M.S. Bellows, Jr. on Nostr: Today, for the first time in my 37 years and two months as a lawyer and mediator, I ...
Today, for the first time in my 37 years and two months as a lawyer and mediator, I had to (lawfully) breach confidentiality by reporting a suspicion of child abuse, learned in a confidential mediation discussion, to authorities.
It was even more troubling than I envisioned. I ticced (I have Tourette's) and had to stop myself from hyperventilating. As a mandatory reporter and a decent person, it was the right thing to do – most of my work is helping special needs kids! – but it was still incredibly difficult, because lawyer-client and mediator-party confidentiality are sacred. And it was extra challenging because the info was secondhand (hearsay), and because it had already been told to authorities, and because my disclosing it might destroy the parties' trust in me and therefore my ability to help the child – but the legal canons of ethics I'm sworn to required me to report it.
"Lawyers are the priests of civilization." -Me, circa 1987. We lawyers learn the rites and rituals that enable humans to live together in peace. We're empowered to access the Powers that enforce both justice and equity. Our work is sacred. And it infuriates me that I fucking agonize over my ethical and moral duties while bad lawyers like Eileen Cannon and Neil Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas and John Roberts are lauded and promoted and bribed.
And when the new administration kills the U.S. Dept of Education as they're promising to do, I'll lose most of my livelihood, at age 63. There'll be no more funding for lawyers and mediators to help schools and families figure out how best to serve special education students. But until then I'll do my work as well as I can, as long as I can, and try not to let my fear interfere with my service to others.
I don't really have a point to make here. I'm just sharing what it's like to be alive, doing what I do. But if I had a point to make, maybe it would be "do the right things. Be brave. And empower the good lawyers."
It was even more troubling than I envisioned. I ticced (I have Tourette's) and had to stop myself from hyperventilating. As a mandatory reporter and a decent person, it was the right thing to do – most of my work is helping special needs kids! – but it was still incredibly difficult, because lawyer-client and mediator-party confidentiality are sacred. And it was extra challenging because the info was secondhand (hearsay), and because it had already been told to authorities, and because my disclosing it might destroy the parties' trust in me and therefore my ability to help the child – but the legal canons of ethics I'm sworn to required me to report it.
"Lawyers are the priests of civilization." -Me, circa 1987. We lawyers learn the rites and rituals that enable humans to live together in peace. We're empowered to access the Powers that enforce both justice and equity. Our work is sacred. And it infuriates me that I fucking agonize over my ethical and moral duties while bad lawyers like Eileen Cannon and Neil Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas and John Roberts are lauded and promoted and bribed.
And when the new administration kills the U.S. Dept of Education as they're promising to do, I'll lose most of my livelihood, at age 63. There'll be no more funding for lawyers and mediators to help schools and families figure out how best to serve special education students. But until then I'll do my work as well as I can, as long as I can, and try not to let my fear interfere with my service to others.
I don't really have a point to make here. I'm just sharing what it's like to be alive, doing what I do. But if I had a point to make, maybe it would be "do the right things. Be brave. And empower the good lawyers."