Building Resilience Through Action, Art and Community.
Practicing law is not only stressful, but it can feel really lonely, especially in an increasingly lonely world. Most of us were inspired to practice law because we wanted to help other people, but helping others often comes with grave responsibility and pressure. Part of Wellness Jurist’s mission is to create space for community building amongst lawyers with the recognition that we need each other’s support in order to thrive in this profession. That’s why this program is focused on building resilience through community connection.
If you are a stressed-out lawyer who is looking to build a support system, join us for a transformative Building Resilience Through Building Community for Lawyers CLE, designed to help legal professionals build emotional resilience, build community, and develop strategies to thrive in a demanding profession. This retreat offers a perfect balance of relaxation, skill-building, and community building with likeminded individuals away from the pressures of daily practice.
Agenda | Tickets | Parking Information | About the Speakers | Sponsors | Testimonials
Agenda
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Practicing attorneys in recovery, Bryan Baer, Nathan Chapman, and Warren Sans, three accomplished litigation attorneys, will share powerful and insightful information with us about their experiences overcoming alcohol addiction and successfully continuing their legal careers. This session will provide a candid look into the challenges of using alcohol to cope with stress in the high pressure world of the law, recognizing when alcohol becomes a problem, and alternative strategies, including building community, that you can use to cope with stress. Whether you are in recovery, looking for alternative ways to manage stress, or searching for the right way to help a colleague, this discussion will open the door to the idea of leaning on one another in order to maintain a healthier and more sustainable legal practice.
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Stress is an inevitable part of legal practice, but how we respond to it can make all the difference. In this engaging and practical course, two expert psychologists will explore how taking purposeful action can serve as one of the most effective ways to reduce stress, build strong support systems, and improve overall well-being in the legal profession.
Drawing from research in clinical and organizational psychology, Dr. Ketchen and Dr. Hunter will offer evidence-based strategies that allow you to move beyond stress and take constructive action to improve not only your professional performance and personal well-being but to also help others along the way.
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Did you know that research shows that tapping into your creative side with art can alleviate stress and foster mindfulness? Learn how to paint with local Atlanta artist Sylvia Cross and begin your journey into mindfulness, relaxation, and creativity. Paint, brushes, and canvases will be provided. Consider wearing something you do not mind getting dirty or a smock/cover up.
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You probably already know that certain breathing techniques can trigger your nervous system to relax. But did you now that deep sound vibrations by a soothing instrument can also help you decompress? Sound baths are a meditative practice involving the use of resonant music that can calm your nervous system. Immersive sounds that fill the room and the body aim to help people relax and let go of stress, anxiety, or other worries and concerns. Listening to sound frequencies produced by some instruments can bring your body into a state of relaxation similar to the state that is induced by meditation. People report feeling deeply relaxed after sound baths, which may have health benefits. Join yoga teacher and sound practitioner Malinie Feeney to experience this deep relaxation and stress reliever.
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We will have a healthy lunch and create space for building community with like-minded lawyers and share strategies for building resiliency when practicing law. Bring your problems and share your solutions as we brainstorm ways to make the practice of law a little easier for all of us.
Tickets
Get your tickets now! Limited number of seats available.
Parking
Important: Parking for this venue is street parking on Randolph Street or Irwin Street or at 667 Irwin Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30312 in the parking deck.
We will send out more information to all registered attendees as the date nears.
About the Speakers
Bryan Baer has twenty (20) years of legal experience representing clients in serious and catastrophic personal injury and medical malpractice cases. He has been first chair in more than a dozen twelve-person jury trials on both the plaintiff and defense sides. Recognized as a leader in his legal community, he is frequently asked to speak at legal seminars on trial topics ranging from “Best Practices in Voire Dire” to “Maximizing Damages at Trial” as well as insurance issues such as “Navigating the Insurance Landscape” and “Injury Demands & Negotiations.”
“When I sit down with a client who has been injured or has lost a loved one through the recklessness or negligence of another, I can’t help but think of my wife, Holly, and our children Ellison and Brooks. So when I’m helping my clients cope with the aftermath of a tragedy, I take care of them the way I would want someone to take care of us if tragedy struck our family.” –Attorney Bryan Baer
Nathan Chapman is a founding partner of Kabat Chapman & Ozer LLP and practices labor and employment and complex commercial litigation. Nathan has represented clients in commercial class actions, wage-and-hour class and collective actions, and complex commercial cases involving products liability claims, intellectual property issues, shareholder disputes, breach-of-contract and business tort claims, antitrust and unfair competition claims, restrictive covenants, real estate disputes, employment discrimination, and other complex commercial matters. Nathan has represented a wide array of companies, ranging from start-ups to multinationals, in the telecommunications, cable television, petrochemical, automotive manufacturing, information technology, construction and construction materials, and energy industries. This includes representing clients before state and federal courts, as well as before the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and numerous other state and federal agencies. Nathan has been recognized as a “Rising Star” by Atlanta Magazine.
Nathan earned his undergraduate degree from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he graduated with highest distinction, won the CC Bayley Prize for excellence in History, and played varsity lacrosse. Nathan then attended the Florida State University College of Law, where he served on the Law Review and the Moot Court team. During law school, Nathan completed a judicial externship for the Honorable Robert T. Benton, II, at Florida’s First District Court of Appeal. Nathan graduated from Florida State University College of Law summa cum laude and entered private practice in 2005.
