Positive Psychology in Legal Practice (Hollway)
Faculty
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| John F. Hollway Executive Director & Lecturer in Law jhollway@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Experiential CourseYes
Skills Training
Expository Writing
Other Professional Skills:
Grading
40% Participation,
25% Paper,
35% Other (Weekly personal reflections (1-2 pages) that integrate readings and in-class discussions will consist of 35% of the final grade.)
Yes
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- Class sessions are regularly recorded. I will make these recordings routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
- I have asked for volunteers in the class who are willing to take and share their notes on a regular basis with others who are absent due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance.
- If you are absent, due to illness or some other unavoidable circumstance, email me and I can ask for volunteers among your classmates to share their notes with you.
- I will make PowerPoint slides or other class materials routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
- When you are better, please make an appointment to meet with me and I will review/answer questions about what you missed.
Meeting Times/Location
WR 3:00PM - 4:20PM
Gittis Hall 2
Category
Seminar
Credits
3.0
This course will attempt to address an existential challenge facing each of us: how can we, as lawyers, design a life of thriving and fulfillment? As Penn Law graduates, you will be well equipped to solve our clients’ technical problems; the starting hypothesis of this course is that you can be similarly well equipped to handle the social and emotional aspects of the practice of law in the mid-21st Century. Positive psychology, the scientific study of well-being, offers a path to help law students optimize their outcomes in the practice of law, and within the complementary human dimensions of life that you will encounter as lawyers.
It has been known for some time that law students and lawyers are experiencing significant challenges within the profession. Attorneys report higher rates of depression, suicide, substance abuse, stress and anxiety than the general population, and a Harvard Business Review study recently declared law “the loneliest profession.” Add to that the more recent, but incredibly disruptive and unsettling environment created by COVID-19 and the wave of anger, emotion and national self-evaluation flowing through the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, and we all find ourselves looking forward into an incredibly uncertain and challenging time that taxes our resources in every dimension – emotional, spiritual, physical, financial, etc.
But we are not powerless. At every step, we have the power to choose how we will respond to the challenges that life presents us. And while the studies described above paint a bleak picture of legal practice, they are not a complete picture. Other research illustrates that attorneys who are engaged in their jobs, who feel a sense of agency and autonomy, and who view themselves as working towards self-designed goals not only feel better about their work, but also achieve better professional and personal outcomes and remain content in the practice of law for longer. Does this happen by chance, or can we design such careers for ourselves? And what specific skills or tools are at our disposal to optimize our careers within both the law and our lives, so that we are leading lives of fulfillment, meaning and happiness? These are the questions we will explore in this experiential seminar.
Skills Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of the individual course skill; Demonstrate the ability to receive and implement feedback; Demonstrate an understanding of how and when the individual course skill is employed in practice.
Perspectives on the Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate an understanding of how the law affects, and is affected by, the individual course topic; Perform legal analysis in the context of the individual course topic; Communicate effectively on the legal and other aspects of the individual course topic; Demonstrate the ability to use other disciplines to analyze legal issues relevant to the individual course topic, including economics, philosophy, and sociology, as appropriate.
Equity and Inclusion Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Perform legal analysis in the context of topics related to equity and inclusion; Communicate effectively on the legal aspects of equity and inclusion; Demonstrate an understanding of how equity and inclusion are connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.