The National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being encourages law schools to develop a “Well-Being Course.” The Task Force explains that such a course can “leverage research findings from positive psychology and neuroscience” and explore the many benefits of enhanced well-being, including improved cognitive performance–in law school and legal practice.
Doug Blaze and Candice Reed developed the well-being course Thriving as a Lawyer (A Scientific Approach) and taught it for the first time in spring 2019. In creating the course, Doug Blaze drew on his 30+ years of law teaching experience (including his work as a clinician and clinic director, a Dean, and now as Director of Tennessee Law’s Institute for Professional Leadership), while Candace Reed drew on her legal training, her practice experience, and her background in positive psychology (she holds a Master of Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania).
The Thriving syllabus explains why the course is needed and what students should expect to learn:
“[Lawyers’ struggle to achieve happiness] puts us at high risk for burn-out, depression, alcoholism, divorce, and even suicide. Accordingly, this course is designed to introduce law students to the scientific principles of positive psychology, while incorporating ‘hands-on learning’ through empirically validated positive interventions, which require cognitive reasoning and physical effort, encourage habitualizing behavior, involve goal-setting, and allow for self-efficacy or autonomy.”
Students are provided the following list of themes that they will study in the 2-credit course:
- Why are many lawyers so unhappy? How does this unhappiness or lack of thriving typically present itself? In other words, what are the symptoms of a lawyer in trouble? What are the signs someone is struggling?
- What are the obstacles to thriving in the law? Why is happiness in the law so elusive?
- Is it possible for the highest ethical behavior and client service to flourish under these circumstances? If not, should legal institutions (i.e. law schools, bar associations, law firms and corporate legal departments) encourage and promote wellbeing? If so, how?
- What roles do personality, emotions and character strengths play in attorney wellbeing (or a lack thereof)? Should lawyers (and their employers) take these personal characteristics into account in making career choices (e.g. type of legal job or employer, practice concentration, etc.)?
- What strategies/practices/habits/mindsets support lawyer wellbeing? What should lawyers do if they want to increase their own wellbeing?
- How can these issues be articulated in a persuasive manner to leaders of legal institutions and lawyers themselves to promote lasting, positive change?
Reed and Blaze assemble an impressive list of reading assignments for the class, including articles like these:
- Angela Duckworth; Christopher Peterson; Michael D. Matthews; and Dennis R. Kelly. Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals; Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2007, Vol. 92, No. 6, 1087–1101.
- The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys; Krill, Patrick R. JD, LLM; Johnson, Ryan MA; Albert, Linda MSSW. Journal of Addiction Medicine: Jan/Feb 2016; Vol. 10; Issue 1; pp. 46-52.
Thriving students are prompted to complete the VIA survey of Character Strengths, as well as several of the questionnaires (on on topics such positive and negative affect and grit) at the University of Pennsylvania Authentic Happiness Test Center.
Students do a presentation on a book on a well-being related topic. The book list includes a number of titles, including the following:
- Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success by Adam M. Grant
- The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a Richer, Happier Life by Tal Ben-Shahar
- Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain by John J. Ratey
- The Anxious Lawyer: An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation by Jeena Cho
- Wire Your Brain for Confidence by Louisa Jewell
In its 2019 rollout, one strength of Thriving was its unique format: it was taught over two 3-day weekends. Students were required to do a lot of reading, journaling, questionnaire completion, and other work before these sessions. And during the long weekend classes, students were fully immersed in the course material with their colleagues and their professors. The course received rave reviews and will likely become a regular course offering.
Filed under: Best Practices, Best Practices & Curriculum | Tagged: attorney wellness, law student well-being, law student wellness, positive psychology, well-being, well-being class, well-being course, wellbeing, wellbeing class, wellbeing course, wellness | Comments Off on Thriving as a Lawyer
Best Practices for Legal Education 