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Florida Bar presents - Mindfulness and Neuroscience: Enhancing Lawyer Effectiveness, Stress Reduction and Well-Being From the Inside Out

Read all about the seminar here [pdf]. Includes Scott Rogers and Len Riskin.

Mediate.com interviews Diane Levin, a true leader of mediator bloggers

If you are interested in mediation (after reading this article, I hesitate to say the "field" or "profession" of mediation), you will want to read this interview of Diane Levin.

Blog Glob: 5 Essential Swine Flu Survival Tips

Excerpt:

[H]ere are the top five essential things you can do to avoid getting sick and, importantly, avoid infecting others. These critical tips are widely agreed upon by the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other health experts.

1. Wash your hands.

The best thing anyone could do right now to avoid swine flu, experts say, is to wash their hands. It sounds like a stupidly simple response to an overwhelming situation, but nearly compulsive hand-washing helps prevent the spread of this airborne respiratory disease. It's the droplets from coughing and sneezing that spread the disease. These get on our hands. And then everything we touch is infectious.

How you do it is important:

- Use warm or hot water if you can.

- Lather up and rub not just your fingers and palms but also under the fingernails, around the wrists and between the fingers for as long as it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice.

- Rinse well.

It is important to wash your hands before eating and after using the bathroom, but also after using a tissue or covering your mouth when you sneeze or cough, sick or not. So yes, that's a lot of hand-washing. Basically, think of how often you would wash your hands if you worked in an emergency room or operating room. Wash your hands that often and that thoroughly.

2. Cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze.

"The way you spread influenza is with droplets that come out of your mouth or nose," said Dr. George T. DiFerdinando Jr., a physician, epidemiologist and professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health. He recommends the classic shoulder or crook-of-the elbow sneeze.

Click to read the rest of "5 Essential Swine Flu Survival Tips" (Live Science).

Nice interviews of Todd Kashdan about his new book CURIOUS

I recommend that you read Curious?: Discover the Missing Ingredient to a Fulfilling Life and I plan to blog about my reasons soon. In the meanwhile, you can get a good sense of what the book is about by reading an interview of its author Dr. Todd Kashdan. Bonus: You may also listen to an NPR interview of Kashdan. From "Meet Curious Todd" (InsideNova.com):

Q: What is it about "Curious" that distinguishes itself from other books on fulfill-ment?

A: This is not a book about happiness… This is a book about living a life that matters with a broader view about what the "good life" entails… When you take a broad view of what matters, an important question remains that this entire book hinges on. What is the central ingredient to creating a fulfilling life? The answer is curiosity. Being curious is about appreciating and seeking out the new. It's about being flexible, recognizing the freshness of the familiar. Instead of trying desperately to explain and control our world, we embrace uncertainty. When we are open to new experiences, when we relish the unknown, positive events linger longer and we extract more pleasure and meaning from them. By acting on our curiosity, we explore and dis-cover new things about ourselves, other people, and the world… Without being curious and open to experiences, we stop growing as a person and lose our ability to capitalize on the rewards that life has to offer.

...

Q: You've lectured on well-being over the years and have assigned many exercises to stretch one's curiosity limit. What are some interesting findings in reading student responses?

A: People often take their friends, family, and romantic partners for granted. When we think we become experts about who they are, we stop paying attention. When I give people the exercise

Colorado Bar makes available article "Pandemic Preparations for the Workplace"

You may download the article here at The Learned Lawyer blog of CLE in Colorado.

2009 Intnl. Association of Holistic Lawyers conference will include a tribute to Steve Keeva

From the press release [pdf]:

Holistic Lawyers gather in Chicago

17th annual conference of the International Alliance of Holistic Lawyers will
take place in Chicago June 11 - 14, 2009

WHAT: Lawyers, Judges, Law Professors and Students will learn how practicing holistically
has been done with success AND satisfaction. Workshops will allow for exploration and
development of their own 'voice' in these new models of practice.

WHY: The world is changing and the practice of law must transform itself to continue to
contribute. People with problems now seek healing, not simply solutions. Holistic lawyering
emphasizes peacemaking over prevailing.

WHERE: Hilton Garden Inn, 10 E. Grand St. Chicago, IL

WHEN: Conference - June 11, 6:00 p.m. through June 14, 3:00 p.m. PreConference
Collaborative Law Training - June 10-11, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

HOW: IAHL is gathering many of the luminaries who have taken the idea and ideals of law
practice as a healing, holistic undertaking and put them into concrete application as, e.g.,
Collaborative Law, Therapeutic Jurisprudence, Restorative Justice, Humanizing Legal Education
and others. At this conference they will share that doing good and doing well can indeed coexist.

WHO: A major player in IAHL and in the efforts to transform the way law is viewed and practiced is author Steven Keeva who will be honored at the Saturday dinner on the 10th anniversary of
the publication of his book Transforming Practices.

More about the conference here.

Note (added December 12, 2012): Steve Keeva passed away this month. Read a tribute: "Former ABA Journal Editor Who Inspired Lawyers with ‘Transforming Practices’ Dies at Age 56" (ABA Journal).

Some good career advice from HARVARD LAW RECORD

This article presents a nice overview of what to consider when choosing your work. Click to read the flesh on the below skeleton outline.

I. How Do You Want to Use Your Law Degree?

II. Clarify a Vision Behind Your Work

A. Decide: Whose Life Is This Anyway?

B. Evaluate Your Ambitions and Values

C. Evaluate the Nature of the Work and Work Environment That Fits You

D. Learn About What Lawyers Do

E. Sample What Interests You

F. Money and Your Job Choice

G. Consider How You Define Success

III. Your Career Will Evolve

Read the whole article.

"'Best Lawyers' Panels Agree That Law Schools, Firms Need Retooling"

I did not want you to miss this article; you may join me in considering it thought-provoking. From "'Best Lawyers' Panels Agree That Law Schools, Firms Need Retooling":

Law schools must retool legal education, the deans agreed, but exactly how still is not clear.

"You're producing a product that very few people want. Firms have hiring freezes. Why not stop producing the product -- or create new markets for what you're producing?" one lawyer challenged the deans. "You're like the auto manufacturers who produce a product for which there is no demand."

Matasar replied that some law schools likely will go out of business while those that survive will have to provide a legal education at a lower cost.

Shortening the time spent in law school would make it cheaper for students, which would mean firms could pay them a lower starting salary, Matasar pointed out, adding that in Europe, a legal education is an undergraduate degree.

Offering courses online and increasing credit for externships are two ways that law schools could offer degrees more quickly and cheaply, he said.

But Matasar said law schools are hamstrung by requirements of the American Bar Association, 

Survey shows 40% of students applied to law school, in part, to avoid looking for a job

Oh, dear. Take a look at this post at Legal Writing Prof Blog. It begins:

The survey also found that 67% of the 1040 respondents said they applied to law school, in part, because of the potential earning power lawyers enjoy.  Double-ouch!

Um, guys, did you do any research before applying?

Contemplative Practices for Lawyers Retreat, Santa Fe, September 12 and 13

The Contemplative Practices for Lawyers Retreat will be held September 12 and 13 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The retreat will be led by Scott Rogers and me.

More about Scott.

Scott and I will be writing a description of the Retreat soon but I wanted anyone who might be interested to hold the date. You can contact me if you want to make sure you get the information as soon as it is available.

Hope to see some of you there!