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Webinar: Seeking Safe Places in Uncertain Times: The Psychological Implications of the Practice and Profession of Law as a Full-Contact Sport
**Program hosted in (ET) Time Zone**
The legal profession demands intellectual rigor, emotional resilience, and often, the sacrifice of personal well-being—all of which can exact a significant psychological toll. This program explores the mental and emotional impact of practicing law in an increasingly adversarial, high-stakes, and uncertain environment. Drawing on psychological research and real-life experiences, the course will examine how lawyers can identify warning signs of burnout, secondary trauma, and chronic stress. It will also discuss systemic factors within the legal field that contribute to mental health challenges and offer practical tools for creating safe personal and professional spaces. Attendees will leave with strategies for maintaining wellness and cultivating a healthier legal culture. This session is designed for all legal professionals, from new attorneys to seasoned practitioners.
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Presented by the Federal Bar Association’s Diversity & Inclusion Committee.
About the Presenters
Judi Cohen, Law Professor, University of California, Berkeley – School of Law
Judi Cohen (she/her) is an attorney, law professor, and 35-year student of mindfulness and yoga, authorized to teach in the Insight Meditation tradition. She is a lecturer at Berkeley Law where she teaches Mindfulness for the Legal Mind, a course that explores mindfulness tools for personal wellbeing and to create a more just, equitable society. Judi is also the founder of Warrior One, which offers mindfulness programs and trainings for legal professionals. She is a founding board member, past board co-president, and current Teachers Collective co-chair of the Mindfulness in Law Society, and also co-facilitates Yes World’s Law and Social Change Jam, an annual gathering of legal professionals exploring personal, interpersonal, and systemic change. Judi lives in Sonoma, California.
Katherine Earle Yanes, Partner, Kynes, Markman & Felman, P.A.
Katherine Earle Yanes concentrates her practice in the areas of criminal defense, appeals, and postconviction relief. In 1997, she graduated from Stetson University College of Law, magna cum laude, as valedictorian of her class. Following law school, Ms. Yanes served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich, United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Since 1999, she has successfully represented defendants at the trial, appellate, and postconviction phases of criminal litigation in federal and state courts, as well as in government investigations. Ms. Yanes has served as President of the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, President of the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers, Chair of the Hillsborough County Bar Association’s Trial and Litigation Section, Chair of the Hillsborough County Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section, and Journal Editor of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers.
Katherine Earle Yanes was awarded the 2021 Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers’ President’s Award in appreciation of outstanding service to HAWL. Ms. Yanes was also awarded the 2017 Florida Bar President’s Pro Bono Service Award for the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit for her outstanding pro bono service and the 2017 Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers Pro Bono Award. She was also awarded the 2017 Woman Lawyer of Achievement Award for excellence and integrity in her field by The Florida Bar’s Young Lawyers Division. Additionally, in 2015, the Hillsborough County Bar Association Criminal Law Section awarded Ms. Yanes the Marcelino “Bubba” Huerta Award for pro bono service and the pursuit of equal justice, and the Tampa Bay Chapter of the Federal Bar Association recognized Ms. Yanes as Mentor of the Year. In 2010, Ms. Yanes was given the President’s Award by the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers for her outstanding service to the organization.
Ritzy Ettinger, Mental Health Counselor, University of Florida School of Law
Vikram Kapoor, Attorney
Vik Kapoor is a consultant for the United Nations where he does Ombuds casework for UNICEF, UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA and UNOPS. He previously built a peer conflict coaching program – the Respectful Workplace Facilitators – for the UN in over 40 countries during the pandemic. Vik has also been an Ombuds for FEMA (incidentally sitting in the Chief Counsel’s Office) and the US Department of Interior components, including for its Solicitor’s Office and its Inspector General. Vik began his legal career as a class action litigator on the plaintiff’s side, and later taught ADR as an adjunct professor for a few years. He was a member of the Council of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution for five years and a member of the International Ombudsman Association’s Professional Practices Committee for eight years, as well as a leader in Mediators Beyond Borders. Vik is also a certified coach and an author of a self-coaching book for young leaders that won a national book award and became a bestseller. He has a JD from Georgetown and has studied trauma recovery with folks at Harvard and applied positive psychology with folks from Penn. He (generally) roams around with a very understanding wife and a perpetually happy toddler.
Organizers of the Event
Daniel Bencivenga, Term Law Clerk, Middle District of Florida
Daniel “Danny” Bencivenga graduated from University of Florida Levin College of Law and now serves as a law clerk in the Middle District of Florida
Bryan J. Branon, Principal, Branon’s ADR
Bryan J. Branon, J.D., Principal, Branon’s ADR, is an international arbitrator, mediator and business development strategist whose career has focused on the intersection of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and public policy. A former law clerk on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Court of International Trade, and intern in the Irish Parliament, Bryan has worked for several leading ADR provider organizations on four continents over 15 years where he helped establish the Afghanistan Centre for Commercial Dispute Resolution, the Bahrain Chamber for Dispute Resolution and the International Mediation Institute. He is a founding member of the
Tashkent International Arbitration Centre “45” Steering Committee and previously served as the Ciarb Regional Relationship Manager for the Americas, the first Americas-based employee in its 107-year-history, where he established the Ciarb Americas headquarters and helped found the first Spanish-speaking branch in Ciarb history, Peru.
Bryan subscribes to a motto of, “it pays to volunteer,” and champions the value of voluntary bar associations which have allowed him to distinguish himself in the highly competitive international ADR profession. In addition to being nationally elected Secretary of the Federal Bar Association (FBA) International Section, Bryan was elected Treasurer of the FBA Washington, D.C. Chapter and serves by FBA Presidential Appointment as Vice-Chair of the FBA Diversity and Inclusion Committee. He is the former Chair of the FBA ADR Section and has held numerous posts at the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution including Council Member, Inaugural Fellow and an “Advocate for the ABA.”
Bryan graduated cum laude from St. Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont with a B.S. in Political Science and a minor in Journalism and Mass Communication and earned his J.D. and mediator certification from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and its Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution in New York, New York. He is licensed to practice in Washington, D.C.
Bryan frequently lectures, publishes and consults on diversity, equity and inclusion, international ADR systems design, neutral appointments, and ADR strategy, procedure and contract clause considerations. He welcomes arbitrator and mediator appointments, consultancy, speaking, training and publishing inquiries both in the U.S.A. and abroad. Bryan can be reached at Bryan@BranonsADR.com.
Registration
Register Now!
- Live Broadcast | FBA Member: $0
- Live Broadcast | Nonmember: $95
- On-Demand Broadcast | FBA Member: $50
- On-Demand Broadcast | Nonmember: $95
CLE
Please note: CLE for this webinar has not been pre-approved.
MyLaw and the FBA will seek 1.0 General CLE credit hours in 60-minute states, and 1.2 General CLE credit hours in 50-minute states.
Posted credit hours are estimated and subject to respective state approval and rounding rules. CLE qualifications vary by state/jurisdiction.