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Talks from The Mindful Lawyer 2010

You may listen to several of the presentations at The Mindful Lawyer 2010 at these links:

• The Mindful Lawyer 2010 breakout session—Neuroscience of Mindfulness: A Deeper Exploration
• The Mindful Lawyer 2010 Plenary – The Art and Science of Mindfulness: A Psychological Perspective
• The Mindful Lawyer 2010 Plenary – Putting Mindfulness to Work: The Benefits of Contemplative Practice for Judges and Lawyers
• The Mindful Lawyer 2010 Plenary – Educating Lawyers: The Meditative Perspective as a Complement to Traditional Education and Training
• Talk by Jack Kornfield at The Mindful Lawyer 2010
• The Mindful Lawyer 2010 Plenary – Conference Opening and Introduction

Street Law teams up businesses and law firms to teach high school students about the law

This non-profit coordinates a number of activities throughout the United States, and world. From Street Law's Web site:

Street Law began in 1972, when a small group of Georgetown University Law Center students developed an experimental curriculum designed to teach District of Columbia high school students about practical aspects of the law and the legal system. Because of its practical nature, this course was called Street Law, a name so popular with young people that it has continued as the name of the organization.

The Street Law curriculum evolved from a loose-leaf binder of lessons to a unique textbook, Street Law: A Course in Practical Law.  The text, now in its eighth edition and published by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, is the nation's leading high school law text. Its publication played an important role in adding law to the curricula of school systems around the country.

Since 1986, Street Law has brought its mission and expertise in curriculum writing and program and professional development to democratizing nations

Lessons for Law and Life: July issue of Balance now available

This new issue of Judicial Balance: Lessons for Law and Life, a compilation of articles from other sources published online by the Judicial Conference of Indiana, includes six articles, including

• Your Mental Health: Damages and Remedies
  The behavior required for success in the law is often contrary to that which contributes to mental health, well being, and balance. Your susceptibility to depression, anxiety, and secondary trauma is high. The good news is that available remedies are on the rise.
• Friendship Has Its Limits
  Facebook “friendship” has its limits. The Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee recently decided that judges and lawyers in Florida may not be Facebook “friends.” This decision braves the uncharted territory of judicial behavior online, and virtual freedom versus the appearance of impropriety.
• What I Know Now
  Originally written for recent female law graduates, Kathleen Wu’s article is poignant for any seasoned legal professional. Wu shares a different perspective regarding the reality of a balanced life, and provides food for thought about the profession we call our own.
• Holistic Living
  In her new book, J. Kim Wright confronts the issue of how to balance a challenging legal career – known for integrity and peace – and maintain a meaningful personal life. Receiving high acclaim, Wright’s work is predicted to become a must-read for judges and lawyers.

Other articles are: "A Child's Perspective" and "Law on Television." Click to see the newsletter archives.

180 financially disadvantaged & minority law students participating in Judicial Intern Opportunity Program this summer

"Bar offers law clerk program"

The American Bar Association Section of Litigation announced that nearly 180 financially disadvantaged and minority law students are participating in its Judicial Intern Opportunity Program this summer.

The program, celebrating its 10th anniversary, places students with courts in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Miami, Illinois and Texas. This year about 150 judges are taking part in the program.

The program provides an opportunity for students who are traditionally underrepresented in the legal profession to gain firsthand knowledge of the courts and develop the knowledge and skills necessary to have a well-rounded experience in the court system. In addition to addressing the needs of students, the project seeks to increase diversity in the courts and the legal profession.

The program was initially developed by the ABA Section of Antitrust Law in response to a survey showing underrepresentation of minorities in judicial clerkships. From an initial class of 14 interns in summer 2000, the program has grown to accept more than 675 applications from around the country for 2010.

The program provides a six-week minimum, full-time internship for first- and second-year minority and/or financially disadvantaged law students. Interns work on legal research and writing for state and federal judges. Interns receive an award of $1,500 for their participation in the program.

Volunteer lawyers review the applications, interview students and make recommendations to hiring judges. Students who are accepted into the program attend program orientations where they are given information from practicing lawyers and others in the legal field.

Interested parties can call the program director, Gail Howard, at (312) 988-6348 or e-mail [email protected].

From Thousand Oaks Acorn.

US District Court Judge John L. Kane speaks about lawyers, leadership, legacy (and Gen Y)

Last month, Judge Kane spoke at his 50th-year class reunion at University of Denver College of Law. His talk [pdf], posted with permission, is inspirational and, at times, also troubling. Excerpt:

I want to spend a few serious minutes commenting on our common legacy. About what we have learned and can pass on. About what a lifetime as lawyers enables us to share with the next generation which graduated today.

These young people are called the Millenium Generation. They don't have it easy. I'm not suggesting we did, but their is is a different world. Maybe that's why the Millenials seem to differ so greatly from any generation that came before.

