LCL Provides Training Programs to the Legal Profession
Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers presents public service announcements, law school presentations, and continuing legal education and other programs upon request. LCL may request an honorarium for in-house programs.Public Service Announcements (PSA)
LCL welcomes the opportunity to present PSAs about our services and resources at events, programs, and gatherings tailored to the audience, event or program topic. Our PSAs can be in person, virtual or recorded.Law School Presentations
All of LCL’s CLE programs can be adapted to law schools. LCL has developed a class presentation specifically for Professional Responsibility courses. This presentation addresses stress, mental illness, and addiction in the Rules of Professional Responsibility context while providing opportunities for discussion. LCL can provide a full class session, a shorter program, or a PSA.Available CLE Programs
LCL is reformulating many of our CLE descriptions to meet the requirements of Minnesota’s new mental health CLE requirement, and credit may be pending. Please contact us to discuss current program options. LCL or the hosting organization may sponsor the program. Many of our programs qualify for Mental Health and Substance Use, Elimination of Bias, or Ethics credits. Contact the Executive Director or the Outreach Director to arrange a CLE program. Please note, some programs are listed under more than one credit type because LCL presenters will tailor the program according to the requested credit type(s). Most programs are one hour long; the length of some programs will vary based on the host organization’s request.Don’t see what you’re looking for? Contact us about custom programs!
Mental Health/Substance Use Credit
From Isolation to Connection: Supporting Mental Health in the Legal Profession (1 credit)
This course addresses the interplay between isolation and loneliness in legal practice and the incidence of mental health difficulties including substance use disorder, depression, and anxiety that affect lawyers disproportionately. Poor or insufficient social connection is associated with increased risk of anxiety, depression, substance use disorder, and suicide. Numerous traits of lawyers fuel isolation including perfectionism, pessimism, low resilience, secondary trauma, and low sociability. The benefits of connection both professionally and personally will be presented with strategies to enhance both workplace and personal connection. (Jon Tynjala, Executive Director)
Breaking the Silence: Mental Health, Substance Use, and Resilience in the Legal Profession (1 credit)
The legal profession faces unique pressures that can take a significant toll on mental health and well-being. Chronic stress, if left unaddressed, can lead to burnout, substance use issues, anxiety, and depression—conditions more common among lawyers than in many other professions. This program explores the continuum of stress, the impact of trauma exposure, and the signs and symptoms of emerging mental health or substance use problems. Participants will learn practical strategies for early intervention, how to recognize and support colleagues in distress, and how to access confidential help. The session also highlights the role of peer support and resources such as Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers in fostering a healthier, more resilient legal community. (Jon Tynjala, Executive Director)
Managing Stress Mindfully (1 credit)
It is no secret that being a lawyer can be incredibly stressful. Trying to manage difficult clients, complex cases, and demanding deadlines while having a life outside of work can feel impossible at times. Left unchecked, stress can have severe impacts on our physical and mental health and on a lawyer’s ability to comply with ethical obligations related to competence, diligence, and communication. This program will not only teach lawyers about the health risks related to stress, but how mindfulness and meditation can help with reducing the risk of stress-related problems in their law practice to allow lawyers to thrive personally and professionally. Lawyers will also learn how to identify signs of stress in themselves and in their colleagues along with practical strategies and resources for supporting well-being in the workplace. Attendees will also experience a brief guided body scan as an introduction to meditation along with resources for managing stress and developing a consistent mindfulness practice. (Patty Devoy, Client Services Director)
Shielding the Carer: Understanding and Managing Secondary Trauma in the Legal Profession (1 credit)
