Lawyers as Healers

In this episode of Lawyers as Healers, I’m joined by J. Kim Wright, author, leadership coach, legal innovator, and one of the guiding voices of the global Integrative Law Movement.This conversation is particularly personal for me. Kim coached my wife and me during a significant transition in our legal practice and lives. Her work helped me recognize that there were other ways to practice law—and ultimately helped lay the foundation for this podcast.Rather than revisit Kim’s remarkable career, I wanted to explore what she has learned from decades of helping lawyers rediscover who they are and build practices that reflect their values.We talk about the professional masks lawyers wear, the fear of being different, and how even small acts of authenticity can create meaningful change. Sometimes it starts with something as simple as replacing a conference table with comfortable chairs, changing how we dress, or giving ourselves permission to show up differently.Kim also offers a beautiful explanation of Integrative Law: not simply a collection of alternative legal practices, but an internal shift that begins when we reconnect with our values and allow them to shape how we practice.We explore trauma within the legal system, the importance of community, what lawyers can learn from actually listening to their clients, and why the adversarial system still has an important place in certain circumstances.And because Kim was my own coach, we spend time discussing something close to my heart: navigating that uncomfortable space where you know your old way of practicing no longer fits, but you have no idea what comes next.At its heart, this conversation is about finding the courage to be yourself, remembering why you became a lawyer, and discovering what becomes possible when your professional life reflects the person you actually are.In this episode, we discuss:Why lawyers struggle to step outside traditional professional identitiesThe fear of being different and the vulnerability of authenticityHow small changes can transform a legal practiceWhat Integrative Law actually meansWhy personal transformation must accompany systemic changeTrauma, moral injury, and the adversarial systemThe importance of community in creating lasting changeCoaching lawyers through uncertainty and transitionCreating a personal touchstone to stay connected to your valuesWhat it truly means for lawyers to become healers of human conflictLearn more about Kim's work:J. Kim Wright — Coaching, writing, and other resources:https://jkimwright.com/The Integrative Law Movement:https://www.integrativelaw.com/Kim's books include:Lawyers as PeacemakersLawyers as ChangemakersTrauma-Informed Law (co-editor)Guest: J. Kim Wright — Author, coach, legal innovator, and Integrative Law pioneer.Host: Dave Albrechta — Mediator, coach, recovering litigator, and host of Lawyers as Healers.Interested in coaching to transform your own practice? Email [email protected].

In this episode of Lawyers as Healers, I’m joined by Holly Hedley, a specialist health, employment, privacy, and human rights lawyer from New Zealand.Holly is the founder of Dawn Legal and is completing a Borrin Foundation Women Leaders in Law Fellowship exploring trauma-informed legal practice for Aotearoa New Zealand.Our conversation explores Holly’s move from large-firm practice into her own practice, where she has more freedom to approach legal work in a compassionate, restorative, and human-centered way.We talk about gender expectations in law, parenting, birth trauma, vicarious trauma, and the often invisible weight lawyers carry from the work they do. Holly shares a powerful story about being stopped in her tracks by a memory from a difficult case while walking with her infant son — a moment that led her to ask deeper questions about trauma, legal work, and what lawyers absorb over time.A major theme of this conversation is that lawyers are often expected to be detached, rational, and unemotional. But that does not mean we are unaffected. Holly challenges the idea that good lawyering requires us to ignore our own humanity or the humanity of the people we serve.We also discuss what trauma-informed legal practice can look like in practical terms: understanding boundaries, knowing when to refer clients to other supports, creating space between difficult meetings, using language more carefully, and asking one simple question before sending a letter, submission, or judgment:How does this land?At its heart, this episode is about practicing law with clarity, compassion, and power — without pretending lawyers have to become therapists or stop being lawyers.As Holly puts it, maybe the invitation is simply to find the human way of lawyering that is truly yours.In this episode, we discuss:Holly’s transition from large-firm practice to Dawn Legaltrauma-informed legal practice in New Zealandgender expectations, parenting, and law firm culturewhy trauma may appear in every area of legal practicethe myth of the detached lawyersupervision, reflection, and better support for lawyersboundaries between legal work and therapeutic workwriting with heart, clarity, and powerLearn more about Holly’s work:Dawn Legal:https://www.dawnlegal.co.nz/Trauma-Informed Legal Practice project:https://www.dawnlegal.co.nz/trauma-informed-legal-practiceBorrin Foundation Fellowship:https://www.borrinfoundation.nz/women-leaders-in-law-fellowship-for-holly-hedley/Heart-Centered Judgment:https://www.qlsproctor.com.au/2025/08/nz-judge-writes-letter-to-child-as-judgment/GuestHolly HedleyFounder, Dawn LegalSpecialist health, employment, privacy, and human rights lawyerHostDave AlbrechtaMediator, coach, recovering litigator, and host of Lawyers as HealersInterested in coaching to transform your practice? Email [email protected]

