Psychology for Lawyers


the soul of the law


Reading

  Benjamin Sells, The Soul of the Law (Rockport, Massachusetts, 1994)

Read pp. 13-56

Instructor's Notes

 

Class Videos

Introduction

Class Viewing: So You Want To Be A Lawyer? [10:19 mins.] [animation]

Soul of the Law | Chapter 2 | Law School

The Next Revolution in Legal Education [15:22 mins.] [Roberto Mangaberia Unger]

What Happens When You Become a Lawyer [9:48 mins.] Pt2 [9:19 mins.] Pt3 [9:56 mins.] [Josh Perry, Kelly School of Business, Indiana University; Perry attended Vanderbilt Law School and Vanderbilt Divinity School]

Do Lawyers Think, and If So, How?
[19:58 mins.] [Frederick Schaur] [Schaur's presentation can end at 8:30 mins. for class viewing]

Soul of the Law | Chapter 2 | Rites of Passage

Joseph Campbell--On Becoming an Adult
[5:39 mins.] [in class viewing of the video can end at 2:40 mins.]

Supplemental Videos (David Whyte, Michael Meade, Robert Bly)

David Whyte's 3 Marriages [2:55 mins.] [on the marriage to work and the marriage to self]

The Light Inside Dark Times [3:01 mins.] [Michael Meade]

The Hymn of the Pearl [6:40 mins.]

Active Imagination

"The most important first step in understanding anything psychologically is to get an image. Images are more complete, more fertile, than concepts because they have a broader range of expression and are therefore more precise. Also, images allow our persona perspectives to coalesce with more enduring psychic patterns. So, in turning a psychological eye to the Law, we first need an image of what we are talking about." ~Benjamin Sells, The Soul of the Law 23 (Rockport, Massachusetts: Element, 1994)

The Power of Imagination
[1:43 mins.] [C.G. Jung]

The Practice of Imagination
[1:44 mins.] [David Whyte]

Active Imagination
[9:44 mins.] [Murray Stein, lecture on Jung's method of active imagination] [for classroom use, the video can end at 5:00 mins.]

Emotional Numbing

"There is something anesthetizing and deadening about the Law's mental habits that is leaving lawyers numb to deep feeling." —Benjamin Sells, The Soul of the Law 176 (Rockport, Massachusetts, 1994)

Emotional Numbing during and after a traumatic event
[0:51 mins.]

Soul Loss
[2:43 mins.] [Hank Wesselman, an anthropologist by training]

Thomas Moore: Attending to the Soul

The Care of the Soul and Spirit
[11:48 mins.] [Thomas Moore is a Jungian analyst, and author of Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life (New York: HarperPerennial, 1994)]

Care of the Soul
[23:49 mins.]
Clarity
[0:48 mins.]

Knowing What We Hate
[1:17 mins.]
Longing
[0:29 mins.]
Wake Up Calls
[1:20 mins.]

Writing in the Sand
[4:21 mins.]

What is Education For?
[5:05 mins.]

Liberal Arts and Care of the Soul
[1:00:28 mins.]

Art and Dream
[33:26 mins.] Pt2 [30:56 mins.]

Dealing with Darkness

Michael Meade Talks about the Soul and Darkness
[3:02 mins.]

Head and Heart

Compartmentalization
[5:13 mins.]

Does the Head Rule the Heart in Business Education?
[36:55 mins.]

Michael Maccoby Lecture
[57:02 mins., lecture begins at 3:00 mins.]

David Whyte

On Belonging & Coming Home
[2:02 mins.]

Start Close In
[2:50 mins.]

Live to the Point of Tears
[2:45 mins.]

On Resilience
[4:23 mins.]

David Whyte Recites "The Journey"
[1:35 mins.]

Preservation of the Soul
[8:51 mins.]

Life at the Frontier: The Conversational Nature of Reality
[19:13 mins.]

Reference (Videos)

What's Your Prison?
[17:41 mins.] [TED Talk]

A Day in the Life: Lawyer
[1:32 mins.] [thinking about what it means to be a lawyer]

A Day in the Life of a Lawyer
[4:05 mins.]

A Lawyer's Search
[9:58 mins.] [Gary Friedman] Pt2 [9:32 mins.] Pt3 [8:59 mins.] Pt4 [9:46 mins.]
[Gary Friedman and Mediation :: 4:05 mins.]

Jack Himmelstein
[8:40 mins.] Pt2 [9:40 mins.] Pt3 [6:57 mins.]

The Power of Introverts
[8:08 mins.]

How To Find and Do Work You Love
[17:57 mins.] [TED Talk]

How to Know Your Life Purpose in 5 Minutes
[10:34 mins.] [TED Talk]

Unhappy Lawyers (Articles)

Patrick J. Schiltz, On Being a Happy, Healthy, and Ethical Member of an Unhappy, Unhealthy, and Unethical Profession [online text]

Martin E.P. Seligman, Paul R. Verkuil & Terry H. Kang, Why Are Lawyers Unhappy? [online text]

Nancy Levit, Five Myths About Happy Lawyers [online text]

Ted David, Can Lawyers Learn To Be Happy? [online text]

Marc S. Galanter & Thomas M. Palay, Large Law Firm Misery: It's the Tournament, Not the Money [online text]

John Hagan & Fiona Kay, Even Lawyers Get the Blues: Gender, Depression, and Job Satisfaction in Legal Practice, 41 Law & Soc'y Rev. 51 (2007)

Judith L. Maute, Balanced Lives in a Stressful Professional: An Impossible Dream? 21 Capitol U. L. Rev. 1992) [online text]

Web Resources

Essential Reading: The Soul of the Law
[Ginger Grant, Canadian Bar Association PracticeLink]

Stress Management for Lawyers
[Mark R. Siwik, Cleveland Ohio]

Is Therapy Keeping You Stuck, Unhappy Lawyers?
[Leaving the Law, blog]

Attorney Turned Psychotherapist Analyzes the Legal Profession
[Will Meyerheyer, a lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell in New York takes up psychotherapy]

The Corporate Climber Has to Find His Heart
[Michael Maccoby]

Bibliography (Benjamin Sells)

Benjamin Sells, Order in the Court: Crafting a More Just World in Lawless Times (Boston: Element, 1999)


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