Lawyers Guide Offers New Path to Well-Being
News related to:Practising Law Institute (PLI) · 2 min read
NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- As lawyers continue to contend with high levels of stress and isolation, efforts to improve well-being in the legal profession have often focused on programs and managing symptoms. However, efforts by Practising Law Institute (PLI) have taken a different approach, examining the deeper factors that shape how lawyers experience their work and manage well-being.
The Practice of Being Well: A Lawyer’s Guide to Health, Purpose, and Connection, authored by Denise A. Robinson, offers a fresh perspective for lawyers and law students alike. The book is organized around three core ideas: identity, embodiment, and connection. Robinson explores the risks of allowing professional identity to define one’s entire sense of self, delves into the body-mind connection and what lawyers lose when a profession centered on intellectual performance overlooks the body, and considers the essential role of meaningful human connection in health, well-being, and effective legal practice.
The book covers a range of topics, including the importance of untangling professional identity from a broader sense of self, understanding the body-mind connection and its role in legal practice, building meaningful social connection in an often-isolating profession, examining long-standing assumptions about the separation of mind and body, and considering what artificial intelligence reveals about the distinctly human dimensions of lawyering.
Robinson’s work is part of PLI’s Mindfulness for Lawyers series, which is part of The Well-Rounded Lawyer video anthology. She also served as faculty for a PLI CLE program exploring the intersection of well-being and belonging that earned PLI the Association of Continuing Legal Education’s 2024 Frank V. Harris Award of Professional Excellence. Robinson is also the author of Restoring Power: Recharging Strategies for the Everyday Change Agent.
Founded in 1933, Practising Law Institute (PLI) is a nonprofit learning organization dedicated to keeping attorneys and other professionals at the forefront of knowledge and expertise. PLI provides accredited continuing legal and professional education programs delivered by more than 4,000 volunteer faculty, including top experts across practice areas. Additionally, PLI publishes a comprehensive library of treatises, course handbooks, answer books, and journals, also available through the PLI PLUS online platform and app. The Institute is based in New York, with an office and Conference Center in San Francisco.
The Institute’s mission is a commitment to the access to justice community. The Institute’s work is supported by a dedicated team of professionals and volunteers who are committed to advancing the legal profession and improving access to justice.