Margaret Reuter, Stephen A Rosenbaum & Danielle Pelfrey Duryea, “Attorney as Accompagnateur: Resilient Lawyering When Victory is Uncertain or Nearly Impossible”

This article addresses the difficult consequences of social justice lawyering, including when even a “win” for a client still leaves clients in the same unjust situations and systems they began with. They propose that the role of “Accompagnateur” can be helpful – which resituates the lawyer’s role as accompanying the client (meaning: “stand beside, stand up for, and give respect and voice to the client’s story – irrespective of victory”). The authors argue that “accompaniment, done well, makes one a better lawyer for her client and simultaneously nourishes the lawyer enough to withstand inevitable losses” (108).  It includes stories from clinic and externship students who use this model in their work. It also includes views from clinicians, including a clinician who uses mindfulness techniques in her work with students to encourage the role of “accompagnateur”. The article closes with mindfulness exercises that clinic lawyers can use with their students doing social justice work in the face of difficult and sometimes unwinnable cases.

Margaret Reuter, Stephen A Rosenbaum & Danielle Pelfrey Duryea, “Attorney as Accompagnateur: Resilient Lawyering When Victory is Uncertain or Nearly Impossible” (2019) 59 Journal of Law & Policy 107.