This course is designed to educate attorneys about secondary traumatic stress and how it can adversely affect the attorney. It is based upon the understanding that working with traumatized individuals is part of many attorneys’ professional practices. Indeed, many of us spend considerable time with victims of trauma, either learning their stories in person or through secondary sources like reports, photographs, recordings, interviews with others and through pretrial and trial testimony. These interactions can take a significant emotional toll on the professional, particularly with repeated exposure over time. The purpose of this program is to assist attorneys in recognizing their exposure to other’s trauma and how that exposure can harm their ability to fulfill their obligations as attorneys. Finally, the presentation will give strategies for the individual and the institution to better equip themselves to handle the effects of working with this vulnerable population, in other words, how to employ strategies to “shield the carer” from the occupational hazard of working with other individual’s trauma. (Sarah MacGillis, Outreach Director)
Perfecting Without Perfectionism: How to Strive for Excellence Without Stressing Out Over Unattainable Ideals (1 credit)
This course is designed to educate legal professionals about perfectionism in the legal field and how although it can appear as a desirable trait, it is correlated with higher incidence of depression, anxiety and substance use disorder. This course will set forth the characteristics of perfectionism that tend to cause emotional difficulties for lawyers while carefully examining those features of legal practice that do not lend themselves to a rigid, all-or-nothing mindset that is common of perfectionistic tendencies. Each of these subjects will be discussed as well as strategies shown to help effectively manage perfectionistic tendencies including those which rely on Carol Dweck’s Mindset work, Dr. Kristin Neff’s self-compassion practice, and mindfulness. (Sarah MacGillis, Outreach Director)
Ethics Credit
Better Boundaries, Better Lawyering: How to Avoid Burnout and Build a Sustainable Practice (1 credit)
The legal profession is demanding—and without strong boundaries, it’s also unsustainable. Long hours, adversarial dynamics, and unrelenting expectations from clients, colleagues, and even ourselves can quickly lead to chronic stress, anxiety, and burnout. This seminar explores how weak boundaries and poor communication contribute to burnout in the legal profession, and what lawyers can do to protect their well-being while maintaining ethical excellence. We’ll answer questions like: What exactly is burnout? How do personal and professional boundaries help prevent it? And what are the first ethical obligations to falter when burnout sets in? With practical tools and real-world examples, participants will learn how to set and maintain boundaries in relationships with clients, co-counsel, colleagues, and opposing counsel—and why doing so benefits both their practice and their health. (Sarah MacGillis, Outreach Director)
The Grieving Attorney: Navigating Loss Without Losing Your Way (1 credit)
Lawyers are not exempt from the personal losses that affect all human beings, whether it’s the death of a loved one, the end of a relationship, a health diagnosis, or the loss of identity tied to work. Yet the demands of legal practice often leave little space to grieve. This program explores the grief experience in its many forms, offering insight into types of grief, the grief process, and the toll it can take on a lawyer’s ability to fulfill ethical duties. Through the lens of attorney ethics, we will examine how grief may impact competence, diligence, communication, and client care. The session will highlight relevant rules of professional conduct and offer practical strategies for navigating grief with compassion—for ourselves and others—while upholding our responsibilities. We’ll also explore ways to create space for meaning, connection, and healing within a demanding profession. (Sarah MacGillis, Outreach Director)
Mindful Moments: Engaging in the Present Through Practice (1 credit)
Although often associated with a slowed pace, mindfulness and meditation are powerful tools that require active mental engagement with the present moment. Through experiencing mindful moments in our personal lives each day, we can learn to embrace the present moment and begin to apply these practices to our professional lives in ways that can improve our effectiveness as attorneys and our ability to comply with various ethics rules including those focused on competence, diligence & communication (and withdrawal, where appropriate). This presentation addresses how mindfulness and meditation are similar yet different, how to develop and experience these practices daily, and how they intersect with various ethics rules. (Patty Devoy, Client Services Director)
Ethically Enhancing Workplace Well-being with Self-Compassion, Gratitude and Joy (1 credit)
