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The Role of Mindfulness in Effective and Ethical Lawyering

By Brenda Fingold

“No,” I replied almost 20 years ago, when the managing partner asked me to arrange an eight-week mindfulness training program for our lawyers. I was a litigator and the partner in charge of attorney training at a large Boston law firm, and I did not want my colleagues to think we were crazy. Fortunately, my forward-thinking managing partner won this standoff, and over 75 partners and associates had an opportunity to learn and practice mindfulness together. Fast forward to 2017, and you will find a growing number of law firms turning to mindfulness training as a foundation for professional excellence. My original “No” is now an emphatic “YES” as I witness first-hand the benefits of this practice for the legal profession.

A 2015 Harvard Business Review article, “Mindfulness Actually Changes the Brain,” concludes that “Mindfulness should no longer be considered a “nice-to-have” for executives. It's a “must-have”: a way to keep our brains healthy, to support self-regulation and effective decision-making capabilities, and to protect ourselves from toxic stress.” That mindfulness is essential even for bright and well-trained professionals is an acknowledgement that there are factors beyond job knowledge, skill and good intentions that can trip us up, impair competence and diligence, cause us to unintentionally run afoul of an ethical rule and make it very challenging to sustain high achievement and well-being over a 40- to 50-year legal career.

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