My name is Andrew Weiss, and today I've launched Justice Spirit, a web-based service offering spiritual and emotional counseling to people with legal problems as well as backup services to their lawyers.
Some of you may already know me through my book, "Beginning Mindfulness", or through my meditation teaching, workshops and retreats. To you, I say welcome to a different side of my life and work. To the rest of you, I say hello and welcome. I hope you will also check out my book's website, http://www.beginningmindfulness.com, and my website for my meditation and spiritual development classes and private sessions, http://www.living-awareness.com.
Justice Spirit began with a conversation with my long-time friend Mary Grace LePage. Why not, she suggested, combine my skills as a spiritual counselor with my experience as a lawyer? I’ve been doing spiritual counseling in some form for 19 years and I practiced law for over 20. Why not offer spiritual advice to people caught in legal dilemmas? I more than liked the idea; it was a real “Aha!” moment -- of course! This is a good path to walk.
In providing this service, I am very aware of the potential confusion about what I do. So I’ll be clear from the outset: I DO NOT PRACTICE LAW! Every state in the US has strict laws prohibiting practicing law without a license, and my law license in Massachusetts has been inactive since I retired in 2003. Some states are more strict than others in their definition of what constitutes practicing law, and North Carolina, where I now live, is one of the strictest. Even a simple act like helping someone fill out a court form, such as a financial statement for a divorce, are forbidden to non-lawyers.
Because I do not practice law, I will not do anything with my Justice Spirit clients which North Carolina would interpret as within a lawyer’s bailiwick. I created Justice Spirit to offer spiritual counseling for challenging situations -- hence the name and the avoidance of the word “law” or “lawyer” in it. My approach is to help you focus on how to create positive human outcomes for yourself and those you love. The legal outcomes I leave to you and your skillful lawyer.
While I don’t advise you on how to use the law or offer any legal help, I know through experience that creating a positive, creative human environment can help create more positive legal outcomes. The fastest way to avoid being a victim of the legal process is to step out of being a victim in our emotions and thoughts (what some refer to as “victim consciousness”). No, stepping out of victim consciousness won’t get your bills paid immediately or stop that bankruptcy from happening. But it will change your attitude toward all of it, and with that new, non-victim attitude, you’ll be able to create a far better outcome for yourself and your family than you would otherwise.
Justice Spirit offers human advice -- emotional and spiritual -- not legal advice. My desire is to help you see your way through the thicket of your life when challenges abound and the legal process threatens. I will always counsel you to consult a good lawyer if you haven’t done so already. And I will be happy to work with your lawyer to support you as a human being throughout the process.
This blog is an offshoot of Justice Spirit's website. On this blog, I'll be posting regular comments on legal situations, politics and world events that catch my eye. Please subscribe to our rss feed or come back often; I hope we will both challenge and support each other.
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