5 Things Resilient Lawyers Do Differently
tendencies, take criticism personally, and are
overly defensive and resistant to feedback.2
The reason for these low scores, I believe, is
that the two main building blocks that build
resilience – 1) thinking flexibly about challenges
and framing adversity in an accurate way; and
2) developing high-quality connections with
others – are frustrated by lawyers’ exceedingly
high levels of skepticism (measured in the
90th percentile) and exceedingly low levels of
sociability (measured in the 12th percentile).3
The National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being
recently recommended that one of the important
things law firms and organizations can do to
Resilient lawyers seek to quickly understand where they have a
help build lawyer well-being is offering courses,
measure of control, influence, or leverage in the situation instead
information, and workshops on developing
of wasting their time and energy on things they can’t control.
resilience, using the Army’s own resilience
training as a model.4 I was fortunate to teach
resilience skills to soldiers for more than three
By Paula Davis-Laack
years, and I have been encouraged by the application of this skillset
within the legal profession.
Whether you entered law school with low resilience or developed the trait
on the job, it’s possible to increase your capacity to withstand change-
Based on my work, I’ve identified five key ways in which lawyers can
related stresses and preserve or increase your well-being.
develop and maintain resilience.
The legal profession is in the middle of rapid and continuous
change.1 Clients are spread out around the world, and firms must
have a global presence and provide a global skillset. Busy lawyers,
already maxed out by the general pressure and stress of the profes-
sion, are trying to keep up with practice areas that are becoming
more specialized and complex.
Lawyers must not only be capable legal technicians but also have
business fluency, process, and project management expertise, and
an understanding of the role technology plays in legal services
delivery. They must be ready to solve clients’ complex problems by
collaborating with other professionals in an innovative way.
Being able to adapt to this changing environment is foundational to
resilience. Resilience is a person’s capacity for stress-related growth,
and lawyer personality research reveals that lawyers as a population
tend to be quite low in the trait. In fact, many lawyers score in the
30th percentile or lower, revealing that they have thin-skinned
See Resilience as a Core Leadership Skill
Law firm talent-management consultant Terri Mottershead believes
that, “In the new normal, it is critical that law firms place [resilience]
high on the list of must-haves in their leadership job descriptions and
support its development in emerging leaders.” In addition, Harvard
Law School professors Scott Westfahl and David Wilkins identify
resilience and cognitive reframing as important leadership and
professional skills lawyers should develop.5
Separately, research from the Army program showed that officers
with higher levels of resilience were promoted ahead of schedule,
were assigned tougher tasks, and achieved the rank of a one-star
general faster than their low-resilience counterparts.6
Build the Type of Confidence
That Grows Resilience
Successfully navigating challenges gives you a template to manage
future adversity; in fact, not experiencing any hardship actually
Paula Davis-Laack, Marquette 2002, MAPP, is the founder of the Stress & Resilience Institute, a training and consulting
firm focused on enhancing resilience, well-being, and engagement in the legal profession. She is the author of the
e-book, Addicted to Busy: Your Blueprint for Burnout Prevention. www.pauladavislaack.com; [email protected]
10
THE GAVEL