Despite lingering uncertainties about the election tally in Bernalillo County, Democrat John Kelly acknowledged Wednesday afternoon that Rep. Heather Wilson appeared to have won re-election in the 1st Congressional District.

“We don’t know what the final count is,” Kelly said. “We do have enough information for me to conclude that, unless something extraordinarily unusual happens, Congresswoman Wilson has won the race by several thousand votes.”

Albuquerque Journal November 9, 2000

Hugged your lawyer lately?

When people ask me what I do for a living, there’s always a moment of hesitation before I answer. I have to brace myself for their potential disgust.

After all, in the public esteem, journalists rank right up there — or right down there — with politicians and HMO executives.

The only ones lower, of course, are lawyers.

How many lawyers does it take to screw in a light bulb? None. They’d just sue the bulb manufacturer for the pain and suffering of having to sit in the dark.

So you may be surprised to know that there is a movement afoot toward a kinder, gentler type of lawyer — one whose goal is less about triumphing in court than it is about “healing” the client.

“I see my practice as empowering people rather than ‘pay me enough and I’ll win for you,’ “ says Bill van Zyverden, founder and president of the International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers. “Winning in court isn’t necessarily winning in the larger sense. You may be right, but it doesn’t make you happy”

In a holistic practice, litigation is a last resort. Your lawyer would first encourage you to share your personal history and emotions — something traditional attorneys often frown upon. He or she also would urge you to take responsibility for your actions and to find compassion for your adversaries rather than seek revenge.

You might even be coached to conduct your own investigation, interview potential witnesses or assemble documents so that you would feel more like a participant and less like a victim.

How does this work in real life?

Consider a drunken-driving case van Zyverden handled a few years back. His client admitted in private that he was guilty but said police couldn’t prove it. He and a passenger had gotten out of the car — which had crashed into a light pole — before the officers arrived, and the two men kept their mouths shut. The police didn’t know which one had been driving, so officers charged both of them.

Though it would be unethical for any attorney to lie in court, or to counsel his client to lie, van Zyverden simply could have kept his client off the witness stand and attacked the prosecution for failing to prove its case. Many attorneys would have.

Instead, though, he asked his client about his past. He learned the man had started drinking as a child and had soon graduated to drugs. Then van Zyverden said: “Maybe this is a wake-up call for you, that you have some addiction problems.” He persuaded the man to plead guilty, enter a rehabilitation program and, later, even to counsel alcohol-abusing teens. The client got probation.

“At the end, he thanked me,” van Zyverden says. “If I had just gotten him off for the DWI charge — and he had gone back out drinking and driving — then what contribution would I have made?”

It’s a wonderful story, but what if the client had wanted nothing more than to slither out of a conviction? What if he had no interest in personal growth?

“I’m under no obligation to take the case,” van Zyverden points out.

When he talks, the Middlebury, Vt., attorney and mediator sounds more Buddhist than barrister. He speaks of “resolving inner conflict” and the notion of impermanence — that we are all changing despite our- selves. What Deepak Chopra has been to medicine, he may be to law.

“When I first had this idea, no one supported the word ‘holistic’ — not even my mother,” he admits. “I still get ridiculed by it. People say, ‘I think I’m going to get a massage when I get there.’ And I say, ‘Well, in a sense you are.' "

He launched the International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers in 1991 with a whopping three members. Today there are more than 800 and a mailing list of another 6,000.

In general, they employ mediation and arbitration over litigation. And they say it works not only for contentious divorces, but for corporate cases as well.

“I’m a pretty conservative, main- line attorney,” says Ralph Losey, an Orlando corporate lawyer for Katz, Kutter et al.

Though his client list includes such Goliaths as Wal-Mart, Losey says he emphasizes the “counseling” side of legal counsel.

“It’s not always black and white, and that’s the beauty of a settlement, of mediation,” he says. “If you go before a judge in the courtroom, typically one side wins and the other side loses, and that may not be the most just thing.”

There is another motive as well — job satisfaction.

“Attorneys statistically have high [rates of] drug addiction, alcoholism, suicides, heart attacks and strokes,” writes Maurice J. Attie, a holistic lawyer from Los Angeles, who blames a system that has become more about combat than cooperation. “Put plainly, attorneys encourage the negative thoughts of their clients, because that generates revenue."

