Listen to the singers here. More songs at their Laryngospasms' Web site. These guys are creative.
Excerpt:
Click to read the rest of "Legal Sector Loses 5,800 Jobs in October" (American Lawyer).
Excerpt:
A study published in a recent issue of Academic Medicine found that medical students' feelings of empathy erode sharply during their third year of medical school -- just as they are shifting from largely didactic learning activities toward hands-on patient-care. ...
According to family medicine education experts, this erosion of empathy is a significant and problematic issue, because physicians' feelings of concern are related to better patient outcomes.
...
The study authors suggested that reasons for the decline include a lack of role models, the volume of materials to learn, time pressures, and patient and environmental factors, such as overly demanding patients and restrictions on caregivers' autonomy.
The study also cited students' overreliance on computer-based diagnostic and therapeutic
technology that "limits their vision for the importance of human interactions in patient encounters" and the promotion of physicians' emotional detachment leading to "a benign neglect of the art of patient care."
...
The Academic Medicine study suggested that various approaches to enhance empathy in medical education can be effective, including analyzing students' audio- or videotaped encounters with patients, being exposed to role models, role-playing, shadowing a patient, and studying literature and the arts along with medicine.
Click to read the rest of "Medical Students' Empathy Plunges in Third Year, Says Study" (American Academy of Family Physicians News Now).
Listen to the singers here. More songs at their Laryngospasms' Web site. These guys are creative.
That's Gary Hamel's idea and I like it. As he says at a Wall Street Journal blog:
Hamel them goes on to present the CliffsNotes of his never-to-be-written book. I can think of several books I have read this year for which I wish I had the CliffsNotes instead. And, on the other hand, I savored the pages of a few business books.
What was the difference? A small number of writers are very good at their craft, almost like poets or novelists. Most important for me, they tell compelling and illustrative stories about real people. What makes you appreciate a business book? And what makes you long for CliffsNotes?
Mindfulness continues to enter the legal profession through many doors. Earlier this school year, I told you about the U of Miami School of Law's eight-week program on contemplative practices. The Florida Bar News just published an article about that program. From "Mindfulness program aims to help law students live in the moment":
Next semester, University of Miami Law will be offering a course entitled "Professional Responsibility & Mindfulness in the Digital Age" taught by Rogers and Jan Jacobowitz. The course description (found here):
The Impact of New Media on Lawyer Conduct: Mindfulness and Professional Responsibility in the Digital Age
A Judge's decision upsets a lawyer and he vents his frustration by blogging and characterizing the Judge as "an evil witch" on a Halloween posting. A young attorney excited about her practice
discusses some of her cases on Facebook. A lawyer serving as a juror blogs about the trial. All of these lawyers are enjoying the new media and all are being prosecuted for violations of the Code of Professional Responsibility. New technologies provide the legal profession with opportunities for networking, advertising, researching, and client development. They also are becoming familiar ground for personal expression. The global and instantaneous reach of New Media coupled with its perpetual presence, results in a limited and unforgiving learning curve; The Code of Professional Responsibility continues to govern. Mistakes occur frequently due to distraction, unfamiliarity and haste, and poorly thought out actions and can leave lasting scars on the otherwise unblemished reputation of lawyers (and law students). Even deliberate tactics can backfire as unforeseen consequences arise. Anyone can find themselves a "test case" if they traipse into this territory without caution and awareness. The applicability of the rules of professional responsibility continues to develop as the digital media comes of age. This course uses cutting-edge fact patterns and legal decisions involving lawyer misconduct and new media to expose students to the realities of professional missteps that can follow from seemingly innocuous activities. Contemplative practices, such as mindfulness, are incorporated to offer students growing insight into what motivates them to act, and to practice developing, and wisely using, the mental brakes needed to slow down and introduce greater deliberation into decision-making. The neuroscience associated with focus, distraction, and morality is discussed to offer students a penetrating examination of the inner-workings at play. Core professional responsibility concerns including confidentiality, professionalism, communication, and advertising will serve as the backdrop for this instruction, which will be introduced through lecture, role-playing, and dialogue.
