Psychology for Lawyers
michelle michaud
talks about her work and her life as a lawyer
Preface
Mia, the lawyer portrayed In Treatment
(HBO), in a meeting at her law office with her former therapist engages
in a conversation with the psychotherapist, Dr. Paul Weston, that serves
as the predicate for our visit with still another lawyer, Michelle Michaud,
to consider her commentary about her work and her life as a lawyer.
In Mia's meeting with Dr. Weston, Dr. Weston comments
on Mia's readily apparent success, telling her, "look at you, where
you are now." Mia responds: "I'm a success because I work
in a tall building . . . . Yea, I made it through law school all the
way to the top floor and the beautiful views, and the windows that don't
open, and the f--king jackhammers that never stop. And you know what
I do when I win a case, one of those hopeless ones only I would take,
I go out and get drunk with my gay secretary and then I stumble home
to my one bedroom condo and I pray I can fall asleep." Dr. Weston:
[nods] "[In making sure that you were assigned my case] Were you
trying to show me how well you have done and how sad you are?"
In Treatment (Season 2, Dk. 1, Episode 1) (20:30 mins. to 21:58
mins. of the DVD)
Readings
"The Cornucopia of Julia K.," in Lowell B. Komie, The
Legal Fiction of Lowell B. Komie (Chicago: Swordfish/Chicago,
2005) [25 Legal Stud. F. 71 (2001)] [online
text]
Brenda Berger, Prisoners of Liberation: A Psychoanalytic Perspective
on Disenchantment and Burnout Among Career Women Lawyers, 56 (5) J.
Clinical Psychology/In Session: Psychotherapy in Practice 665 (2000)
Class Video
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