Self-compassion means showing yourself the same kindness, care, and support you would show a friend in need. Gratitude means appreciating what you have rather than longing for what you don’t have. Joy is a state of mind and heart that at its core is about celebrating the connection between ourselves and others. Although self-compassion, gratitude, and joy have distinct qualities and practices, they are intertwined in a beautiful way that can shift how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. They can improve stress management skills, deepen professional relationships, and enhance compliance with various ethical rules including competence, diligence, and communication. This presentation addresses the foundation of each practice, how to apply them to our personal and professional lives as attorneys, and the scientific benefits of doing so. There are also opportunities for written reflection exercises and two brief guided meditations throughout to illustrate the value of these practices. (Patty Devoy, Client Services Director)
Ethical Dangers of Isolation in the Legal Profession (1 credit)
Loneliness and isolation present an urgent public health challenge, prompting the U.S. Surgeon General to issue a public health advisory to urge the nation’s immediate awareness and action. As lawyers, we have been identified as the loneliest workers in America, and our isolation presents a significant risk to our mental and physical health and our ability to conform to our professional obligations. This program explores some of the causes and effects of isolation, the impact on our professional responsibilities, and ways we can address both causes and effects of isolation by building a culture of connection and mutual care in the legal profession. (Jon Tynjala, Executive Director)
Reducing Stigma to Avoid Burnout (1 hr)
In serving clients, the profession, and the system of justice, lawyers bring intellect, passion, and skill to their work, carry significant workloads, and work long hours in close relationship with others solving difficult problems. Lawyers seek not only justice and successful resolution for clients and others, but also fairness, meaning, and intrinsic and external rewards for themselves. These aspects of a lawyers’ work can cause chronic stress, resulting in burnout, poor physical health, or other health challenges such as anxiety, depression, substance use, addiction, and mental illness. Effectively managing workplace stress is critical to lawyer health, competence, and ethical responsibility. The stigma attached to burnout and other physical or mental health concerns as well as implicit and explicit bias can both drive burnout and make it difficult for lawyers to get help. This program explores what burnout is, how our work contributes to burnout, and how to head off burnout, break the stigma, and get help for burnout to regain our spark and enjoy our lives.
Suicide Awareness and Prevention (1 hr)
The stress lawyers face is a predictor for depression, and untreated depression is the #1 predictor for suicide. Lawyers must also deal with the fact that clients can be suicidal. This program will help you understand the facts and myths about suicide; recognize signs and indicators for clinical depression, anxiety, and suicide; and provide resources and a protocol for offering and seeking help to prevent suicide.
Surviving & Thriving in Challenging Times: Bias & Trauma (1 – 2 hr)
In the best of circumstances, the practice of law is stressful. In addition to the higher levels of stress legal professions endure, we are often exposed to traumatic events and situations of varying intensity. Both stress and trauma exact physical, emotional, and mental tolls on our well-being. This program examines the effects of chronic and acute stress, the four types of trauma, and the role that bias and stigma play in our ability to manage our well-being effectively through challenging times.
When Your Client is Impaired (1 – 2 hr) [LCL tailors to requested credit type]
Lawyers often see clients who appear to be suffering from substance misuse, addiction, or other impairments. While it is not our job to diagnose, what is our role, responsibility, and opportunity? How do our biases govern our actions and behaviors? What if the issue is not with a client but with a colleague? The answers are seldom simple. This program will provide an ethical framework for lawyers facing these questions in addition to practical guidance and resources.
Mental Health and Addiction Issues in Older Adults (1 – 2 hr)
Our profession and our clients are aging. Learn about mental health (including cognitive impairment) and addiction issues and the realities, risk factors, and resources specific to older adults. Understand unique barriers to getting help for older adults, characteristics of older adult mental health, chemical dependency and gambling problems, and the difference between dementia, grief, and depression. The program will touch on ethical issues if an impairment is present and offer a protocol to encourage someone to get help.
The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change (1 – 2 hr) [LCL tailors to requested credit type]
LCL can customize the program to discuss specific initiatives, stakeholder groups, or other ways. It is available in lecture format with audience participation or as a group presentation. This groundbreaking and comprehensive report, released in August 2017, was created by a coalition of entities from the American Bar Association and throughout the profession. It contains 44 recommendations for 7 groups of stakeholders along with an action plan.
