Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy

by Heidi K. Brown

Overview

Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy is a practical resource for law students, lawyers, legal educators, and law practice mentors to eliminate unnecessary drivers of fear in our profession that impact learning, performance, and individual well-being.

For many law students and lawyers, studying and practicing law can be scary. We rarely talk about fear in law school or legal training. Instead, well-meaning mentors advise, “Just do it…fake it till you make it…if your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.” Yet, scientists confirm that fear blocks learning and performance. It can stoke anxiety and depression in a profession already saturated with mental health challenges. If we can turn down the dial of stress and anxiety even one notch for even one struggling individual in our profession by sparking a dialogue about the reality of fear in lawyering, let’s do it.

Untangling Fear in Lawyering discusses the reality, causes, manifestations, and consequences of fear in legal education and practice, from the standpoint of law students, junior attorneys, and clients. It analyzes fear from a cognitive, physical, and emotional perspective. The book draws guidance from how other industries address fear (and mistake-making) in education and training.

The book concludes with a four-step process for law students and lawyers to reframe fear into fortitude: (1) identifying scenarios in our personal and professional lives that should induce fear but do not, and those that arguably should not, but do; (2) reframing and rebooting our mental approach to fear in lawyering—using vulnerability, authenticity, and humility to tap into personal power; (3) cultivating an athlete’s mindset toward the physicality of fear; and (4) fostering a culture of fortitude in tackling individual legal challenges and in helping others within our profession untangle fears.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641053525
Publisher:	American Bar Association
Publication date:	04/02/2019
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Professor Heidi K. Brown is a graduate of The Universityof Virginia School of Law, a law professor at Brooklyn Law School, and a former litigator in the construction industry. Professor Brown is the author of Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy (ABA 2019), The Introverted Lawyer: A Seven-Step Journey Toward Authentically Empowered Advocacy (ABA 2017), and a two-volume legal writing book series entitled, The Mindful Legal Writer. Professor Brown champions the importance of openly discussing stressors, anxieties, and fears in lawyering, and helping quiet and anxious law students and lawyers become profoundly effective advocates, in their authentic voices. Professor Brown just released her third well-being book entitled, The Flourishing Lawyer: A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Performance and Well-Being.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction xvii

Part I Fear in Legal Education and Practice 1

Chapter 1 Fear in Law Students 3

Chapter 2 Fear in Lawyers 21

Chapter 3 Fear in Clients 33

Chapter 4 The Role of Fear in Mistake-Making 55

Part II The Tangle of Fear 69

Chapter 5 The Science of Fear 71

Chapter 6 The Ineffectiveness of "Pro-Fear" Messages 81

Chapter 7 How Fear Blocks Learning and Performance 87

Chapter 8 How Fear Hides Behind Other Unproductive Emotions 91

Part III How Other Industries and Professions Untangle Fear and Mistake-Making 99

Chapter 9 A Glimpse into Fear and Mistake-Making in Medical Education and Training 101

Chapter 10 A Glimpse into Fear and Mistake-Making in Journalism Education and Training 107

Chapter 11 A Glimpse into Fear and Mistake-Making in Engineering Education and Training 111

Chapter 12 A Glimpse into Fear and Mistake-Making in Entrepreneurship and Business Education and Training 113

Chapter 13 A Glimpse into Fear and Mistake-Making in Sports Training 117

Part IV Four Steps to Fortitude in Lawyering 131

Chapter 14 Step 1: Untangling Fear 133

Chapter 15 Step 2: Mentally Rebooting 155

Chapter 16 Step 3: Channeling Our Inner Athlete 181

Chapter 17 Step 4: Cultivating a Culture of Fortitude 197

Conclusion 215

Appendix A Untangling Fear Checklist 219

Appendix B Practical Strategies for Legal Educators 223

Appendix C Practical Strategies for Law Practice Leaders and Mentors 243

Appendix D Practical Strategies for Helping Clients Untangle Fears 257

Appendix E Suggested Topics for "Untangling Fear" Discussion Groups, Workshops, or Courses 267

Bibliography 275

Notes 281

Index 317