Are you feeling increased stress in your personal and professional life? Do you think that you have reached your capacity to deal with continuing stressful situations? If so, you are not alone. The ABA and the State Bar of Arizona have recognized that lawyers and legal professionals are dealing with increased stress both from their work and in balancing their work and personal lives.
This program will address how mindfulness and meditative exercises can help us cope with stress and value choices. We will discuss what mindfulness is, how it can help (and what it cannot do), the scientific bases for its effectiveness, and informal methods of stress reduction. The program will involve short mindfulness exercises. We will also provide participants with links to materials and videos that deal with mindfulness, including guided meditations and meditation apps so you can do exercises and explore this concept on a regular basis at home.
We will also address the growing concept of life choices and values. Given the stress from the pandemic and growing international and domestic tensions, is there a way that each of us can re-examine how we want our future lives to be lived?
Donn Kessler is a long-time AWLA member and member of the Maricopa Chapter Luncheons Committee. Donn was a judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals from 2003 to June 2017. He is an adjunct faculty member of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU, teaching a course on mindfulness for the past five years. Prior to becoming a judge, Donn was Deputy Attorney General for the State of Hawaii, served in the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, and was an associate and later a partner or a shareholder in several firms and a staff attorney for the Arizona Supreme Court. Donn began studying Buddhism and mindfulness in the 1990s. He presented at the national 2010 Mindful Lawyer Conference in Berkeley. Donn has presented programs on meditation and mindfulness at numerous Arizona State Bar Conventions, two Arizona Judicial Conferences, the Lawyers as Peacemakers and Healers Conference, the 2013 Finding Happiness in the Law Program, and the annual meeting of federal administrative law judges in Scottsdale in 2016. Donn was a founding member and is now emeritus board member of the Mindfulness in Law Society (MILS), a national group promoting mindfulness in the law. Donn was chair for MILS’s 2018 program on Mindfulness and the Path to Lawyer Well Being in Chicago, which was co-sponsored in part by the ABA Center for Professional Responsibility and the State Bar of Arizona. He has spoken to AWLA on many occasions.
Alexis G. Firehawk is a long-time member of the AWLA-Maricopa Chapter Steering Committee and recently joined the AWLA Board of Directors. Lex is a shareholder at Carpenter, Hazlewood, Delgado & Bolen, LLP. She practices in the areas of community association law, business law, and litigation. She focuses on entity formation and dissolution, securities, general counsel, and civil litigation. Lex counsels nonprofit and for-profit organizations of all sizes, across industries, regarding business transactions and strategy, capital market transactions, intellectual property disputes, and conflict resolution. Lex’s practice includes advising companies, boards of directors, and individuals on statutory and regulatory compliance; assisting clients with respect to employment and consulting agreements, contract interpretation and negotiation; and advising clients with regard to compliance with internal policy and procedure. Lex also represents companies on both sides of civil litigation, bringing affirmative claims and providing litigation defense. Lex manages the Firm’s summer associate, internship/externship, and mentor programs. She believes that success is inspired by building relationships. Before joining the firm she created corporate policy for global companies and advised on Information Governance and eDiscovery issues including privacy, security, and regulatory compliance.
This will be an in-person only event.