The coalition stated, “We are at a crossroads. To maintain public confidence in the profession, to meet the need for innovation in how we deliver legal services, to increase access to justice, and to reduce the level of toxicity that has allowed mental health and substance use disorders to fester among our colleagues, we have to act now.”
The report’s recommendations focus on five central themes:
- Identifying stakeholders and the role each can play in reducing the level of toxicity in the legal profession
- Eliminating the stigma associated with help-seeking behaviors
- Emphasizing that well-being is an indispensable part of a lawyer’s duty of competence
- Educating lawyers, judges, and law students on lawyer well-being issues
- Taking small, incremental steps to change how law is practiced and how lawyers are regulated to instill greater well-being in the profession
The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys (1 hr) [LCL tailors to requested credit type]
This program is based on the February 2016 article of the same name published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine. The presentation will include the study findings on substance use and mental health issues. Barriers to seeking help and recommendations are offered in a discussion format.
Problem Gambling and the Legal Profession (1 – 2 hr)
Gambling is normative behavior in many adults. Approximately 3% of gamblers will experience problems. Compulsive, problem or pathological gambling is often called the “hidden illness” because few outward signs and symptoms are present as with substance use disorders. The biases that keep someone from seeking help for a gambling problem can also be greater. Colleagues, families, and friends of problem gamblers are often shocked when they learn about a problem and how serious it has become. Often this comes up in the context of a legal matter. Lawyers and their clients are both affected by gambling addiction. Learn about problem gambling, how to recognize the signs and symptoms, what you can do, and what resources, including treatment, are available.
Keeping it Real: The Trauma-Informed Legal Professional (1 hr)
Attorneys frequently work with clients who have experienced trauma, and this exposure may cause vicarious trauma for the lawyer. We also bring our own experiences, which may include trauma, to our work. This presentation will help legal professionals recognize and address trauma in clients and themselves. Topics also include the role of stigma and bias, understanding trauma and the potential for disability, recognizing and addressing trauma in clients, and the impact of current events.
Hiding in Plain Sight – Eating Disorders (1 hr)
An eating disorder is not a lifestyle choice — it is an illness that can be deadly and often hides in plain sight. An estimated 30 million Americans suffer from an eating disorder, and one-quarter of law students screen positive for eating disorders. Lawyers are likely impacted at rates higher than the national population, as studies consistently show that lawyers are twice or more likely to be impacted by mental illness and substance misuse than non-lawyers. Learn about eating disorders, how they impact law students and lawyers and their professional obligations, treatment and recovery, how to recognize signs and symptoms, and how you can communicate with and help someone who may be struggling with an eating disorder.
Ethics Credit
Managing Ethics, Negativity & Stress (1 hr)
As lawyers, our duties under the Rules of Professional Conduct underpin our service to clients. We are accustomed to quiet withdrawals, transfers of representation, and serving clients well, even when clients are at their most difficult. We work in the midst of looming deadlines, mountains of cases, negativity, and other stressful conditions. Our duties as advocates frequently put us in the line of fire with difficult parties and opposing counsel, while requiring us to maintain the integrity of the profession and respect the rights of others. Learn how stress, negativity, and ethical duties interact and how we can better manage our practice, our lives, and our ethical obligations.
The Grieving Attorney: Navigating Loss with Competence and Compassion (1 hr)
We are lawyers, but we are also human and as such, are subject to all the range of experiences that all people face at some point in their lives. Grief is one such experience since we may experience multiple types of loss over the course of our professional careers including the loss of health, a job, a marriage, and of those for whom we care among many others. This CLE discusses what and how we grieve together with the types of grief and the grief journey. This is approached through the lens of attorney ethics because grief can significantly affect our diligence, responsiveness, and client communication, to name just a few of attorneys’ job responsibilities. The applicable ethical rules will be discussed including ways to grieve and ethically navigate our many responsibilities as attorneys. We discuss why lawyers’ grief may be compounded by the nature of our professional work and the unremitting demands that often accompany it. Finally, we’ll discuss various ways we can hold space for that which we are grieving to give meaning to our changed circumstances.
