This document discusses how mindfulness can benefit legal practice. It defines mindfulness as nonjudgmental attention to present moment experiences. Mindfulness has been shown to improve health issues like anxiety and depression as well as performance through better focus, immune function and cognitive abilities. The document recommends mindfulness meditation and other techniques like body scanning to help lawyers focus on one task, manage emotions, make thoughtful decisions and be fully present with clients. Regular mindfulness practice can help lawyers deal with stress and perform at their best.

1. Mindful Lawyering: An
Introduction to Mindfulness
and How it Can Boost Your
Life and Legal Practice
PRACTICING LAWYERS INSTITUTE (PLI), TUESDAY, SEPTMBER 16, 2014
ROB DURR, PH.D. DAN DEFOE, JD, MS – KANSAS CITY MO AREA
PSYCHOLOGIST, LECTURER ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANT
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW ADLITEM SOLUTIONS * PSYCHOLAWLOGY BLOG

2. MINDFULNESS
The MIND is a problem solving time
machine!

3. The Problem for Legal Practice
 Are you “present” with clients and in your work?
 During mindlessness do you slip into old habits rather than choosing
the most appropriate course of action?
 Locked in automatic pilot in how you work with and respond to
client needs?
 Are you limited to flight or fight and not the relaxation response
when presented with a stressful situation?

4. What is it?
 Mindfulness is typically
defined as
nonjudgmental attention
to experiences in the
present moment (Kabat-
Zinn, 1990).

5. Finding your breath

6. Empirically Supported Uses
Beneficial effects for Health
 Anxiety
 Depression
 Substance Abuse
 Eating Disorders
 Chronic pain
Performance and wellness
 Improved immune function
 Reduced blood pressure and cortisol
levels
 Enhance cognitive functioning such as
attention/focus

7. Components of Mindfulness
Meditation
 1. Attention regulation
 2. Body awareness
 3. Emotion regulation, including
A. Reappraisal
B. Exposure, extinction and
reconsolidation
 4. Change in perspective on the
self
Holzel, B.K., Lazar, S.W., Gard, T., Schuman-Olivier, Z, Vago, D.R., & Ott, U. (2011). How does mindfulness meditation work? Proposing mechanisms of action
from a conceptual and neural perspective. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 6(6), 537-559.

8. Triangle of Awareness
Body
Sensations
Thoughts
Triangle of
Awareness
Feelings/
Emotions
Developed by the Stress Reduction Clinic, University of Massachusets Medical Center

9. Why are mindfulness skills important
in legal practice?
 Help focus on one thing at a time in the
present moment, and by doing this you can
better control and soothe your
overwhelming emotions.
 Boosts self-management
 Learn to identify and separate judgmental
thoughts from your experiences.
 Raise self-awareness.
 Stay present in life’s sacred moments.
 Be present with clients.
 Ability to read the moment more accurately

10. Body Scan
 Move our attention around the different parts of our body, as a
means of anchoring ourselves in the present moment of sensing and
experiencing

11. Emotions
“The instant plans for
handling life that evolution
has instilled in us”
Goleman, 1995

12. Anatomy of EI
The emotional brain responds to an event more quickly than the
thinking brain.

13. STOP Technique
S = Stop what you are doing
T = Take a breath
O = Open and observe the triangle of awareness
P = Proceed mindfully

14. Mindfulness Tips
 “Doing nothing” for 5 minutes. Finding a comfortable seat or lying down, turning off
your phone, closing the door, etc. and simply noticing what it feels like to breathe in
and out.
 Eating a meal or snack slowly and without distractions.
 Engaging in several minutes of gentle stretching, dance, or other movement.
 Approaching any habitual action (such as washing dishes or brushing your teeth) as if
you are discovering what it is like to do it for the first time.
 Noticing the “running commentary” of the mind while doing any of the above and
how the mind likes to “jump around” from thought to thought.

15. Start/Continue your Practice
 Moments of silence before meetings – Take 5
 Make it part of your morning routine
 STOP
 Meditation log/journal

16. Recommended Readings
 Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in
Everyday Life (Kabat Zinn)
 The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of
Meditation
byThich Nhat Hanh

17. Faculty Contact
Dr. Rob Durr
Northwestern University
(312)503-0165
rdurr@northwestern.edu
Dan DeFoe, JD, MS
Organization Development Consultant | Kansas City MO area
Adlitem Solutions | www.adlitemsolutions.com
dan@adlitemsolutions.com | 816.803.4252
Blog – Psycholawlogy | www.psycholawlogy.com

18. References
 Germer, Christopher K. (Editor); Siegel, Ronald D. (Editor); Fulton, Paul R. (Editor). Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.New York, NY, USA: Guilford Press, 2005.
 Holzel, B.K., Lazar, S.W., Gard, T., Schuman-Olivier, Z, Vago, D.R., & Ott, U. (2011). How
does mindfulness meditation work? Proposing mechanisms of action from a conceptual and neural
perspective. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 6(6), 537-559.
 Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go there you are. New York: Hyperion.
 Kabat-Zinn, J. (2005). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness: Fifteenth anniversary edition. New York:
Bantam Dell.
 Kurash, C., & Schaul, J. (2006). Integrating mindfulness meditation within a University counseling center setting. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 20(3),
53-67.
 Murphy, M. C. (2006). Taming the anxious mind: An 8-week mindfulness meditation group a
university counseling center. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 21(2), 5-13.
 Siegel, D.J. (2007). Mindfulness training and neural integration: differentiation of distinct
streams of awareness and the cultivation of well-being. Social Cognitive Neuroscience, 2(4),
259-263.