On well-being. Advancing Well-Being in the Workplace

• Author: Jeena Cho
• Pages: 13-14

Inter Alia | ON WELL-BEING

walking on the marbled oors of my

beautiful ofce and seeing the Chicago

skyline glitter from my window. There

are times—like when I was attending

a summer associate event and heard

the song “Sweet Caroline” for the

very rst time—when I still feel out

of place. Notwithstanding, work with

C.H.A.M.P.S. and other mentorship

programs has made me feel connected

to my law rm and the practice of law

in ways that were once unimaginable. I

may not be working on traditional pro

bono cases, but I am still very much

being a lawyer.

In that sense, my law rm has an

old-school view of what civic engage-

ment means. There was a time, I am

told, when lawyers prided themselves

on being civic leaders. Civic leader-

ship doesn’t just mean slapping your

name on an event yer with the hope

that some general counsel somewhere

notices. It also means partnering with

grassroots organizations, rolling up

your sleeves, and bringing your unique

legal training, problem-solving skills

and life experiences to tackle tough

societal problems.

Too many lawyers have forgotten

their humanity. We have become so con-

sumed with billing hours and rainmak-

ing that we have forgotten the simple

joy we felt when we used to shake cans

on the quads of our universities for

local charities.

Lawyers must once again become

the standard-bearers of our society.

We can do that through service. We

can do that by taking the roads less

traveled. If clients ow as a result of us

doing the right thing, so be it; but the

polestar must always be service to the

communities in which we live. From

that standpoint, the projected return on

investment is incalculable. n

Lindsey D.G. Dates is a partner in

Barnes & Thornburg’s Chicago ofce

and a member of the rm’s litigation

department. Active in the community,

Dates is currently the chair of the Chi-

cago Committee, an organization that

seeks racial and ethnic diversity in the

legal profession.

memory, and promote self-regulation

and empathy.

The science behind the results

Benjamin Shapero, a former instructor

in psychiatry, and Gaëlle Desbordes,

an instructor in radiology at Harvard

Medical School, both studied the im-

pact of mindfulness meditation on the

brain. Brain scans found that after two

months of regular meditation practice,

there was a notable change in the amyg-

dala. Stimulation of this area of the

brain causes intense emotion, such as

aggression or fear. When you experience

a stressful event, the amygdala triggers a

host of reactions, commonly known as

the ght-or-ight response. At the same

time, we need to learn to better engage

our nervous system’s “rest-and-digest”

response, which calms the body after

danger has passed.

What’s interesting about the human

mind is that we can activate the amyg-

dala not only when faced with actual

physical danger, such as when a car

cuts you off on a highway, but also by

our own thoughts. It is only by becom-

ing more aware of our automatic and

unconscious thoughts, behaviors and

attitudes that we can begin to interrupt

them. Mindfulness can help with this.

Desbordes’ research showed positive

changes in the subjects’ brain activa-

tion patterns in the amygdala not only

during meditation but also when they

were not meditating.

Mindfulness in the workplace

Law rms are increasingly offering

mindfulness and meditation training

to their lawyers; in some states, law-

yers can even get CLE credit for them

as part of a wellness requirement. I’ve

ON WELL-BEING

Advancing Well-Being

in the Workplace

Investing in a lawyer’s state of mind

BY JEENA CHO

When I

teach

mind-

fulness

and meditation to law-

yers, they often share

distressing thoughts.

They can recognize the thoughts are not

helpful and only increase the stress, but

they can’t seem to let them go. I’ll often

hear comments such as, “I keep think-

ing about that hearing I lost months

ago and what I should’ve said!” or “I’m

writing a response to that annoying op-

posing counsel’s email in my head while

I’m reading to my daughter before she

goes to sleep.”

As frustrating as this may be, it’s also

reassuring to know that by practicing

mindfulness, we can train the brain to

be more in the present moment rather

than rearguing a hearing from ve

years ago or ghting with the difcult

opposing counsel on a call that’s two

weeks away. As explained by Harvard

psychologist Ellen Langer, mindfulness

is a state in which subjects set aside

their mental distractions to pay greater

attention to the here and now.

In addition to the psychological

well-being and improved cognitive skills

such as attention and working memory,

mindfulness offers another benet that

is helpful to lawyers: Recent research

suggests mindfulness may help decrease

bias and lead to more ethical and moral

behaviors.

The ABA Working Group to Ad-

vance Well-Being in the Legal Profession

recommends mindfulness and medi-

tation practices. The benets of mind-

fulness and meditation are well-docu-

mented and studied: They reduce stress

and anxiety, improve attention and

Photo courtesy of JC Law Group

ABA JOURNAL | APRIL–MAY 2020

13