Warren N. Sams III earned his undergraduate degree from Yale University in 1986 and his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1989. He then clerked for the Honorable Neal B. Biggers, Jr. in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi. He has been practicing law in Georgia since 1990. Martindale-Hubbell has awarded him an AV rating, which is their highest rating for practicing attorneys. Super Lawyers Magazine has also designated him a Super Lawyer every year since 2009. Super Lawyers are nominated by their peers and selected by the magazine after a vetting process. In 2010, The National Trial Lawyers named Mr. Sams one of the Top 100 Trial Lawyers.
Mr. Sams has extensive experience in personal injury, construction law/construction defects, and malpractice tort litigation, commercial litigation, and employment disputes. He is admitted to practice in all Georgia courts, in Federal District Courts for the Northern and Middle Districts of Georgia, and in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He has served as lead and co-counsel in trials, arbitrations, and mediations, both in and outside Georgia. In 2010 he tried a wrongful death case that resulted in the largest wrongful death verdict in Gwinnett County history.
Mr. Sams lettered twice on the varsity football team at Yale. He has served on the Association of Yale Alumni's Board of Governors, where he was the Board's legal affairs representative to the University, and he remains involved with alumni affairs.
Dr. Bethany Ketchen, PhD, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with 17 years of service in the Veterans Health Administration. Presently, Dr. Ketchen serves as the Program Director of a residential treatment program at the Atlanta VA HCS that provides wraparound services for Veterans experiencing homelessness and addiction. While not a Veteran herself, she is the daughter of a Vietnam Veteran and a proud Atlanta native. Dr. Ketchen received her academic degrees from Duke University and Georgia State University. She currently holds a faculty appointment as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. Professionally, Dr. Ketchen is passionate about health equity, diversity and inclusion, and women’s health.
Dr. Monique Hunter, PhD, has been a licensed clinical psychologist since 2008 and is the Co-Owner of Harmony Within Psychological Services, LLC. She hold faculty appointments with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory School of Medicine and Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Hunter’s clinical interests include working with adults who are experiencing depression, anxiety, relationship issues, reproduction/infertility concerns, and a variety of other mental health needs. As a wife, mother, and business owner, she is personally invested in promoting the wellbeing of professional women.
Malinie Feeney is a yoga teacher, sound healer and intuitive reader. She is a lifelong student of literature, philosophy and mind-body transformative practices. Knowledge from these studies weave throughout her classes providing students expanded awareness and direct physical experiences that help them become stronger, more grounded, self-confident and empowered.
Malinie received her RYT 200 from YogaRenew, based out of Hoboken, New Jersey in 2020 and RYT 300 from My Vinyasa Practice in 2022. She has been a student herself for over ten years. You can find Malinie teaching vinyasa flow and yin classes in addition to her sound bath offerings.
Malinie started facilitating sound baths in yoga studios, corporate offices and private groups looking to bring sound meditation into people’s lives more regularly. Her sound sessions include crystal alchemy and crystal quartz singing bowls. Each of the bowls are infused with different crystals that connect to the chakras and deeper self. The sound of the singing bowls vibrate through the body allowing you to achieve an inner cleanse and calm throughout your whole being.
Malinie’s vision is to continue holding space for people from all walks of life to slow down, connect to their senses, and become the architects of their own healing. Malinie has been known to put even the most stressed-out lawyers to sleep during a sound bath!
Ms. Sylvia Cross has been a fixture in the Atlanta arts scene for 25 years, except for a brief departure to live in a treehouse in Costa Rica, and in Verona, Italy. She teaches ages toddlers-to-adults in a comprehensive format where your environment complements the art. Classes are held at Sycamore Place Gallery & Studios in Decatur. Call 404-660-9967, or email mssylviacross@gmail.com to register or if you have questions.
You can learn more about Sylvia here.
Our Sponsors
ML Healthcare was established as a way of addressing the critical gap that so often occurs when an injury victim does not have sufficient access to healthcare. We bridge this gap by offering injured clients access to a network of skilled healthcare providers allowing them to receive treatment immediately instead of waiting on their settlements. We have developed an extensive provider network with a wide range of healthcare support and services, including hospitals, diagnostic centers, surgical suites, physical therapists and others — virtually any type of healthcare that might be required to help return the client to pre-injury status. We never charge up-front fees or interest; we are simply paid when the client receives their settlement.
Testimonials
Read testimonials from last year’s attendees:
“This event provided the tools, resources, and community to reframe the way that we work — and in turn, our lives. It helped reinstate the passion I have for the law, while implementing boundaries to be the best lawyer, friend, sister, daughter, and partner I can be. I couldn’t be more grateful to Betty for putting on this phenomenal event and I am so excited to see all of the transformation that occurs for those in attendance in 2024!”
— Morgan G.
“I was lucky enough to attend the Women Lawyers Wellness Summit in 2023 and it was a refreshing, relaxing, and informative experience. We were able to bond over our shared experiences, discuss how we manage our stress, and learn how to do so much more effectively. The support and camaraderie were exactly what I needed! I recommend this event to all women!”
— Winter W.
“Being surrounded by like-minded women lawyers at the wellness program was empowering, enlightening, and therapeutic. I felt comfortable in the space and shared some of my story as well because I felt seen, heard, and appreciated. I highly recommend this program, and I look forward to being a part of many more!”
— Nicole S.