Meditation Retreat for Law Professionals and Students

April 20 - 23, 2006
(Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon)

Spirit Rock Meditation Center
Woodacre, California

MCLE Credits for ethics and elimination of bias
(5 hours)

Mindfulness meditation can provide a practical tool for busy legal professionals to enhance their law practice, quiet the mind, increase clarity and awareness, and restore a more peaceful balance to their lives. This program will include meditation instruction and practice, and will explore the interplay between contemplative and legal practices and the role meditation can play in enriching the professional lives of legal professionals. The program is appropriate for beginners and experienced meditators.

The leadership for the retreat is comprised of senior meditation teachers, and lawyers with substantial experience in both law and meditation practice.

Cost: Sliding scale of $245 - $395, which includes meals and accommodations.

Scholarships are available for students, public interest professionals, people of color, and low-income.

Download the registration froms online:
at Spirit Rock

For more information:
Please contact Doug Chermak, Law Program Coordinator at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society : douglaschermak@yahoo.com
(510) 597-1650

or, visit www.contemplativemind.org/programs/law

above, walking meditation at a past Law Retreat.

Praise for past law and meditation programs:

“The value of the Law Program cannot be overstated. Those of us who are living the principles of a contemplative practice, trying to integrate those values and practices into our daily professional lives, do so with the knowledge that the Law program is there to guide and sustain us. . . . Knowing that you are devoting yourselves to contemplative law practice gives me confidence, a comfort that there is a solid base supporting our work.”

- Rita Pollak, Attorney
Goldenberg, Walters, Lipson, Pollak & Popkewicz

“The law program has affected my life both personally and professionally more than any other experience in my eight years of full-time law teaching. . . . Over the last two years, I've developed a class on emotion and negotiation that uses weekly meditation exercises, and I've used a few [meditation exercises] in my introductory class. Perhaps I'd have been brave enough to try this on my own, but the program -- and the connections I've made with other law teachers in it -- has probably helped enormously.”

- Clark Freshman
Law Professor, University of Miami School of Law

“Since early 1999, I have been introducing mindfulness practices to law students, lawyers, and mediators across North America and in Europe, through writing, teaching, and training. None of this would have happened but for the Law Program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, which allowed me to attend several "Contemplative Law" retreats, provided me with a Contemplative Practice Fellowship to introduce meditation into a law school course, and supported my efforts in many other ways. The Law Program has provided legitimacy, as well as brave, thoughtful leadership and sustenance for me and many others.”

- Leonard L. Riskin,
Law Professor, University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law

“The Law Program has helped me to be a more patient lawyer. I have found that the development of mindfulness has helped me slow down and listen to my clients more closely and respond from a more sincere place. When you can really hear your client's concern, the matter becomes much more than "what is the legal rule". I find that I have developed closer and richer relationships with my clients as a result of incorporating mindfulness practice into my work and life. The retreats have been invaluable to me. Not only have I become connected to a network of interesting, caring professionals, but I leave the retreats with a renewed commitment not to let my work take over my life, but instead I have been given a practice that allows my life and work to blend together in a much more harmonious fashion.”

- Paige Parisi
Attorney, Hale & Dorr

“The Law Program has put me in touch again with the deep spiritual river which too often runs underground and unseen in my life. The waters of the river bring new vibrancy, color and freshness to my work and personal life.”

- Lonnie Powers
Executive Director, MA Legal Assistance Corp.