Mindfulness in Law Schools and Legal Practice
LAW SCHOOL LIBRARIANS are frontline witnesses to the intense hours students spend preparing for legal careers, and to the stress and anxiety students experience. In partnership with the University of Virginia Mindfulness Center, the University of Virginia School of Law’s Library offers a workshop that introduces law students to mindfulness techniques for reducing stress and heightening awareness and enjoyment of the present moment. Students hone their awareness through workshop meditations, in which they practice directing their attention to their breath and body sensations, noticing when they get distracted, and then re-focusing. “It is clear that mindfulness helps students through the stressful experience of law school,” UVA workshop instructor Susanna Williams wrote in an e-mail. “It has the potential to affect their individual lawyering, and impact law by engendering a deeper justice that recognizes the connectedness of all human beings.