Untangling Fear In Lawyering (in Ourselves And Others)

Lawyers at all stages of their careers grapple with a panoply of fears, such as fears toward mistake-making, faltering during a performance, losing a case or a client, not getting out from under student loan debt, bullying, and transitioning through different career stages. Instead of adhering to cliché messages like “just face your fears” or “fear is a great motivator,” this session will discuss how we can untangle our fears. Instead of pretending fear doesn’t exist, or trying to “fake it till we make it” (which doesn’t work!), let’s open up about the reality of fears in the legal profession, and then arm ourselves with tools for cultivating a culture of fortitude.

About the Speaker:

Professor Heidi K. Brown is a graduate of The University of Virginia School of Law, a law professor at Brooklyn Law School, and a former litigator in the construction industry. She served as Of Counsel with Moore & Lee, LLP, a boutique litigation firm with offices in the Washington, D.C., area and New York City, where she handled litigation and arbitration of complex construction contract and building development disputes. Previously, she was an associate at the Manhattan firm of Thacher, Proffitt & Wood and at the Washington, D.C., area firm of Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald, LLP. Professor Brown is the author of Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy (ABA 2019), The Introverted Lawyer: A Seven-Step Journey Toward Authentically Empowered Advocacy (ABA 2017), and a two-volume legal writing book series entitled The Mindful Legal Writer. Professor Brown champions the importance of openly discussing stressors, anxieties, and fears in lawyering, and helping quiet and anxious law students and lawyers become profoundly effective advocates, in their authentic voices.