Avoiding Burnout as an Ethical Imperative (1 hr)
As lawyers serving clients, the profession, and our system of justice, we can find ourselves feeling exhausted, discouraged, stressed, and “burned out” even in the best of times. Burnout, and the chronic workplace stress that leads to it, has a significant impact not only on our health and well-being, but on our ability to meet the ethical standards of our profession. This timely program explores the impact of chronic stress and burnout on us and our professional responsibilities, and the imperative to address it to avoid harm to our clients and ourselves.
Clients in Crisis (1 hr)
Lawyers often see clients who appear to be suffering from substance misuse, addiction, or other impairments. While it is not our job to diagnose, what is our role, responsibility, and opportunity? How do our biases govern our actions and behaviors? What if the issue is not with a client but with a colleague? The answers are seldom simple. This program will provide an ethical framework for lawyers facing these questions in addition to practical guidance and resources.
Help for Colleagues in Crisis: Recognizing and Responding to Impairment and Other Challenges in the Legal Profession (1 hr) [LCL tailors to requested credit type]
This program is designed for colleagues and managers who may observe changes in behavior that give rise to concerns. It discusses how to recognize and obtain help when you, a work colleague, or another professional colleague may have substance use, mental health, or other issues that affect behavior, conduct, and performance. Topics include understanding the issues, special considerations for remote work, approaching the lawyer (including interventions), arranging assistance such as treatment, and practice management issues during and following a reduced work schedule or leave of absence. Colleagues can save careers, families, and lives by taking action.
When Your Client is Impaired (1 – 2 hr) [LCL tailors to requested credit type]
Lawyers often see clients who appear to be suffering from substance misuse, addiction, or other impairments. While it is not our job to diagnose, what is our role, responsibility, and opportunity? How do our biases govern our actions and behaviors? What if the issue is not with a client but with a colleague? The answers are seldom simple. This program will provide an ethical framework for lawyers facing these questions in addition to practical guidance and resources.
The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change (1 – 2 hr) [LCL tailors to requested credit type]
LCL can customize the program to discuss specific initiatives, stakeholder groups, or other ways. It is available in lecture format with audience participation or as a group presentation. This groundbreaking and comprehensive report, released in August 2017, was created by a coalition of entities from the American Bar Association and throughout the profession. It contains 44 recommendations for 7 groups of stakeholders along with an action plan.
The coalition stated, “We are at a crossroads. To maintain public confidence in the profession, to meet the need for innovation in how we deliver legal services, to increase access to justice, and to reduce the level of toxicity that has allowed mental health and substance use disorders to fester among our colleagues, we have to act now.”
The report’s recommendations focus on five central themes:
- Identifying stakeholders and the role each can play in reducing the level of toxicity in the legal profession
- Eliminating the stigma associated with help-seeking behaviors
- Emphasizing that well-being is an indispensable part of a lawyer’s duty of competence
- Educating lawyers, judges, and law students on lawyer well-being issues
- Taking small, incremental steps to change how law is practiced and how lawyers are regulated to instill greater well-being in the profession
The Prevalence of Substance Use and Other Mental Health Concerns Among American Attorneys (1 hr) [LCL tailors to requested credit type]
This program is based on the February 2016 article of the same name published in the Journal of Addiction Medicine. The presentation will include the study findings on substance use and mental health issues. Barriers to seeking help and recommendations are offered in a discussion format.
