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1. An Overview of Mindfulness Meditation (a.ka. insight meditation, vipassana meditation).

   1. What it is. A method of deliberate, moment-to-moment attention, developed by the Buddha some 2500 years ago in India, which has become popular in the West in recent years. It is practiced by people from many religious traditions and in secular settings.

   2. How it works. Practitioner develops the ability to concentrate, then learns to observe, without judging, her bodily sensations, emotions, and thoughts and the operation of her mind. Learns this in meditation, then applies it in everyday life.

   3. Potential outcomesBin General. Relief of stress; development of self-awareness, empathy, compassion, equanimity, happiness; clarification of values; improvement in ability to concentrate and to deal with pain.

   4. Where, how and why it is taught.

      1. Insight meditation for the general public: Generally through non-profit organizations that offer retreats and other educational programs.

      2. Health care: E.g., The Mindfulness-Based Stress-Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

      3. Athletics: E.g., The Chicago Bulls and L.A. Lakers basketball teams.

      4. Prison: Many prisons and jails across the U.S.

      5. Corporate sector: E.g., Monsanto.

      6. Higher education. Many college and university courses, generally supported by Contemplative Practice Fellowships from American Council of Learned Societies. Several medical schools. E.g., University of Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine.

      7. In connection with Christian and Jewish traditions.

2. Current Uses in Law Practice and Legal Education.

   1. Law Practice

      1. Hale and Dorr, Boston, has held several extensive Mindfulness-Based Stress reduction programs for its lawyers. Nutter, McClennan & Fish, Boston, currently offers mindfulness programs for its lawyers.

      2. Mindfulness meditation instruction for lawyers has been offered by the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, CUNY Law, University of Missouri-Columbia, and other organizations.

      3. CLE. CLE programs have been offered by the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, CUNY Law School, and the Iowa Peace Institute. One day program for Directors of Lawyer Assistance Programs (fall 2002).

   2. Law Schools

      1. Retreats for Yale and Columbia Law School students.

      2. Law school courses that include mindfulness meditation at Suffolk, Denver, Miami, Missouri-Columbia, and Hastings Law Schools.

      3. On campus non-credit programs. E.g., Harvard Law School (six week program beginning Feb. 2002). The University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law and the University of North Carolina School of Law have twice offered non-credit Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs to J.D. students.

      4. Brief programs at law schools for faculty or students. I have led such programs at Harvard, Marquette, Touro and Cardozo (Yeshiva) Law Schools.

   3. Negotiation training. Day-long workshop on Awareness and Negotiation.

   4. Mediation training and Education.

      1. Advanced mediation training based on mindfulness offered through Southern Methodist University, the Iowa Peace Institute in, and Pepperdine University Institute for Dispute Resolution in Malibu, and University of Missouri-Columbia. Spring 2000 graduate course on Mediation Mindsets and Mindfulness through SMU Graduate Program in Dispute Resolution.

      2. Workshops on Mindfulness in Mediation and Lawyering. For Indiana Supreme Court CLE Office, Pepperdine University School of Law.

3. Potential (Special) Benefits to Mediators and Lawyers

   1. Decreased stress and increased happiness: Contribute to feeling betterand performing better in general, especially in complex tasks. Greater satisfaction in work.

   2. Enhanced self-awareness helps mediator, negotiator or lawyer.

      1. Listen better.

      2. Notice internal processes, such as tensions, habitual reactions, mind-sets, and limiting assumptions (such as adversarial perspectives).

      3. Respond instead of react; choose most appropriate perspectives and behaviors. This enhances likelihood of adopting and implementing interest-based approaches to negotiation and facilitative-broad approaches to mediation.

4. Potential Concerns

   1. That mindfulness could undermine the "lawyer's standard philosophical map" or otherwise impair lawyers' abilities to carry out adversarial activities that may appear essential to lawyering.

   2. That mindfulness could enable some lawyers to more easily carry out increasingly adversarial moves.

         

      RESOURCES

      Organizations and Websites

      The Cambridge Insight Meditation Center offers a wide variety of insight meditation-related programs. 331 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02139. http://www.cimc.info. Tel: 617/441-9038.