I wish I had a better grasp of the issues, but this newest generation seems to possess an entirely different set of values. They are more concerned with lifestyle than clients or causes. We thought hard work and perseverance would eventually lead to a partnership in a firm and it was an unusual event when a partner left one firm and joined another. That kind of dogged loyalty is a thing of the past. ...

...

I want to tell this next generation that the philosophers were right; that St. Francis, Buddha, Muhammad, Maimonides — all spoke the truth

AALS Section on Pro Bono and Public Service -- Call for Papers

From the Law-LegalEd listserv:

Call for Papers
 
BEYOND EXTERNSHIPS AND CLINICS:  BEST PRACTICES FOR INTEGRATING ACCESS TO JUSTICE EDUCATION
 
AALS 2011 ANNUAL MEETING
San Francisco, California

 
The AALS [Association of American Law Schools] Section on Pro Bono and Public Service Opportunities will hold a program during the AALS 2011 Annual Meeting in San Francisco, California, featuring paper presentations by the winners of its Access to Justice paper competition.   
 
The theme of the Annual Meeting is AALS Core Educational Values: Guideposts for the Pursuit of Excellence in Challenging Times.   AALS Bylaw 6-1 identifies instilling a commitment to justice and to public service as core values.  Challenges to these values include the current economic crisis and the movement towards educational outcomes assessment.  
 
Recent research suggests that pro bono service must be connected to or part of the curriculum to achieve the desired outcome of an increased commitment on the part of graduates to solve the access to justice problem.  Assembled from the

Continuing Legal Education on mindfulness for lawyers: June 11, 2010, in Denver

The Denver Bar Association is offering "Mindfulness Practices for Lawyer" on June 11, at noon. I will be the presenter.

The program has been approved for one general CLE. The cost is $10 for Denver Bar Association members, $15 for Colorado Bar Association members who are not DBA members, and $35 for non-members. The price includes lunch.

The location is the CBA and DBA offices, 1900 Grant Street, Denver, CO.

You may RSVP by phone or e-mail at (303) 860-1116 x 727 or [email protected].

Blog Glob: "Law school grads use deferred time to work at legal aid groups"

Excerpt:

Cabrini Green Legal Aid ended its 2009 fiscal year with a deficit for the for the first time in years. Even though it provided legal aid to more poor people than ever before — 5,348 — the not-for-profit could not afford to hire another full-time attorney on its $2 million shoestring budget.

Last year's recession also hit Chicago's big law firms that individually generate hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from corporate clients. They were sitting with an oversupply of lawyers and were forced to lay off hundreds and postpone the starting dates of law school graduates they had hired to begin in the fall of 2009.

The opposite ends of Chicago's legal profession found a way to come together out of economic necessity to partially consume the supply of highly educated young lawyers looking for work. Despite several challenges, the unusual experiment has paid dividends. It also has sparked discussions of whether a more permanent model of apprenticeships can be developed that would

Blog Glob: "The Most Important Thing I Can Do": Fostering religious tolerance takes litigator to the Middle East

Excerpt:

At the heart of his profession, James K. Robertson Jr. thrives on conflict and disputes as a litigation partner at Carmody & Torrance.

But away from work, Robertson focuses on cooperation and tolerance among a group of people probably more at odds than any of his clients—Christians, Jews and Muslims.

For 15 years, Robertson has been involved with the Hartford Seminary, studying theology, history and religion and working with the seminary to improve relations and create interfaith ministries among religious groups. His activities have taken him to the Persian Gulf on numerous occasions where he participates in forums with scholars and students to help prepare them to become peacemakers. ...

“In terms of the big picture, this is probably the most important thing I can do,” said Robertson. “Many people have real difficulty reaching out to the religious ‘other,’ and so groups can be simplistically and unfairly labeled. It’s a problem that has always been with us, and the consequences are severe.”

Click to read the rest of "The Most Important Thing I Can Do" (Connecticut Law Tribune).

Hot, cool and cold worms: A contrarian look at work-life balance and so-called "workaholism"

 Positions all along the work-life balance (WLB) continuum can coexist. There will be those who want to work hard and serve the client well and they have the right—and responsibility—to populate their firms with others embracing that same work ethic. Those who want to take life a bit easier will find havens where they can balance their needs with that of the client.

I get exasperated when those in the latter group, the WLB people, want to work in the former firms. I hear some WLBers shouting, "I am different; you change." No wonder the debate is so heated.

In the legal profession, we see lawyers of different temperaments and with varying ideas of what it means to be a member of a service profession. Yes, they can coexist, although maybe not in the same firms. Hot worms and cold worms may not belong in the same pond.

What's this about hot worms? Last year TRIAL magazine contacted me to write an article for their edition on work-life balance. They wanted me to write from the contrarian point of view, putting together some of my thoughts from past blog posts. The article I wrote is called "What we can learn from hot worms, or why it's okay to be a 'workaholic'." I link to it with permission. They asked me to include this:

Reprinted with permission of TRIAL (December 2008). Copyright American Association for Justice, formerly Association of Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA®).

Let me know what you think of the article, please.