Lawyers: Leading with Integrity

Stella Rabaut, Lawyers: Leading with Integrity, Washington State Bar Association, (October 2013)
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Summary

Ms. Rabaut suggests that lawyer leadership work begins with inner personal work that helps the legal profession evolve into a more conscious, creative and collaborative practice:

• Consciousness — undertaking mindfulness exercises helps lawyers feel and perform better, derive and deliver more satisfaction, and relieve suffering in themselves and others.
• Creativity — viewing law as a healing profession turns adversaries into healers, provocateurs into peacemakers, entrepreneurs into service providers.
• Collaboration — shifting from an adversarial and competitive stance to one of collaboration and problem-solving for their clients can achieve more satisfying results.

She advocates for lawyers to integrate the rational and logical skills of the head with the reflective, imaginative, and relational skills of the heart. Among the practical behaviors to engender this integration, she suggests that lawyers establish time for reflection, time for pursuing clarity about underlying values, and time for constantly reassessing their actions and deeper purpose.