Justice Lawson to talk lawyer wellbeing at Center for Professionalism lunch-and-learn
Justice Alan Lawson
The Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Professionalism and the Henry Latimer Center for Professionalism are launching a three-part series of online CLE programs on “The Well-Balanced Lawyer.”
The “lunch-and-learn” Zoom sessions begin February 25 at noon with a presentation by Supreme Court Justice Alan Lawson, moderated by administrative law Judge Suzanne Van Wyk. Lawson has spoken extensively in CLEs and other venues about work/life balance.
Register online.
“We hope to offer members of the Bar some tools that they can use, especially during COVID, to cope with the stress of practicing law and to find balance and engage in a healthy lifestyle, so they’ll be better lawyers,” said Van Wyk, chair of SCOP’s Mental Health and Wellness Workgroup. The workgroup, among other duties, was charged this year with coming up with the CLE series.
“Lawyer wellbeing is a crisis of the profession,” she added. “We hope to shed some light on that issue.”
The inspiration for the CLE series, Van Wyk said, came from a South Carolina Law Review article, Lawyer Wellbeing as a Crisis of the Profession.
The second session will be Wednesday, March 3, at noon on Preventing the Other Pandemic: Lawyer Suicide Awareness and Tools for Prevention. That program will be moderated by Charise Morgan-Joseph and feature Jane Marks, LMFT, and Bar Board of Governors member Wayne LaRue Smith.
“Suicide rates in general are up during a time of isolation. It’s hard to talk about these things, but it’s important that we talk about them,” Van Wyk said.
The final seminar will be March 10 at 1:30 p.m. on Three Giant Steps Inside to Health, Happiness & Success in the Law. It will be moderated by Daliah Weiss and feature Florida State University law Professor Lawrence Krieger and Theresa Revell Krieger, a certified personal trainer, massage therapist, and health coach.
