In 2011 Miami Law established the country’s first Mindfulness in Law Program, reflecting its commitment to preparing students at the highest levels of academic excellence while providing the tools to maintain and develop their intellectual gifts and cultivate greater emotional well-being.
The program is led by Scott Rogers, an internationally recognized leader in mindfulness in law. For more than a decade Professor Rogers has been working with law school students, faculty and administrators at Miami Law and across the country interested in learning mindfulness and incorporating it into the law school curriculum and experience. Professor Rogers collaborates on neuroscience research exploring the efficacy of mindfulness training on attention, emotional regulation and working memory in high stress professions and draws upon this expertise in the infusion of mindfulness into the learning environment.
Offered every Fall semester since 2008, Jurisight® has become an important and memorable part of the law school experience for hundreds of law students. Classes meet weekly for six weeks and introduce students to mindfulness insights and exercises in the context of their law school experience. This groundbreaking offering integrates contemplative practices with cutting-edge neuroscience research to share with students ways of optimizing performance and reducing stress.
Offered since 2010, Mindful Ethics brings together the Rules of Professional Conduct and mindfulness insights and exercises. The course, which satisfies the ABA’s PR requirement, offers students an engaging and pragmatic introduction to the rules regulating the legal profession alongside an appreciation for the challenges lawyers can face practicing law, while maintaining not only their ethical obligations but also their values and wellbeing.
Offered since 2012, Mindfulness and Leadership introduces students to mindfulness as a vehicle for cultivating leadership skills and identifying within themselves their interests and capacity to play leadership roles across a variety of domains and disciplines.
Offered since 2011, Mindfulness in Law offers students a deeper immersion in the study and practice of mindfulness woven together with the practice of law. Students select areas of interest to them, which have included: animal law, criminal law, Internet law, law school, mediation, the military, negotiation, spirituality, stress-reduction, and trial practice. The course concludes with a Law Student Conference where students present on their topics.
Enriching the law school experience separate an apart from formal classes are Miami Law’s innovative Mindful Spaces. These 10 to 30 minute offerings are made available to law students throughout the week, offering a diversity of opportunities to learn and practice mindfulness. Examples include: mindful walking, mindful sittings, mindful stretching, mindful music listening, mindful visualizations. Facilitated by Miami Law faculty, staff and students, Mindful Spaces teach informal mindfulness practices that can be practiced during the busy day.
Professor Rogers has worked with lawyers and legal organizations for more than 15 years introducing lawyers and judges to mindfulness. CLE Programs for lawyers and judges are offered at Miami Law during the year, and programs are tailored for law firms and legal organizations and offered off-site.
For resources, research, exercises and videos, visit the Mindfulness in Law Program’s website.
Law Firms interested in having an in-house mindfulness program offered to firm members should contact: mindfulness@law.miami.edu.
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