Table of Contents
Message from the President Daniel Young
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Case Law Club Meeting
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Message from the Editor
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In-House Committee January Roundtable
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Minutes of the Annual Meeting
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Members on the Move
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2020 New Member Welcome
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Patenting Highly Engineered Antibodies in Europe
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Pro Bono Spotlight
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Job Listings
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Well-Being Tips for Law Students & Lawyers to Endure Winter
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Officers and Board of Governors
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Community Calendar
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Reckoning Patents as Public Franchises
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< Back
Closing the Patent Loophole Across Borders
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Well-Being Tips for Law Students & Lawyers to Endure Winter
By Barbara Bowe, LICSW, Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Inc.
Feelings of isolation and overwhelm were already common in law school and the legal profession before the pandemic. Focus on these keys to your well-being as we approach an unprecedented winter.
1. Challenges are an opportunity to develop and strengthen personal agency.
All life experiences can be used in developing resilience and grit that will benefit you now and later in your career.
- Find out how having a growth mindset is key to threat perception and handling stress here.
- Find more on resilience in the legal profession here on our blog .
- Find a short 30-minute webinar on Psychological Tools for Lawyers to Build Resilience for Prolonged Pandemic Stress here.
2. Living with intention is key to motivation.
Being conscious and aware of your choices is an ongoing decision to bring a focused cognitive energy to choices you make. When we tap into our deepest intentions, we are more motivated to stay on course, particularly with regard to professional satisfaction — find more here on how working in alignment with your values improves happiness.
- Ask yourself regularly, “what is my deepest desire for ____” (career/family/relationships/community). Or “what matters most to me right now?”
- Assess and remind yourself of your intentions and values often. Intentions keep you on track and help you to meet your goals even during these difficult times.
3. Be goal-directed.
Identify goals you’ll commit to reaching, and develop discipline that allows you to succeed.
- Find more here on project planning
- Find more here on time management
4. Create small changes that become habits.
Establishing smaller, consistent changes that you can commit to allowing for achievable benchmarks that reinforce behavior. Find more here on why it’s helpful to start small as you approach goals.
5. Develop a discipline for self-care; pay attention to your body.
Make it a priority to create consistency, conscious awareness, and perseverance in diet, exercise, rest, and relaxation. “The body keeps the score” (Bessel Van Derkolk). Our bodies hold stress and trauma even when we are not cognitively aware of the toll stress takes on us. By engaging in healthy mind/body activities including meditation, yoga, exercise, and healthy eating, our body can be key in healing from overwhelming stress as well.
- Find updates on self-care strategies here.
- Find resources on physical well-being here.
- Find tips on sleep hygiene here.
6. Focus on pushing through personal malaise, procrastination, avoidance.
Give yourself permission to risk failure, and walk through the fear of “what if???”
- Find more here on overcoming perfectionism and learning from failure.
- Find more here on overcoming procrastination.
7. Embrace change, don’t resist that which you cannot control.
Loss and pain are unavoidable, but continuing to suffer is optional and comes from resistance to accepting the change and shifting your focus to what’s in your control. Stress hardiness comes from three key beliefs that help people during adversity, referred to as the three C’s:
- Commitment – remain involved and active in one’s community
- Control – try to influence outcomes rather than staying passive.
- Challenge – seeing change as an opportunity for new learning
8. Successful lawyers and law students seek help, consultation, and assistance, which is available to lawyers and law students in Massachusetts for free and confidentially through LCL | Mass LOMAP.
- Schedule an individual meeting with one of our experienced mental health clinicians and/or law practice advisors
- Participate in any of our discussion/support groups
- Find resources on topics related to mental health & well-being as well as practice management & career development in the legal profession.
Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Inc. (LCL) is an independent nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to helping with the many personal and professional challenges of life in the legal profession. https://www.lclma.org/
Barbara J. Bowe, LICSW joined Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, Inc. (LCL) in 1996. Barbara handles client assessments, referrals, and case management. She also acts as a liaison with the Deans of Massachusetts’ nine law schools. Barbara has coordinated and been involved in training programs for a range of segments of the Bar: Judges, MBA, BBA Peer Support Program, Bar Advocate Programs, LCL Monitor Program, and Professional Responsibility Classes. Barbara can be reached at (617) 482-9600 or barbarab@lclma.org.
