Optimizing Physical Well-being to Maximize Professional Outcomes

When a person becomes addicted to drugs or alcohol, one of the consequences is physical health problems such as liver and kidney problems, high blood pressure and heart disease. Conversely, being in recovery from the problematic use of mood-altering substances can be associated with significant improvements in physical well-being. Regardless of a lawyer’s relationship with substances, optimizing physical well-being improves the ability to cope with physical and emotional challenges of lawyering, or to pivot into a new career direction. Join NJLAP’s Team Clinician in a facilitated discussion with two professionals who share about their recovery journeys.

Speakers

Scott Sheldon, Esq., Trial Attorney, Malmut & Associates, LLC.

Nikki Tierney, JD, MS, Licensed Professional Counselor.

Moderator

Dr. Defne Ekin, Team Clinician, NJLAP.

Recorded Webinar • Speaker Bios

What Does Spirituality Have to Do With It?

Finding Meaning & Value in Personal & Professional Life

Taking care of our health and well-being has always included discussions about physical and mental health and their intersection. Only recently have discussions branched out to include spirituality and its importance in our overall health. Long established spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation, gratitude practices, community service and more are supported by research as practices, mindset and lifestyles that enhance our health and well-being.

NJLAP Associate Director, Nancy Stek will be joined by a panel of three to four attorneys representing diverse professional, family, and spiritual/ faith backgrounds. Panelists will discuss what they do to derive meaning from their work, nourish their spirits, foster personal growth, align their work with their values, and how their spiritual practices promote their well-being.

Speakers

Kimberly Deal, Esq.,President, Association of Black Women Lawyers of New Jersey, and practicing attorney, Marlton, NJ.

Tahirah Amatul Wadud, Esq., Executive Director & Chief Legal Officer, The Council on American-Islamic Relations, MA.

Susan Wilk- Founder of Focused Mind Dynamics, LLC and No Place Like AUM LLC.

Moderator

Nancy Stek, MS, LCADC, Associate Director, NJLAP.

Recorded Webinar • Speaker Bios

How We Put Lawyers First

Report on Recent Research and Progress to Improve Personal and Professional Well-being for New Jersey Lawyers

Join NJSBA President, Jeralyn Lawrence, Putting Lawyers First (PLF) Task Force co-chairs Robin Bogan and Matheu Nunn, PLF Ethics/Fee Arbitration Subcommittee Chair, Bonnie Frost, the NJSBA’s Well-being Committee’s co-chair and co-chair of the PLF Mental Health Subcommittee, Maritza Rodriguez, and NJLAP’s Associate Director, Nancy Stek, in a frank discussion of recent findings on the state of well-being among legal professionals in New Jersey and a hopeful look at efforts and collaborations underway to improve these conditions. Putting Lawyers First has been the theme President Lawrence’s year as President of the NJSBA. Please join us in learning about the tremendous efforts that were undertaken in the last eleven months and help us acknowledge and congratulate her, and the entire PLF Task Force, on the accomplishments realized in such a brief time. We can think of no better way to mark professional well-being than to showcase the current efforts underway.

Speakers

Jeralyn Lawrence, Esq., President, New Jersey State Bar Association & Managing Member and Founder of Lawrence Law.

Robin Bogan, Esq., Co-Chair, Putting Lawyers First Task Force; Partner: Pallarino & Bogan, LLP.

Bonnie Frost, Esq.,Chair, Putting Lawyers First Ethics/Arbitration Subcommittee; Partner: Einhorn, Barbarito, Frost & Botwinick, PC.

Matheu Nunn, Esq., Co-Chair, Putting Lawyers First Task Force; Partner: Einhorn, Barbarito, Frost & Botwinick, PC.

Maritza Rodriguez, Esq., Co-Chair, New Jersey State Bar Association Well-Being Committee; Co-Chair Putting Lawyers First Mental Health Subcommitee; sole proprieter: the Rodriguez Law Firm, LLC.

Moderator

Nancy Stek, MS, LCADC, Associate Director, NJLAP.

Recorded Webinar • Speaker Bios

“Put Away Your Legal Pad!"

How to Stop Arguing Ourselves Out of Good Relationships

Do you find yourself readily applying your legal training or courtroom skills when having a disagreement with a loved one or close relative? In the course of a heated argument, has a significant other ever told you to "stop the cross-examination"? Or do you ever just wonder if practicing law and staying in a long-term relationship just may be incompatible goals?

To celebrate social well-being, this program, featuring ReelTime Creative Learning Experiences will explore just a few of the tricky ways that “thinking like a lawyer” might be unhelpful--or even counterproductive--in some of our closest relationships. Join a multi-disciplinary roundtable of relationship experts (including mental health professionals and at least one longsuffering non-lawyer spouse!) for a lively discussion centered around thought-provoking film clips depicting these challenges

Speakers

Michael Kahn, JD, LPC, Educator, Coach, Co-Founder of ReelTime CLE, Licensed Professional Counselor consulting to British Columbia Lawyers Assistance Program.

Chris Osborn, Esq., Mediator, Collaborative Lawyer, & CLE.

Wendy Osborn, Child and Family Therapist, Nuture Counseling.

Moderator

Nicole Perskie, JD, Office Administrator, NJLAP.

Recorded Webinar • Speaker Bios

Friday, May 5, 2023

1:00 PM • via zoom. Register Below

Self-Care for Lawyers

Realistic Tools for Assessing risks to Emotional Well-Being and for Boosting Resilence

Join  James A. Lewis V, Sara Ellis, and and Joe Milowic III, for a candid discussion about developing practical self-care tools that can help lawyers cope under a range of challenging personal and professional circumstances.

Speakers

James A. Lewis V is the inaugural Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer at AmLaw 200 law firm, Cole Schotz, and President-Elect of the Garde State Bar Association.

Sara Ellis, Former Litigator, Future Therapist, Mental Health Advocate, Board Member of the Lawyers With Depression Project.

Joseph Milowic III, Director of Well-Being & Of Counsel at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, Co-Founder : Lawyers Depression Project

Moderator

Noreen Braman, CLWI, Communications Mgr., NJLAP.

Recorded Webinar • Speaker Bios