The Mindful Lawyer

Robert Zeglovitch, The Mindful Lawyer, GPSolo Magazine (Oct.-Nov. 2006).
View the full article.

Summary

Mr. Zeglovitch advocates for lawyers to practice what he calls “mindfulness meditation.” To practice mindfulness meditation, a person must mentally and physically slow down enough to become aware of movement within and around them. Mr. Zeglovitch explains that a mediation practice can benefit lawyers for the following reasons:

• Stress-related health problems, depression, and substance abuse rates are high for lawyers; meditation is proven to reduce the effects of stress, which can help lawyers.
• Lawyers measure themselves in terms of success and failure. “Meditation practice has no expectations of outcome; the goal is simply to be….Lawyers can benefit from regularly setting aside a mind consumed by winning and losing.”
• Lawyers “are chronically on deadline and overbooked….Mindfulness meditation affords an opportunity to experience time in a completely different, non-linear way.”
• “Lawyers tend to be judgmental….Mindfulness meditation encourages the cultivation of a deep acceptance of things as they are, instead of our habitual judgment of our experience. This does not mean that the mindful lawyer stops being a zealous and effective advocate—many famous Zen masters were renowned for their ferocious presence. The practice of loosening judgment’s hold can help develop qualities that are diminished or have been neglected: wisdom, tolerance, and compassion.”
• “Lawyers are trained to think their way out of problems….Mindfulness meditation draws on innate awareness that is prior to thinking and language.”

At the end of the article, Mr. Zeglovitch offers additional information on how to do mindfulness meditation, as well as resources related to mindfulness meditation.