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Partnering with the law
- Steph Turner
- Aug 2
- 4 min read
Need-response seeks to partner with any law school
The ABA warns of the erosion of the rule of law. What if that’s merely the tip of the iceberg?
Needs evolved first
The new profession of need-response has the answer:
Never put the role of law ahead of the inflexible needs for which laws exist to serve.
No law can compel action at odds with the inflexible reality of our needs. Yet we keep trying. And we keep failing.
Need-response puts inflexible needs ahead of flexible laws. This new professional field emerges from the new social science of need, called anankelogy.
Learn about the needs that laws exist to serve
Anankelogy provides illuminating insight into what fuels the necessity for laws. Consider this sample of anankelogical insight that gets easily overlooked in the study of law.
inflexible needs: While no one sits above the law, no law sits above the needs they exist to serve. The needs arrived first, as objective fact. They are inflexible and cannot be manipulated to serve laws. Attempts to acquiesce to social pressure readily results in psychological maladies. The law works best when opposing questionable behavior, and never to oppose the inflexible needs themselves.
properly resolving needs: The legal system offers to the winning side in a court battle or ballot contest some relief from the pain of unmet needs. There is no such thing as pain apart from unresolved needs. Offering only relief from pain, while reinforcing the pain of the losing side, easily provokes more problems and conflicts. Only when all sides can fully resolve their needs without imposing on others can human flourishing emerge. While application of law can be necessary, its improper application can risk doing more harm than good.
toxic legalism: Solzhenitsyn warned us that a society too focused on law undermines human flourishing. The adversarial legal system needlessly divides us, alienates us from each other, hinders our human potential for love. Instead of honoring the needs of others as we would have them honor our own, we slip into moral laziness and set ourselves up for repeated disappointment, and utter disillusionment.
Other helpful insights include:
When you realize the law is not enough
Need-response could offer a meaningful alternative for disillusioned lawyers who seek a less confrontational approach to resolving conflicts.
And for those disillusioned with lawyers, or disillusioned with the adversarial judicial system, who seek a better way to resolve their conflicts.
Let’s partner to learn together.
Alphabetical list of US law schools
Anankelogy can learn much from the law. Likewise, the law can learn much from anankelogy. Let us learn from each other.
If you know of a law school missing from this list, then let us know in the comments below. Thank you.
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