In this episode of Lawyers as Healers, I’m joined by Gina Steele, a lawyer-turned-coach who helps attorneys move from overwhelm and exhaustion toward fulfillment, energy, and meaningful impact in their careers.Before becoming a coach, Gina practiced law for nearly two decades, including work in patent litigation and patent prosecution. Her own experience with burnout eventually led to a serious health crisis — and then to a deeper exploration of mindfulness, neuroscience, nervous system regulation, and what it actually takes for lawyers to thrive.This conversation explores the connection between lawyer well-being and the larger role lawyers play in society. Gina makes a powerful point early in the conversation: we need to heal lawyers so lawyers can become better healers.We talk about how law school and legal practice often train lawyers into scarcity, competition, stress, and constant fight-or-flight. When lawyers are dysregulated, exhausted, and overwhelmed, they lose access to empathy, creativity, collaboration, and the fuller perspective needed to help clients make good decisions.Gina also shares practical tools for lawyers, including mindfulness, breathwork, movement, EFT tapping, orienting practices, and the importance of building regular habits that help regulate the nervous system.We also discuss the neuroscience of civility, why professionalism cannot just be a vague instruction to “be nice,” and how lawyers can learn to see conflict not as a fight, but as a call for collaborative problem-solving.At its heart, this episode is about why lawyer well-being is not separate from the future of law.It may be the foundation of it.In this episode, we discuss:Gina’s path from law to coachinglaw school, scarcity, and competitionburnout, stress, and Gina’s health crisismindfulness and nervous system regulationwhy exhausted lawyers lose access to empathythe neuroscience of civilityfight, flight, freeze, and legal practicehow lawyers affect the nervous systems of clients and colleaguestools lawyers can use to regulate themselveswhy conflict can be reframed as collaborative problem-solvinghow coaching can help lawyers reconnect with meaning, values, and impactLearn more about Gina’s work:Steele Leadership:https://steeleadership.com/Email:[email protected] SteeleLawyer, coach, and founder of Steele LeadershipHostDave AlbrechtaMediator, coach, recovering litigator, and host of Lawyers as Healers.

In this episode of Lawyers as Healers, I’m joined by Nanci Smith, an attorney licensed in Vermont and New York and author of Untangling Your Marriage: A Guide to Collaborative Divorce.Nanci’s work focuses on promoting peaceful divorce practices and helping people move through one of the most painful transitions of their lives with more dignity, clarity, and humanity.Our conversation explores Nanci’s path from traditional litigation into collaborative divorce, including the moment she began questioning whether being known as a “barracuda” was really the identity she wanted as a lawyer. We talk about the emotional weight of family law, the limits of the adversarial system, and why divorce is not only a legal process, but also a financial and deeply emotional one.Nanci explains how collaborative divorce works, why it creates a different kind of container for conflict, and how lawyers, mental health professionals, and financial neutrals can work together to support families without immediately escalating to court.We also discuss lawyer identity, trust, ego, fear, apology, and the courage it takes to step away from the warrior model of lawyering.At its heart, this episode asks what might happen if more lawyers saw themselves not only as advocates, but as facilitators, peacemakers, and healers of human conflict.In this episode, we discuss:Nanci’s path into law and family lawthe moment she began questioning the “barracuda” identitycollaborative divorce as an alternative to litigationwhy divorce involves legal, financial, and emotional realitiesthe role of mental health professionals and financial neutralslawyer ego, identity, and resistance to changewhy people in conflict often need to be heard more than they need to fightthe power of apology, remorse, and acknowledgmentwhat gives Nanci hope about collaborative practiceLearn more about Nanci’s work:Nanci Smith Law:https://nancismithlaw.com/Book:Untangling Your Marriage: A Guide to Collaborative DivorceGuestNanci SmithAttorney, collaborative divorce practitioner, and author of Untangling Your MarriageHostDave AlbrechtaMediator, coach, recovering litigator, and host of Lawyers as Healers.

In this episode of Lawyers as Healers, I’m joined by Hillary Wandler, a lawyer, law professor, and director of the Veterans Advocacy Clinic at the University of Montana’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law. Hillary teaches legal analysis, legal writing, and veterans disability law, and her work sits at a powerful intersection: helping students learn the traditional tools of legal analysis while also asking how lawyers can remain connected to compassion, humanity, and the people they serve.Our conversation begins with Hillary’s path into law, including her early pull toward advocacy, her experience feeling like she had gotten on a professional “train” that was difficult to get off, and the moments that helped her realize traditional litigation was not fully aligned with who she was or why she entered the profession.We also talk about the culture of legal practice, the pressure to always be available, and the way the profession often moralizes efficiency and responsiveness. One of Hillary’s central reflections is that some things may not be efficient — but they are still important.A major part of the conversation explores Hillary’s work with Cognitively-Based Compassion Training, or CBCT®, a compassion training program developed at Emory University, and how that work has influenced her teaching, legal writing, and thinking about the formation of future lawyers.Hillary shares how she has brought more integrative and human-centered approaches into her legal writing classroom, including helping students compare a traditional client advice letter with one that is more compassionate, collaborative, and values-centered.We also discuss generative AI, legal education, and why the rise of AI may force lawyers to ask an essential question: If technology can do more of the technical work, where do human lawyers actually bring value? For Hillary and me, the answer kept coming back to the same place: Our humanity.In this episode, we discuss:Hillary’s path into law and legal educationthe professional “train” of legal achievementthe pressure to always be availablewhy the legal profession moralizes efficiencynecessary pain versus unnecessary pain in lawcompassion in legal writing and client communicationCognitively-Based Compassion Trainingintegrative law in the classroomgenerative AI and the future value of human lawyerswhat gives Hillary hope about the next generation of lawyersLearn more about Hillary’s work:University of Montana profile:https://umimpact.umt.edu/en/persons/hillary-wandler/University of Montana — Alexander Blewett III School of Law:https://www.umt.edu/law/CBCT® — Cognitively-Based Compassion Training through Emory University:https://compassion.emory.edu/cbct-compassion-training/GuestHillary WandlerProfessor of Law and Director of the Veterans Advocacy ClinicAlexander Blewett III School of Law, University of MontanaHostDave AlbrechtaMediator, coach, recovering litigator, and host of Lawyers as Healers.