The art of being mindful in the legal world: a challenge for our times.

• Author: Gold, Alan S.
• Position: Special Issue on the Benefits of Mindfulness - Cover story

"Finding peace in a stressed-out digitally dependent culture may just be a matter of thinking differently."

--"The Mindfulness Revolution"/Time

"We cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it."

--Albert Einstein

You may be asking why a senior U.S. district judge is writing about mindfulness practice. That is a fair question. I will answer it directly. For me, it started in early 2001 when my cardiologist told me I needed open-heart surgery for a mitral valve repair. This surgery was not going to be a walk in the park. I wondered how in the world did I get into this situation, and what could I do to minimize future medical problems? It was at that point that I started to learn about mindfulness practice and meditation in earnest. It occurred to me that "heart surgery" was a metaphor for changing my life.

After I came back to the bench, I experienced a heightened awareness of the relationship between stress and civility. I found that mindfulness practice helped me do my job better, and also helped the lawyers relax and perform more effectively. No, I am not telling you that mindfulness is a silver bullet. It is not a pill you take once and you are cured. It is about purposely changing your way of living every day. Some days are better than others, but that is okay. I came to better appreciate that my job, as a judge, was to assist lawyers and others to do their jobs without my adding unnecessarily to their stresses. I am not here to tell you that I always have been successful. What I am here to do is pass on some important lessons that I have learned in the hope that my experiences may be of some benefit to you and to our profession.

The Relationship Between Mindfulness, Health, and More Effective Lawyering and Judging

My topic is the relationship between our health and mindfulness; that is, the ability to live in and enjoy the present moment in a civil manner. Why should this topic concern lawyers and judges? We constantly hear, both as lawyers and judges, about the "lack of civility" in the practice of law. The Florida Bar membership surveys continue to reflect that, besides earning money, the most significant concerns that face us as lawyers and judges are balancing family and work, high stress, and lack of professionalism and ethics. In June 2013,the Florida Supreme Court recognized that "[s]urveys of both lawyers and judges continue to reflect that lack of professionalism is one of the most significant adverse problems that negatively impacts the practice of law in Florida today." (1)

What have we done about it as a profession? First, the Florida Supreme Court amended the Oath of Admission "to recognize the necessity for civility in the inherently contentious setting of the adversary process." (2) Now, as part of our oath, we pledge to opposing parties and their counsel, fairness, integrity, and civility ... not only in court, but also in all written and oral communications.

Second, on June 6, 2012, the Florida Supreme Court adopted the "Code for Resolving Professionalism Complaints." The code creates a structure for "affirmatively addressing unacceptable professional conduct." Violators can be sent to ethics school, professionalism workshops, stress management workshops, or, in serious cases, the Attorney Consumer Assistance and Intake Program may forward a complaint to The Florida Bar's Lawyer Regulation Department for further consideration.

I do not take issue with what the Florida Supreme Court has adopted and implemented. I just do not think it goes far enough to address the root causes of lack of civility and professionalism. My premise is that the root cause of incivility and lack of professionalism is the extreme and cumulative stresses that we, as lawyers and judges, find ourselves coping with daily. This is especially true given our uncertain and challenging economic times, and the increased alienation we experience from each other because of our technology. I believe there is a more comprehensive way to deal with the problem, and, in this article, I offer three specific recommendations.

First, let me be clear. In offering my recommendations, I am not asking you, as lawyers or as judges, to do anything to diminish your effectiveness or to give up your edge. To the contrary, in addition to managing stress, improving health, and increasing civility, my recommendations are directed to enhancing your skills and effectiveness. Does this sound too good to be true? Not so. What I am suggesting to you is no more than how martial arts masters deal with moments of intense conflict; that is, from the center, flowing with the...