In this post, I will mention just one more lawyer mindfulness event. It was a sold-out CLE program offered last year by the Multnomah Bar Association, from which you can still purchase the written materials and tapes or CD ROM. From a description of the seminar "Taking Care of Ourselves While We’re Busy Taking Care of Others: Stress-Reduction for Professionals in Conflict Resolution":
This unique seminar is devoted to improving the way we handle stress, strengthening mental clarity and enhancing productivity. Designed especially for lawyers, judges, mediators and forensic mental health professionals who work under enormous pressure, the instructors will concentrate on the effectiveness of mindfulness training – the cultivation of moment-tomoment awareness to combat stress. At the end of the day you will know:
-The basic technique of mindfulness training
-The scientific studies regarding mindfulness training
-The effects of stress on mind and body
-How to relieve stress through mindfulness training
-How to thrive in the demanding field of conflict resolution
More here, including how to order the materials. (Scroll down to Friday, October 31, 2008.)
That's it for today but rest assured that I will continue to let you know about similar events as I hear of them. And don't forget these resources: http://www.contemplativelawyers.com.
I am not surprised that Winifred Gallagher's Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life made this list of top business books for the year. Several people have thanked me for recommending it to them. Have you read Rapt yet?
My blog posts about the book:
Excerpt:
Click to read the rest of "Women with male names do better in legal careers: study" (Reuters).
You now may read an article by Janet Raasch about a talk Mark Beese of Leadership for Lawyers gave at the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association. At this link, you can download the article. Raasch's blog is set up in an unusual manner. I clicked on the article title a few times and could not access it so gave up. Later I saw that clicking triggers a download so I had several copies of the article on my desktop. I wanted to warn you about this feature to save you any frustration.
In "Stop behaving badly, boorish lawyers told" (Toronto Star), several possible reasons are put forth to explain why the number of complaints made to the Law Society of Upper Canada about rude and abusive behavior has increased. These reasons include:
And . . .
This one is probably a factor . . .
I have not thought much recently about how one learns the culture of the profession. This morning I spent some time recalling what I learned from my mentors. The highest degree of civility, courtesy, and respect for all lawyers and clients was certainly a part of it what they taught me. Their teaching was almost all by example; I watched them maintain that demeanor and behavior even when the other side was acting with a low degree of civility.
What do you think? Is civility something one can learn from another? How do new lawyers learn the way to navigate in a civil manner, even when confronted with boorish behavior? Are law schools teaching civility? Should they?
Bet you'll enjoy at least one or two of these stories of unique academic research told in "Journeys of Discovery" (Washington Post). You can read about law professor James E. Starrs who looks at old bones to dig up answers to such questions as "whether famous explorer Meriwether Lewis actually committed suicide -- or was murdered." Read the Starrs story.
Read about Todd Kashdan who is curious about the benefits of curiosity. (I've blogged about Kashdan before.)
John Conkling teaches a class in pyrotechics.
Click for Conkling's story.
Psychiatrist Schlozman has achieved some fame by looking at the human brain through the lens of the zombie brain. He also has a related book coming out soon. Did you know a zombie has some problems with her frontal lobe and her anterior cingulate cortex, and a very active amydala? Listen to this interview to learn more about your brain and that of the zombie, as well as why zombies are zombies. Don't miss it! Great fun and some serious neuroeducation for today's holiday.
Some past posts about Dr. Schlozman:
Of course we catch moods from other people; doing so is often a good lubricant of social interaction. Sometimes we want to catch moods—and sometimes we do not. For when we don't, there is a method of strengthening our emotional immune system which I will mention in a moment.
The contagion of moods is well-researched. For example, from "Emotional pandemic creates herds of bulls, bears" (St. Petersburg Times):
This emotional contagion can affect the financial landscape.
I was happy to see that the antidote of which I was thinking as I read the article was eventually mentioned by the writer.
Once again the power of attention is affirmed. As a ardent advocate of the importance of attention (here's a past post on attention), I applaud this mention of its use. To whom are you paying attention?
Excerpt:
Click to read the rest of "Kellogg study: outsiders effective leaders" (Daily Northwestern).
From the Allan Handleman radio show site:
Click to listen. May load slowly.
Note (added November 1, 2009): Another interview of Rock: What are You Challenged by at Work? (TotalPicture Radio with Peter Clayton).