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individual lawyers and the profession as a whole can work together to reduce the deleterious practices in which some lawyers engage and to elevate the countless positive contributions legal professionals provide to society. We added a new session this year, focusing on lawyer well-being and based on the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being’s 2017 report entitled, “The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change.”2 As the syllabus describes: The ABA recently issued a report “emphasizing that well-being is an indispensable part of a lawyer’s duty of competence.” 3 This session will examine key components of professional and personal well-being for legal professionals. It will explore various challenges lawyers may face in maintaining their physical, mental, and emotional health; as well as strategies to enhance your personal and professional well-being throughout your legal career. Professor Tammy Oltz organized a panel for this session including: • Judge Ralph Erickson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, • Penny Miller, clerk of the North Dakota Supreme Court, secretary-treasurer of the State Board of Law Examiners, and secretary of the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court, • Anna Dearth, attorney and UND School of Law alumna, and • Jodi Ramberg, staff counselor at the UND Counseling Center and substance abuse prevention coordinator at the UND Wellness Center. The students provided positive feedback, such as this excerpt from a student email: Call for Mentors: To sign up for the UND School of Law’s Professional Foundations Mentoring Session on Wednesday, April 1, 2020, please visit: https://www.sband.org/events/event_list.asp. and the judiciary including: • Judge Alvin Boucher, Grand Forks Municipal Court, • Judge Alice Senechal, U.S. Magistrate Judge, • Judge Jim Hovey, North Dakota District Court, • SheraLynn Ternes, Assistant Cass County State’s Attorney, former supreme court clerk, • Conor Smith, U.S. District Court Clerk, former Supreme Court clerk, • Morgan Croaker, Serkland Law Firm, former Supreme Court clerk, and • Sarah Aaberg, O'Keeffe, O'Brien, Lyson & Foss, former Supreme Court clerk. Moreover, the law students provided overwhelmingly positive feedback about the mentoring program initiated this year, where more than 60 members of the legal profession volunteered to meet in one-on-one sessions with two law students to discuss their resumes and Roadmap documents outlining their plans for their remaining law school experiences. We were extremely grateful to the mentors, some of whom travelled great distances, who engaged in enriching dialogues with their mentees, and many continued interacting with law students and colleagues during the reception afterwards. I wanted to reach out to you all and say how great I thought today’s panel was on well-being… I thought the entire panel was AMAZING and could have stayed much longer to listen to each person’s insights… Thank you so much for this experience. In addition to strategies for maintaining physical, mental, and emotional well-being, the panel addressed challenges prevalent in the legal profession such as stress, mental illness, including anxiety and depression, and alcohol and drug abuse. The speakers highlighted that these issues frequently emerge in law school and emphasized the importance of seeking help, noting the primacy of making and implementing a plan to overcome these problems, and that doing so can reflect positively on candidates seeking admission to the bar instead of posing a barrier. Other sessions featuring guest speakers exposed students to different career paths in addition to underscoring the importance of professionalism and civility as fundamental components of the twelve core professional qualities. These sessions included Peter Welte, nominee to the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota, discussing law firm practice, as well as panels on trial lawyers including: • Judge Shon Hastings, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, • Justice Jon Jensen, North Dakota Supreme Court, • Jennifer Puhl, Office of the U.S. Attorney, • Bruce Quick, Vogel Law Firm, • Mike Williams, Maring Williams Law Office, • Peter Zuger, Serkland Law Firm, Law students and professionals take part in a mentorship program as part of ProfFound. Finally, on behalf of the entire law school community, we offer our deepest appreciation to everyone in SBAND for your support – not only through Professional Foundations, but also in a myriad other ways, such as externships, jobs, coaching/judging trial team and moot court, mentoring students and graduates, attending law school events, donating to student scholarships and other financial assistance for the law school, encouraging prospective students to apply, and expressing support for maintaining a strong UND School of Law to the North Dakota Legislative Assembly. Many thanks! 1. Associate Dean, UND School of Law. 2. National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being, “The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change,” https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/ administrative/professional_responsibility/lawyer_well_being_report_final.pdf (Aug. 14, 2017). 3. National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being, https://www.americanbar.org/groups/ professional_responsibility/task_force_lawyer_wellbeing/ (Feb. 7, 2018). SUMMER 2019 19