210.6 sec. 001 - Mindfulness for Lawyers:Essential Tools for Greater Effectiveness and Wellbeing in the Law (Fall 2020)
Instructor: Judi Cohen (view instructor's teaching evaluations - degree students only)
View all teaching evaluations for this course - degree students only
Units: 2
Grading Designation: Credit Only
Due to COVID-19, this class is remote for Fall 2020.
Mode of Instruction: Remote Instruction
Meetings:
Tu 08:00 AM - 09:50 AM
Location: Internet/Online
From August 18, 2020
To November 03, 2020
Sa 09:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Location: Internet/Online
On 2020-11-07
Course End: November 07, 2020
Class Number: 32676
Enrollment info:
Enrolled: 18
Waitlisted: 0
Enroll Limit: 20
As of: 12/07 09:41 AM
This course will be an exploration of what it means to bring mindful awareness and mindful thought leadership to the study and practice of law. As you engage in this exploration you'll be testing two hypotheses:
(i) That in any given moment you have the opportunity - and maybe, because of the influence you will have as a member of the legal profession, you have the obligation - to choose who you are, what values are crucial to you, and how you'll honor those values, as students, members of the bar, and members of society; and
(ii) That cultivating mindful awareness and developing mindful thought leadership gives you critical tools to help you make those choices in ways that can result in less conflict and suffering, and more effectiveness, compassion, and wellbeing, for yourselves and your clients, in your profession, and in the wide sphere of influence that you, as lawyers, will have.
Here's another way of saying this, from J. Krishnamurti:
To transform the world, we must begin with ourselves; and what is important in beginning with ourselves is the intention. The intention must be to understand ourselves and not to leave it to others to transform themselves or to bring about a modified change through revolution, either of the left or of the right. It is important to understand that this is our responsibility, yours and mine; because, however small may be the world we live in, if we can transform ourselves, bring about a radically different point of view in our daily existence, then perhaps we shall affect the world at large, the extended relationship with others.
Attendance and class participation are the essential elements of this course. You will be allowed no more than two unexcused absences OR two unexcused missed journal entries OR one unexcused absence and one unexcused missed journal entry, and are discouraged from missing any classes or journal entries. There will be an all-day, off-site retreat on Saturday , November 7th, which you will be required to attend. If you are enrolling in this class, please be sure you can attend this date. If you do not attend the retreat, you cannot pass the class.
You will be encouraged to practice mindfulness meditation every day. You will also be required to submit a short journal entry to the instructor each week (mentioned above), and to submit a final paper of no more than three pages in length.
Attendance at the first class is mandatory for all enrolled students; any enrolled student who is not present at the first day of class without prior permission of the instructor (rarely given) will be dropped from the class. Attendance at the first class is also mandatory if you are on the waitlist and would like to be admitted to the class, and such continuing attendance is required through the drop/add period if you wish to remain on the waitlist.
Due to the nature of this class, real-time attendance is required (without an alternative way to earn equivalent credit) except in cases of illness or emergency.
...
Professor Judi Cohen is an attorney, mindfulness teacher, and lecturer at Berkeley Law. She practiced law from 1984 to 2014, and for ten of those years also taught academic classes at USF School of Law. She began practicing yoga in the mid-1980's and mindfulness meditation in 1993, and has sat more than 130 days of silent retreat. In 2009, she founded Warrior One and developed the Essential Mindfulness for Lawyers® curriculum, an integration of classical mindfulness, modern neuroscience, and the psychology of the legal mind. In addition to teaching at Berkeley and running Warrior One, Professor Cohen is a founding board member and the Teachers Division chair for the Mindfulness in Law Society, and a member of the Bay Area Working Group for Law and Meditation.
Real-time attendance at the first Zoom class is mandatory for all currently enrolled and waitlisted students; any currently enrolled or waitlisted students who are not present on the first day of class (without prior permission of the instructor) will be dropped. The instructor will continue to take attendance throughout the add/drop period and anyone who moves off the waitlist into the class must continue to attend or have prior permission of the instructor in order not to be dropped.
Exam Notes: (None) Class requires a series of papers, assignments, or presentations throughout the semester
Course Category: General Courses
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Readers:
No reader.
Books:
Instructor has indicated that no books will be assigned.