as I can.
Q: Are there other lawyers
practicing Holistic Law?
M aurice Attie: The latest stud
ies show that two out o f every
three are dissatisfied with the
practice oflaw. The latest studies
show that two out o f every three
are dissatisfied with the practice
o f law. Quite a few are joining
organizations which are holisti
cally oriented.
The organization 1 belong to is
called The International Alliance
o f Holistic Lawyers which was
founded in 1991 in Vermont by 10
people. The I.A.H.L. now has
about 300 members and an inter
est list o f over 6,000 lawyers and
others involved in the justice field.
Q . What does the International
Alliance o f Holistic Lawyers do?
M aurice Attie: Thel.A.H.L.is
a growing, powerful, energetic
organization. Our current Board
o f Directors is very active. Our
Maurice J. Attie
plans are to reach out into as many
areas as possible. To local bar as
sociations, to related fields, like
court report associations, court in
terpreters, expert w itness asso
ciatio n s, h o listic nurses and
doctors. O ur p articu lar focus
this year is to liaison w ith the
law schools and, ju st like Patch
A dam s, show the students that
conventional law p ractice w ill
not be their only option. We are
asking our m em bership to adopt
a stu d e n t, o n e -o n -o n e , as a
m entoring program for holistic
law. The annual convention in
1999 w ill be held in South
Florida.
M aurice A ttie is available for
consulting, lectures and w ork
shops. He can be reached at
10610 K innard A venue, Los
A ngeles, C A 90024 or e-m ail at
M M JA @ JU N O .CO M .
A Profile Of The Hunter And The Hunted
By Ronald Turco, M.D.
The development o f a psycho
logical profile is a team endeavor
encompassing the integration o f
the crime scene, autopsy findings,
witness interviews and reports,
sì
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.•
photographs and forensic mate
rials. Profiling involves the prepa
ration o f a biographical sketch
gathered from this information
and from known psychodynamic
material. The personal habits and
relationships o f the victim are
considered. Sought as a primary
objective is fusion ofthe profiler
with the perpetrator and the emer
gence o f a vision ofthe perpetra
tor as interpreted by the profiler.
The profile has the purpose of
a psychological assessment o f
the crime scene. Working back
ward from the crime scene, one
attempts to develop a short biog
raphy o f the outstanding charac
teristics o f the suspect to illumi
nate and better direct the inves
tigation. The profile is used in
conjunction with the physical
evidence, recognizing that the
homicide scene is a sign o f the
“acting out” o f the perpetrator.
Crime profiling must start with
something logical and sensible,
because simplistic “cookbook”
interpretations reduce the effi
cacy ofbehavioral scientific pro
filing and can lead an investiga
tion astray. I look to the unique
ness o f a crime scene and then
utilize my own unconscious, plus
psychoanalysis, for a hypotheti
cal construct regarding the per
petrator.
While working with a task
force, I review data bases avail
able. The FBI system o f orga
nized and disorganized murders
is helpful.
Organized murders are me
thodical and cunning; they are
more likely to live with a partner, to
have their own transportation, to
be involved in skilled or semi
skilled work, to be socially compe
tent and middle class. Frequently
they are only children or among
the oldest o f their siblings.
An organized crime scene is
one on which the victim has spe
cifically targeted, in which the killer
has used restraints and to which
weapon has been carried and then
taken away. Organized killers are
also excited by cruelty and public
ity; they often torture their victims
before killing them; and they fol
low police investigations through
the media and by frequenting po
lice haunts to follow the progress
o f a case - maybe their case. They
may also revisit the crime scene
partly to ensure that the body has
been discovered, but also to bring
back a body part or to “talk” to the
victim if his body is still present.
Law enforcement officers have
learned to “wire" some o f the
graves ofvictims o f serial killers in
the event o f the killer’s visit to the
grave site.
Disorganized murderers are
generally m entally disturbed,
single, low to middle class, have
below-average intelligence, don’t
have cars, have a history o f mental
disorder and are employed in me
nial or unskilled work. Disorga
nized crime scenes reveal evidence
o f spontaneity or frenzy, the use
o f weapons o f convenience to beat
orstrangle, rather than to shoot),
an absence o f apparent A -
Cont’d on next page.
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