Lawyer Wellness

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Content

The art of curating aims to ensure that the collection of informational content meets the special interests of the targeted audience. Lawyers face many unique challenges because the legal profession is highly regulated and governed by complicated, and sometimes punishing, rules.
Lawyers are information-seeking dialecticians, trained to find, analyze, and synthesize facts. When it comes to their own well-being, they are willing to explore for their own sake—but time is always of the essence for lawyers. This Library serves the busy lives of lawyers by gathering the data for them to review, and bringing it to them in an easily accessible, securely private, engaging, digital platform.
Here are the anticipated categories of Content for the Central Lawyer Wellness Library:
All categories of content will offer a range of basic information and deeper discussions, in the form of articles, videos, and podcasts. Where content is not already broadly available, the Librarian will seek it out, interfacing with disciplines beyond the field of law, such as psychology, sociology, medicine (western and alternative), philosophy, nutrition, and theology. Lawyers, from all walks of life, vary in their personal and core beliefs, which undoubtedly influence how they choose to promote their own well-being.
The Library adopts the idea that every person knows themselves better than anyone else does, and that other lawyers are not endowed with special insights as to what others should do to find their own inner happiness. Because we each have to live our own lives—according to the choices we make— a vast and varied collection of honored thoughts and ideas is required to meet the unique needs of all parts of the legal community. In keeping with this philosophy of curating, the Library will always invite users to request or suggest content so that the Library will offer an abundance of wellness information that is relevant to the legal profession.

Addictions

Providing lawyers with the tools to identify and recognize their own issues with possible addictions, resources for addressing recovery options, and how to appropriately deal with lawyers in their firm who may be dealing with addiction, without committing discrimination on the basis of disability. This stack will cover problems that affect licensing, liability to clients, vicarious liability for a firm where addiction goes unaddressed, and consequences to the families of addicted lawyers. Note the thinking of an addiction counselor in one of California’s recovery programs, The Other Bar. Greg Dorst has this to say: An Idea Whose Time Has Come – Judging the Law

Mental Health Issues

Including recognizing signs and available treatments, and appropriately and lawfully dealing with someone (lawyer or otherwise) who is showing signs of mental illness or suicide ideation, and the like. This stack will explore depression, dementia, bipolar issues, anxiety disorder, divorce, grief, single-parenting, ADHD, suicide, the role of prescription medication, cognitive therapy, finding help of all kinds, psychological diagnosis, and treatment, and the role of attorney licensing authorities (both before and after passing a bar exam). It will also address the malaise that comes with burnout and/or the feeling that we are not serving our clients well.

Anticipatory Anxiety: Bleeding Before You Are Cut | Anxiety and Depression Association of America, ADAA ; What is EMDR psychotherapy? Who can it help? – Judging the Law

Satisfying Professional Responsibility Requirements

This stack will address the need to be ever-diligent in satisfying the state licensing authorities and in meeting our professional responsibility standards. This section of the Library will give special attention to our role as “Counselor,” and the need to help clients avoid the harsh realities of litigation and the alternatives that are available for other ways to resolve disputes, i.e., making ADR more palatable to clients and making sure new lawyers understand the role of counselor. Some organizations are devoted to upgrading the usefulness of ADR and they will be featured in the Library. CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution | CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (cpradr.org)

Disciplinary Traps & Actions

Including state and federal agencies, civility, impaired competence, responsibility of the employers of lawyers, ethical responsibility and liability due to an attorney’s emotional imbalance, and how to deal with a client’s complaint to your state bar. This stack will find examples of ethical breaches from around the country, contrasting and comparing the different lawyer conduct expected under the ABA Model Rules and what goes on around the country. 12,000 Days Later – What I Have Learned About Legal Ethics | Kafkaesq ; Declutter Your Space, Declutter Your Mind – California Lawyers Association (calawyers.org)

Mentoring

The dashboard for the Library comes with a free 8-Hour Audio Course for new lawyers, where new lawyers can learn from a seasoned lawyer about the main traps that await the unsuspecting new lawyer; the audio course (which also includes a written transcript for the hard-of-hearing or those who prefer to read the Course) can be digested at the listener’s pace while exercising, commuting, eating, or sitting with nature. This is a Course valued at $799.00, completely free with every dashboard. In addition, there will be videos from seasoned lawyers every month to tell war stories that can serve as warnings to the uninitiated, along with articles on how to find a mentor in a particular community. Content Titles Of the 8-Hour Audio-Course for Beginning Lawyers “How to Deal with Clients and Still Enjoy Practicing Law” – Judging the Law

New Lawyers

Besides mentoring, new lawyers need advice on special concerns that go beyond what “young” or “new” lawyer divisions of bar associations can be relied upon to provide. What makes a good resume, how to analyze what kind of law job will meet their talents and expectations, how to find the perfect job and what to look for, how to go about setting up a law practice right after passing a bar, and how to find clients once the office door is open. Of paramount importance, all new lawyers need to know what ethical traps to avoid, and these stacks will be full of articles on that exact topic. IAALS Study Reveals the Building Blocks of Minimum Competence, Recommends Changes to Bar Exam and Lawyer Licensing | IAALS (du.edu)

Financial Well-Being

Including setting up an office, obtaining legal malpractice insurance, considering other kinds of first-party insurance (like disability, life, dishonest employee), understanding contracts to borrow against AR or contingent fees, examining financial wealth management strategies, and the like. This stack will also include information and articles about trust accounts and services, payroll options, and other issues confronting a law practice.