      The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, 199 Main St., 3rd Floor, Northampton, MA 01060. The Center's law program has sponsored a series of insight meditation retreats for lawyers and law students. For information, contact Mirabai Bush, executive director, or Heidi Norton, law program director, at 413/268-9275; email: heidi@contemplativemind.org. http://contemplativemind.org

      The Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School provides training in mindfulness for a wide range of organizations, operates a stress and pain reduction clinic, and conducts research on the effects of mindfulness practices. Saki Santorelli, Director, Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 55 Lake Avenue North, Worcester, MA 01655; Tel: 508/856-5493; Fax: 508/856-1977. www.umassmed.edu/cfm

      Forest Way Insight Meditation Center, P.O. Box 491, Ruckersville, VA 22968; Tel: 804/990-9300; Fax: 804/990-9301; Email: forestway@cstone.net. Web site: www.forestway.org

      Initiative on Mindfulness, Law and Dispute Resolution, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, www.law.missouri.edu/csdr/mindfulness.htm.

      Insight Meditation Society, 1230 Pleasant Street, Barre, MA 01005; Tel: 978/355-4378. Offers insight meditation retreats. www.dharma.org

      Mid-America Dharma Group, 717 Hilltop Drive, Columbia, MO 65201; Tel 573/817-9942; email: ginny@midamericadharma.org. Includes information about retreats and sitting groups across the U.S. and Canada.

      Spirit Rock Meditation Center, 5000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, P.O. Box 169 Woodacre, CA 94973; Tel: 415/488-0164; Fax: 415/488-017.

      Website maintained by Steven Keeva, author of the book Transforming Practices: Finding Joy and Satisfaction in the Legal Life. www.transformingpractices.com.

      Vipassana Meditation Centers operated by S.N. Goenka and his assistants around the world, www.dhamma.org.

       

      Books and Articles (* Means highly recommended introductory explanation of mindfulness)

      Mark Epstein, Thoughts without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective (Basic Books 1995).

      Mark Epstein, Going to Pieces without Falling Apart: A Buddhist Perspective on Wholeness (Broadway 1998).

      Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More than IQ (Bantam 1995).

      Daniel Goleman, Working with Emotional Intelligence (Bantam 1998).

      Joseph Goldstein, Insight Meditation: The Practice of Freedom (Shambhala 1994).*

      Henepola Gunaratana, Mindfulness in Plain English (Wisdom 1992). (Highly recommended forr basic introduction to mindfulness.)

      Phil Jackson & Hugh Delehanty, Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior (Hyperion 1995).

      Phil Jackson & Charley Rosen, More than a Game (2001).

      Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Mind to Face Stress, Pain & Illness (Delta 1990).

      Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness in Everyday Life (Hyperion 1994). (Highly recommended for basic introduction to mindfulness.)

      Steven Keeva, Transforming Practices: Bringing Joy and Satisfaction to the Legal Life (Transaction Books, 1999).

      Leonard L. Riskin, The Contemplative Lawyer: On the Potential Contributions of Mindfulness Meditation to Law Students and Lawyers and their Clients, 7 Harvard Negotiation Law Review 1-66 (June 2002) (the centerpiece of a Symposium on Mindfulness in Law and ADR). A webcast of the live symposium held at Harvard Law School in March 2002 is available at www.pon.harvard.edu/news/2002/riskin_mindfulness.php3.

      Zindel V. Segal, J. Mark G. Williams & John D. Teasdale, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse (Guilford 2002).

      Breath Sweeps Mind: A First Guide to Meditation Practice (Jean Smith, ed., Tricycle 1999).

      Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now (New World Library 1999).

      Audiotapes and Videotapes

      The Dharma Seed Tape Library, www.dharmaseed.org/, offers a variety of audiotapes and videotapes, including some intended for beginners.

      Mindfulness Meditation Practice Tapes with Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli are available through www.umassmed.edu/cfm

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      ^*Copyright © 2003 Leonard L. Riskin. This draws heavily on Leonard L. Riskin, The Contemplative Lawyer: On the Potential Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation to Law Students, Lawyers, and their Clients, 7 HARV. NEGOT. L. REV. 1-66 (2002), which appeared in a symposium on Mindfulness in ADR and Law. A webcast of the live symposium, held at Harvard Law School in Mar. 2002, is available at www.pon.harvard.edu/news/2002/riskin_mindfulness.php3. For a collection of materials on this topic, see the webpage for the Initiative on Mindfulness in Law and Dispute Resolution, www.law.missouri.edu/csdr/mindfulness.htm.