Recommended Reading
Below are a few readings we highly recommend for those seeking an introduction to mindfulness and/or its application to law.
Articles
Riskin, Len. “The Contemplative Lawyer: On the Potential Contributions of Mindfulness Meditation to Law Students, Lawyers, and their Clients.” 7 Harv. Negotiation L. Rev. 1 (2002). Available here.
Magee, Rhonda. “Educating Lawyers to Meditate?” UMKC Law Rev. 79 (2010): 535. Available here.
The Mindful Lawyer Symposium in the Journal of Legal Education from Spring 2012 also provides a useful reference for the state of mindfulness in legal education.
Books
Becoming a Joyful Lawyer by Deborah Calloway
This book provides instructions in contemplative practices and how to bring the skills learned in those practices into one’s legal practice and life. Author Deborah Calloway has taught a course on Contemplative Lawyering at University of Connecticut School of Law for more than 10 years.
Contemplative Practices in Higher Education: Powerful Methods to Transform Teaching and Learning. By Daniel Barbezat and Mirabai Bush. Two leaders in bringing mindfulness into the realm of higher education share practical steps and insights for those interested in bringing contemplative methods into their own teaching and institutions.
Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman
Mindfulness is designed as an introduction to meditation, based on mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT), and offers a structured, 8-week program for learning meditation, accompanied with online resources.
Mindfulness For Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment–And Your Life by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Another fine introduction to mindfulness meditation, accompanied by audio recordings, by one of the pioneers of bringing meditation into the professional world.
Mindfulness and Professional Responsibility: A Guide Book for Integrating Mindfulness into the Law School Curriculum by Scott Rogers and Jan L. Jacobowitz
In this book, Scott Rogers and Jan Jacobowitz, share with readers their methodology for weaving together mindfulness and professional responsibility in the classroom. Readers are offered a glimpse into their popular University of Miami School of Law course, Mindful Ethics: Professional Responsibility for Lawyers in the Digital Age, and its creative curriculum that draws upon the application of traditional professional responsibility issues in the context of social media. Intended to introduce teachers to mindfulness practices and offer a method of integrating it into their classrooms, the book’s largest section contains numerous mindfulness demonstrations, exercises, and insights.
On Engagement: Learning to Pay Attention by Lisle Baker and Daniel P. Brown, an article about learning to pay attention through carefully designed mental practice.
Syllabi for Mindfulness/Contemplative Law courses and programs
Emotional Intelligence – William Blatt, University of Miami School of Law
Contemplative Lawyering – Deborah Calloway, University of Connecticut School of Law
The Law and Your Life: Aligning Personal Values with the Practice of Law / Fundamentals of Professional Development – Judith Gordon and Ken Klee, UCLA School of Law (proposed revision)
Effective and Sustainable Law Practice: The Meditative Perspective – Charles Halpern, Berkeley Law
Mindfulness and Professional Identity – Angela Harris, UC Davis School of Law
Inns of Court Program handout – Todd Peterson, George Washington University School of Law
Emotional Intelligence in Law – Richard Reuben, University of Missouri School of Law
Tools of Awareness for Lawyering Course (a.k.a. Conflict Management in the Legal Profession) – Len Riskin, University of Florida School of Law
Audio-Visual Resources
In the video/presentation below, David Zlotnick, a professor at Rogers Williams University School of Law and a former federal prosecutor, discusses the application of mindfulness to trial advocacy, one of the most stressful and demanding forms of law practice. Zlotnick has been incorporating mindfulness training into his teaching for several years. (Video courtesy of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society)
Below, Jack Kornfield presents “The Case For Mindfulness and Wisdom in Law” at Berkeley Law in February 2012, as part of the Berkeley Initiative for Mindfulness in Law speaker series. Kornfield eloquently explains how practices of the heart can address difficulties faced by lawyers and improve the quality of justice. He also leads a series of mindfulness exercises that help illustrate the transformative potential of meditation.
Below, Sujatha Baliga, a leading practitioner and advocate for restorative justice who was featured recently in a NY Times Magazine cover story, discusses the nexus of mindfulness and restorative justice in a talk co-sponsored by the Berkeley Initiative for Mindfulness in Law and the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice. Her personal path to mindfulness and restorative justice is a moving story worth very much worth hearing.