That’s also why pursuing a holistic path is not so easily done. For one thing, you still have to deal with all your unenlightened colleagues.

“I’ve even had judges tell me, ‘You’re not here to find a solution. That’s not your job,’ “van Zyverden admits.

Then, in true holistic fashion, he searches for understanding.

“Of course, you can’t blame them for having gone to lawyer school back when it was mainly about competition.”

Kate Santich is a writer for Florida magazine. You can learn more about the International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers at www.iahl.org.

FLORIDA MAGAZINE SUNDAY JULY 9. 2000

Certified - Return receipt requested

Congresswoman Heather Wilson
625 Silver Ave. SW, Suite 340
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102

Dear Congresswoman Wilson:

Purpose of this letter is to request the names, postal addresses, and e-mail addresses of committee members responsible to insure that both the Freedom of Information and Privacy Acts are operating as Congress intended.

Distribution of the documents seen at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/8327/robles.htm violate the criminal provisions of the Privacy Act.

Congress enacted the Privacy Act with provision for administrative or judicial remedy of distribution of such documents.

Both administrative and judicial remedy as intended by Congress appears to be failing.

This failure must be brought to the attention of the appropriate members of Congress so that it can be corrected.

I ask that your office provides this information to me by Friday July 23, 2000.

Sincerely,

William H. Payne
13015 Calle de Sandias NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111

Certified - Return receipt requested.

Congresswoman Heather Wilson
625 Silver Ave. SW, Suite 340
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102

Dear Congresswoman Wilson:

I sincerely appreciate the unsolicited phone call from Sarah McKinney of your office on Wednesday May 31, 200 at 14:27 offering your help restore our New Mexico On-line website http://nmol.com/users/billp/ paid-for internet services.

Arthur Morales and I appreciate your interest and concerns about us being denied our First Amendment rights to bring to public attention federal government, federal court, and legal profession misconduct.

The problem is that either I can't upload our homepage to http://nmol.com/users/billp/ or I'm unable to view the homepage I uploaded. And I've been denied long-term upload paid-for services in the past. The history is documented at http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/8327/pine.htm

I've tried to mitigate previous upload web service damages Morales and I have endured by expanding our websites to both http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/8327/ and http://members.tripod.com/bill_3_2/

Morales and I both realize that local newspapers suppress news unfavorable to New Mexico's National Labs, federal judicial system, and legal profession. They do this apparently to keep taxpayer money flowing to New Mexico.

We realize that without visibility the US government and federal court system will do about anything us, including unlawful act, to bury us in obscurity. http://nmol.com/users/billp/young.htm

I ask that

1 Your office discovers why I either can't upload our homepage to http://nmol.com/users/billp/ or I cannot view it.

2 Your office discovers if http://nmol.com/users/billp/ has been hacked and, if so, who was responsible for all service disruption events.

I attach a signed copy of your Privacy Release.

Thank you very much in for you contacting me with your concerns.

I await in anticipation your response.

Sincerely,

William H. Payne
13015 Calle de Sandias NE
Albuquerque, NM 87111

202-225-6316 or 505-346-6781
226 Cannon HOB, Washington, DC 20515 - 625 Silver Ave SW, Albuquerque, NM

Please fill out completely and return to:

Congresswoman Wilson needs your written permission to obtain the information needed to assist you because of the “Right to Privacy Act” of 1975. Only information related to your request will be obtained.

Please provide the information requested below and on page two of this form. Please include as many details as possible, along With copies of any relevant documentation.

Name:

Address:_______________________________________
City and State: Zip.____

Date of Birth: Social Security #:(If applicable)

Case or Claim # (If applicable) Alien#(If applicable)___________________

Home Telephone: Work Telephone:.

Do you currently have a case pending with this office, or before a local, state, or federal court -in regard to this matter?

NO YES, with Rep. Wilson's Office YES, with a local state, or federal court.

Have you contacted, or do you plan to contact, any other members of the New Mexico Congressional Delegation regarding this matter?

NO YES (Sen. Domenici) YES (Sen. Bingaman) YES (Rep. Udall) YES (Rep. Skeen)

CONGRESSWOMAN HEATHER WILSON-- Privacy Release Form

Please provide a detailed outline of your problem and how you would like Congresswoman Wilson to assist you. If you wish, you may also attach a letter you’ve written to Congresswoman Wilson.