Stress, Addiction, and Mental Health: An Ethical Perspective (1 – 2 hr)
For lawyers, missing deadlines and failing to communicate or complete projects may be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to excessive stress and addiction, and mental health issues. Those same issues and others may be present in clients. When a client is impaired, the lawyer has both obligations and opportunities. There are obligations when the lawyer is impaired, but fortunately, there is also help available. This program looks at professional responsibility aspects of impairment from both the client and lawyer perspective.
Ethics, Mental Health and Well-Being in a Post-COVID World
Work and life during the COVID pandemic presented unimaginable and multifaceted challenges for legal professionals that seemed, at times, unrelenting. These challenges gave rise to unique stressors and unanticipated ethical questions. We’ll discuss the ethical implications of unexpected change as well as ethical concepts that arise in the context of stress and well-being. The program will also offer tools and resources for resilience in the face of challenges in the legal profession.
Standard Credit
Avoiding Burnout: What Fuels your Fire? (1 hr)
With all we have been through these last few years both in our professional and personal lives, many lawyers are feeling exhausted, discouraged, stressed, and “burned out.” This timely program explores what burnout is, how our work as legal professionals contributes to burnout, and how to make our way out of burnout, regain our spark, and enjoy our lives.
Lawyer Well-Being: Surviving & Thriving in Challenging Times (1 hr)
In early 2020, the Minnesota legal profession was upended by the arrival of the global COVID-19 pandemic. In the ensuing weeks and months, the profession experienced seismic changes in the practice of law. This program examines the effects of those changes on lawyers, judges, and law students while providing tips and strategies to navigate the ever-changing legal landscape.
The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change (1 – 2 hr) [LCL tailors to requested credit type]
LCL can customize the program to discuss specific initiatives, stakeholder groups, or other ways. It is available in lecture format with audience participation or as a group presentation. This groundbreaking and comprehensive report, released in August 2017, was created by a coalition of entities from the American Bar Association and throughout the profession. It contains 44 recommendations for 7 groups of stakeholders along with an action plan.
The coalition stated, “We are at a crossroads. To maintain public confidence in the profession, to meet the need for innovation in how we deliver legal services, to increase access to justice, and to reduce the level of toxicity that has allowed mental health and substance use disorders to fester among our colleagues, we have to act now.”
The report’s recommendations focus on five central themes:
- Identifying stakeholders and the role each can play in reducing the level of toxicity in the legal profession
- Eliminating the stigma associated with help-seeking behaviors
- Emphasizing that well-being is an indispensable part of a lawyer’s duty of competence
- Educating lawyers, judges, and law students on lawyer well-being issues
- Taking small, incremental steps to change how law is practiced and how lawyers are regulated to instill greater well-being in the profession
Getting Your Bounce Back: Resilience in the Face of Uncertainty (1 hr)
Law is a profession filled with adversity, exposure to trauma, and uncertainty. Law is also a profession where we are trusted to offer solutions and strategies to help clients and parties navigate difficult circumstances. Our exposure puts us at higher-than-average risk for mental health, including substance use issues. This program reviews the research about our profession, explores proven elements of resilience from the U.S. Army and others, and offers examples and methods for incorporating them into our work. Legal professionals can use these skills to bounce back from adversity and uncertainty in their lives, while reducing risk and enhancing well-being.
Mental Health, Well-Being and Resilience in a Post-COVID World (1 hr)
Life and work during the COVID pandemic have been challenging for many people, including legal professionals. These challenges are multifaceted and, at times, seemed unrelenting. This program will discuss unique stressors arising from rapid, temporary, and permanent change while offering tools for recognizing and responding along with strategies for building resilience.
Vicarious Trauma, Empathy Fatigue, and Self-Care in the Legal Profession (1 hr)
This program will discuss types of trauma, the impact of others’ trauma, our risks, and what to watch for. Participants will learn resilience building tools and strategies that will lessen the impact of our exposure to trauma. Information on resources available to all Minnesota legal professionals is provided. Note: This program can be combined with an elimination of bias program to form a 90-minute presentation eligible for 1 hour EOB plus 1/2 hour Standard credits.