{"id":159,"date":"2014-07-14T14:53:09","date_gmt":"2014-07-14T18:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/?p=159"},"modified":"2017-05-03T17:10:27","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T21:10:27","slug":"summer-reading-on-empathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2014\/07\/14\/summer-reading-on-empathy\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer Reading on Empathy"},"content":{"rendered":"

My students get tired of hearing me saying that lawyering is all about empathy. (See, at least I understand my students\u2019 feelings!) A lawyer cannot practice effectively without understanding their clients\u2019 situations from their clients\u2019 points of view, recognizing their clients\u2019 emotions to the extent they play a role in their legal decision making, identifying what having a lawyer and utilizing the legal system means to them, and knowing what their clients\u2019 visions of a successful outcome is.<\/p>\n

My study of this over the summer led me to Leslie Jamison\u2019s The Empathy Exams. In it, Jamison writes essays that explore people\u2019s emotions and mindsets. Her subjects range from athletes who participate in the Barkley Marathons<\/a>, a race where people cover over 100 miles over several days through almost impossible terrain and torturous obstacles that almost no one completes; a prisoner who was one of those athletes<\/a>, looking particularly at what confinement means to a person whose daily life as an endurance athlete involves active movement that prison takes away; people with Morgollons<\/a>, a disease where people believe thread or other matter is growing out of them, a condition that they clearly believe is very real that others question; and parents of child murder victims of the West Memphis Three, looking at how their grief is taken away from them and turned to anger when perpetrators are identified, and then looking at their subsequent feelings when it becomes clear that those alleged perpetrators might not have done it. She even tries to explain and understand the artistic genre she calls \u201cwounded women\u201d<\/a>\u2014the Ani DiFranco, Sylvia Plath, Carrie expressions of female pain (I admit that I struggled with this one).<\/p>\n

In the words of Merve Emre in an interview from the Paris Daily Review reproduced for this book, Jamison is a writer and observer without being a collaborator or participant. When subjects are familiar to her, she applies her own experience, like when she describes being an actress for a medical school and playing patients for students who are learning to take histories. In this role, she can think about how the patients and the doctor\u2019s must feel from her own experience in the medical system. She can also step back and be an observer while playing that role, as she watches new professionals as they try to develop empathy.<\/p>\n

I want my students and myself to be empathetic observers like Jamison. The Empathy Exams will help me think through how to discuss working with our clients this year. What inquiry is necessary to understand our clients\u2019 emotions better? How can we observe our clients and explore their feelings without fully joining their vision and their world? How much does sympathy play a role in empathy\u2014can we have empathy for clients who are not entirely saintly or when we do not necessarily like them? Can we understand their point of view without agreeing with it? How much are we like or not like particular clients\u2014can we draw on our own experience? Do we have to learn about our clients\u2019 community experiences and mores to understand them?<\/p>\n

I am looking forward to more of this exploration in my clinic this Fall!<\/p>\n

Many of Jamison\u2019s essays are published separately. Click on the links above to get a taste of her work.
\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My students get tired of hearing me saying that lawyering is all about empathy. (See, at least I understand my students\u2019 feelings!) A lawyer cannot<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingSummer Reading on Empathy<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1215,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":171,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2015\/03\/31\/taking-a-clinic-to-find-your-public-interest-calling-while-learning-skills\/","url_meta":{"origin":159,"position":0},"title":"Taking A Clinic To Find Your Public Interest Calling While Learning Skills","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"March 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes lost in the discussion of why law school clinics have value is the clinic\u2019s role in helping students develop their public interest calling and voice. Certainly, clinics are great places to learn practice skills and develop a professional identity\u2014by lawyering under the supervision of an attorney, particularly in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":180,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2016\/02\/18\/students-in-temple-legal-aid-community-lawyering-clinic-are-representing-clients-and-bringing-our-services-to-the-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":159,"position":1},"title":"Students in Temple Legal Aid Community Lawyering Clinic Are Representing Clients and Bringing Our Services To The Community","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"February 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past 10 days, Temple Law students in the Community Lawyering Clinic at the Temple Legal Aid Office have represented four clients seeking disability benefits in federal hearings before administrative law judges.\u00a0 In two of the cases, students in previous semesters had represented the clients in Federal District Court\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kyle","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/files\/2016\/02\/Kyle-e1455818728872-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":110,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2013\/07\/31\/summer-intern-helps-get-client-ssi-benefits-long-denied-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":159,"position":2},"title":"Summer intern helps get client SSI benefits long denied him","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"July 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Rising 2L Jeremy Giatras had a very productive summer at TLAO! \u00a0Along with working with clients at Action AIDS and Liberty Resources and preparing cases for our fall clinical interns, Jeremy did in-depth legal work representing several people seeking SSI benefits. \u00a0Among his clients, Jeremy built on the work of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":140,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2013\/09\/30\/five-temple-law-students-represent-clients-before-administrative-law-judges\/","url_meta":{"origin":159,"position":3},"title":"Five Temple Law Students Represent Clients Before Administrative Law Judges","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"September 30, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the past two weeks, the Temple Legal Aid Office represented six clients at hearings before Administrative Law Judges to obtain Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income benefits.\u00a0 Three of the cases involved full hearings and in all of the cases, students wrote comprehensive letter briefs in support of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":168,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2015\/03\/05\/there-is-snow-and-yes-we-are-open\/","url_meta":{"origin":159,"position":4},"title":"There Is Snow and Yes, We Are Open!","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"March 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"My students are probably tired of hearing me talk about how lawyering was almost thirty years ago, when lawyers were lawyers and did not let snow or broken technology harness our lawyering.\u00a0 In what I am sure they consider some of their most interesting classes (or maybe not!), I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":162,"url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/2015\/02\/10\/watching-low-income-pennsylvanians-and-medicaid-expansion\/","url_meta":{"origin":159,"position":5},"title":"Watching Low-income Pennsylvanians and Medicaid Expansion","author":"Spencer Rand","date":"February 10, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"News today that Pennsylvania is withdrawing its Healthy PA Medical Assistance (Medicaid) plan for what should be a much more comprehensive and simpler Medicaid Expansion should be welcome news for the poor in Pennsylvania.\u00a0 Since Healthy PA was implemented, our Legal Aid office has been receiving calls about it from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1215"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/tlao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}