Bias in the Workplace

As it is, practicing law is difficult, and finding a satisfying law career is full of challenges, so it is not surprising that trying to succeed as a lawyer in a marginalized group is more stressful than it is for white male lawyers or members of the legal community who suffer emotional or mental health issues. This stack will allow lawyers in marginalized groups to find conversations that address the way to true diversity and inclusion. Law schools are graduating all makes and models of lawyers, but they are not making it to partnership in the larger law firms. We need to explore why, and this Library will contain articles, videos, and podcasts that seek those answers. Leveraging Diversity Through Psychological Safety (harvard.edu)

Self-Discovery

Most lawyers begin their careers before they start to question the meaning of their own lives, and then they get on a speeding merry-go-round with little time to contemplate those existential questions. Seasoned lawyers, and people with the time to consider these lofty philosophical issues, can provide a basis for those conversations, which will be present in this Library. Also, this stack will include topics like burnout and/or the feeling that we, as lawyers, could better help our clients deal with the legal system, and especially litigation. Introspection into how we serve our clients will be found in this stack. Self-Knowledge for Lawyers: What It Is and Why It Matters (aals.org) ; Here’s How I Found Happiness as a Lawyer – Judging the Law by Alison Schlick, California attorney

Law Schools and Students

Law schools take a lot of heat for the high incidence of mental distress that accompanies the practice of law, but they have their hands full trying to teach their students how to think and write like the American legal system says they must. This Library will provide ways for graduating law students to find the skills that are necessary for being an excellent lawyer that are not (and reasonably cannot be) taught in law school. Importantly, new lawyers need mentoring, and this Library will provide an 8-hour Audio Course to all lawyers free of charge, warning them of the common traps they might encounter. IAALS Study Reveals the Building Blocks of Minimum Competence, Recommends Changes to Bar Exam and Lawyer Licensing | IAALS (du.edu)

Body, Mind, and Spirit

For those lawyers who believe in the gestalt of our physical existence, the stacks will also allow for exploring how things like nutrition, exercise, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, introspection, and self-awareness, as examples, can affect our ability to deal with the extreme challenges of practicing law. Consider a Plant-Based Diet for Health and Wellness – California Lawyers Association (calawyers.org) ; Declutter Your Space, Declutter Your Mind – California Lawyers Association (calawyers.org) ; What is EMDR psychotherapy? Who can it help? – Judging the Law

Work-Life Balance

This stack offers resources to address the common imbalance confronting all stressful professions, namely how to enjoy life when you’re not working and how to make time for the important, restorative, personal activities involving friends, family, and solitude. The nature of a law career involves working too much at the early stages, which are typically when lawyers have young families and financial struggles. Add to that the need to excel and find job security, and lawyers often feel pulled in too many directions to find balance in their lives. This is one area where the words of wisdom of lawyers who have succeeded in finding that balance can be a source of inspiration to those who are searching for equanimity. The Library will find those stories in order to bring ideas and hope to lawyers who are looking for a greater work-life balance.

What's To Come

Here is a tiny sampling of the types of articles that will be included in the library:
Lawyer Wellness Library will draw content from major wellness libraries which are full of more information than anyone can absorb. It will take a staff of curators to comb these websites for wellness material pertinent to lawyer wellness. Anyone who looks at these sites will surely acknowledge that no existing legal organization employs staff able to explore these valuable sites for content for their members. This Library will!

Monthly Features

In addition to links from the outside world, Lawyer Wellness Library will have regular features:
  • The Librarian’s Book Picks, which will be Book View’s by lawyers and consultants. The Brochure Site is featuring Librarian Pick’s – “Books of Interest” – Judging the Law by Stewart Levine, editor of The Best Lawyer You Can Be
  • Every month there will be an article by David Cameron Carr, a California professional responsibility lawyer, as part of the Librarian’s Ethics Column titled, “What Were They Thinking?” David writes an Ethics Newsletter for California lawyers and will be a regular contributor to the Library. The Librarian thinks you will enjoy David’s writing: 12,000 Days Later – What I Have Learned About Legal Ethics | Kafkaesq
  • There will be lawyers telling their own stories of how they created their own inner balance through self-discovery. These will be part of a regular section called the Librarian’s Favorite Success Stories because stories of how others succeeded can ring true for many of us—and be the event that inspires us to make changes in our own lives. The opener for this Brochure Site is by Alison Schlick (who consented to using her last name), a San Diego lawyer, telling her own story. Here’s How I Found Happiness as a Lawyer – Judging the Law
  • The Daral Mazzarella Memorial Hall will add honorees each month—to pay our special respects to men and women who have passed away, but who lived their lives striving to stand for more than the practice of law. It isn’t always easy to succeed at this goal, but certain ones of us, more than others, achieve that success. Read about the Memorial Hall next.

Memorial Hall

When completed, the Central Library will feature The Daral Mazzarella Memorial Hall to honor men and women who were known for enjoying life aside from the study or practice of law. They will be remembered for how they lived and found the time to nurture their inner nature. Anyone can nominate someone for the Daral Mazzarella Memorial Hall by letting the Librarian know. Donations in honor of the Hall’s honorees will support the work of the Library.

Every Honoree will have a personalized tribute to describe the beauty of their lives. Mark Mazzarella wrote the tribute to his brother and law partner, Daral Mazzarella, for whom this Memorial Hall is named. Here is Mark’s tribute to his brother: In Remembrance of Daral Mazzarella – Judging the Law

About the Librarian

Janet E. Sobel, Esq., founder and CEO of the Lawyer Wellness Library is the first Head Librarian, to be followed by a long line of Librarians, whose job it will be to curate this Library so it is useful and meaningful to lawyers who are grappling with some issue of inner unrest. Bio of Janet E. Sobel, President and CEO of Wellness Library, Inc, a California nonprofit – Judging the Law

Content Advisory Board

Find out more about how our content advisory board was selected.
ected. Content Advisory Board
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