Actionable Steps for Balancing Well-Being and Legal Success
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The legal profession has been grappling with the issue of lawyer well-being for a while now. Unfortunately, too many lawyers are still experiencing chronic stress and burnout resulting in high rates of substance abuse and depression. It is essential to acknowledge the importance of lawyer well-being and take actionable steps towards it. Healthy and happy lawyers provide better legal services to their clients, which improves their satisfaction and trust in the legal system.
In today’s episode, hosts Christine Bilbrey and Jamie Moore welcome Bree Buchanan, Senior Advisor at Krill Strategies, to discuss well-being strategies for lawyers.
Bree Buchanan, JD, MSF, was a founding co-chair of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being and is a co-author of its groundbreaking 2017 report, The Path to Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change. From 2020 to 2023, she served as board president and inaugural executive director of the Institute for Well-Being in Law. Prior to this, Ms. Buchanan served as chair of the ABA Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs (2017-2020). She is currently a member of the newly formed Lawyer Well-Being Committee of the International Bar Association. As Director of the Texas Lawyers Assistance Program from 2013 to 2018, she worked with individual lawyers experiencing these issues, and with legal employers who were seeking resources and support for their staff. Her tenure with that program followed a two-decade legal career which included positions as a litigator, lobbyist, and law professor. She is now Senior Advisor with Krill Strategies, Inc., providing consultation and training on issues related to lawyer well-being and impairment for major legal employers.
Praised for her warm presentation style and engaging presence, Ms. Buchanan is a frequent speaker for international and national law-related organizations, as well as global law firms on strategies for lawyer well-being and impairment. In 2018, she was awarded the “Excellence in Legal Community Leadership Award” by Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation. Ms. Buchanan is co-host of the podcast, The Path to Well-Being Law, and has shared her own story of recovery as a featured guest on podcasts in the United States, Canada and the U.K. Ms. Buchanan’s writing has appeared in Law Practice Today, Judicature, The American Lawyer, and Family Lawyer Magazine, as well as Lawyer Health and Wellbeing: How the Legal Profession is Tackling Stress and Creating Resiliency (Ark Group, 2020). In 2018, she graduated from the Seminary of the Southwest with a Masters in Spiritual Formation, where she honed a deep interest in the intrinsic link between meaningful work and personal well-being, as well as in assisting individuals with vocational discernment. Based in Austin, Texas, and Eugene, Oregon, Ms. Buchanan tends to her own well-being by engaging regularly in hiking, cycling, weightlifting, and being willing to ask for help when she needs it.
Bree Buchanan can be reached at bree@prkrill.com; 512-797-6118.
This podcast has been approved by The Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Department for 1.0 hour of General CLE credit including 1.0 hour of Mental Health and Wellness CLE credit. Course # 7534.
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