The Mindfulness Blog

Why the fear? Why the reluctance? Why the persistent cloak of skepticism? If I didn't know better, I'd think I was writing a political piece about vaccine hesitancy. But this post focuses on something different: Lawyer wellbeing (of which mindfulness and meditation are important components).

As with vaccine hesitancy, the root of resistance to implementing initiatives that address lawyer wellbeing, is ignorance. And the most responsible response, is education. To those who may argue that, "it ain't broke, so why fix it", I respectfully point to the growing body of evidence, that supports a very different conclusion. The fact-based truth of the matter is that the legal profession is broke, or at the very least, is breaking. And we need to fix it-- now.

The first (and easiest) argument raised by the naysayers is that meaningful lawyer wellbeing initiatives cost too much money. Readers of this blog will already know my answer, so I won't even grace that argument with a response.

The second argument is that lawyer wellbeing is for softies, and law firm leaders can't get behind any kind of initiative that might somehow dull the edge of their fighters. To that, I say, tosh-- utter nonsense. Well lawyers will still fight for their clients-- they just don't hate. There's a difference between employing intelligence and reason to make a point, and hating or demonizing opposing counsel-- too many of us in the legal profession seem to have forgotten that.

The third argument (related to the above) is that clients won't engage a lawyer, or a law firm, that embraces wellbeing as a salve for it's hurting lawyers. One word: Baloney. Many clients already have their own wellbeing initiatives, and will welcome slow-adopters to the party.

Don't fear lawyer wellbeing-- own it! Celebrate it! Be it!