The Burned Out Lawyer: Recognition and Prevention Strategies in the Post-COVID World

If there is one word we heard during our journey through the pandemic, and continue to hear more than any other term as we navigate the Post-Covid "new normal" world, it's "burnout." But what is burnout? What does it look like and feel like? More importantly, what can we do to prevent the normal stress and "lawyer anxiety" so common in our profession from developing into the physically and emotionally draining state known as burnout? The course aims to answer these questions, and more.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify the early warning signs of impairment in lawyers, with special emphasis on stress and burnout, which are particularly prevalent among members of the legal profession

2. Explore stress reactions, both physical and psychological, that lawyers exhibit, and the difference between healthy stress and distress, with emphasis on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

3. Examine guidelines for a "master plan", including realistic prevention strategies that work

4. Review intervention strategies for approaching a colleague that may be impaired