Lawyering & Wise Livelihood

Sometimes I wonder if “wise livelihood” is possible in the law. Can we support ourselves and our organizations and not deal in intoxicants, poisons, weapons, or humans…given the many nuanced interpretations of those words? Including the ways we might, from some perspective we can’t quite see, inadvertently be dealing in one of those ways?

And can we ever completely do no harm in our adversary system? In our divided country? Our impacted world?

Maybe. And then I wonder, what if no one does that perfectly, but everyone stays committed? That alone feels like a huge deal. A win. One that could, maybe, turn the tide. And if it doesn’t, then at least at the end we’ll be able to say, “I pointed my work; pointed my heart and mind, towards wisdom.” Which is, by itself, a great thing.

Happy Lunar New Year. Ramadan Mubarak. Have a reflective Lent.

Transcript

So hi everybody, This is Judy and it's Wake Up Call 520. It's nice to be back. And we had really a wonderful opening intensive for the 2026 Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training. I see some of our folks here, Which is very sweet, At least a couple. Yeah, With this cohort, It means that total students through the program is, Over the last 10 years, Is just over 100. And so it's a big adventure and amazing to be supporting all these legal professionals out in our worthy profession. Okay, So we're exploring the Noble Eightfold Path as a way to cultivate a kind of ongoing understanding of how to live, How to live and work with wisdom and compassion in these times. And we've looked at wise effort, Mindfulness, Concentration, Communication, Action. So the next step is wise livelihood. And I'll just start with a story. I have an old law school friend, Longtime D. C. Lawyer, Managing partner at his firm. We hadn't talked in a really long time. Actually, Since my daughter and I went to D. C. For the Women's March. And before that, Did a program for his firm. But, You know, Despite not having talked, This is somebody who I really love, Went through law school together. Nothing he could say would change that. Which was good. And good to remember because. So we did a catch up over Zoom. Just had, You know, This. I was wondering if I would learn anything cringy. You know, That happens sometimes. And so we reminisced. Family's all good. Grateful for that. Talked about work. And he mentioned that his firm represents the Trump Organization. And so I had a moment. Right. I felt really judgy. I want to say, How could you? You know, And I'm sure all of that showed on my face because he laughed. And he said in this very good natured way of an old 40 year old, 40 year friend. Right. And he said, Yeah, Half my partners felt just like you do looking at my face. And the other half were focused on the big retainer. And here we are. Right. So we're all in this together. You know, We all living in a world trying to get along, Trying to love one another. Remembering we're just here for a minute and not to cause any harm. And not so much reminding one another not to cause harm. Right. It wasn't really my place, But not causing it ourselves. I mean, Unless you're in a position to be offering the teachings. So I feel like live wise livelihood is this really interesting aspiration for a lawyer living in this moment with all of that in mind at the beginning of Q2 of the 21st century. Right. We're a month and a half in to Q2. So wise livelihood includes these injunctions or we could call them aspirations, But they're framed as injunctions. Don't deal in intoxicants. Don't deal in poisons. Don't deal in weapons. Don't deal in humans. Don't cause harm. And the question that I keep having and I was having it as I was writing this is how do we live a life in the law in this moment and not do any of that? You know, How do how do we not deal in intoxicants just for starters? Right. Intoxicants meaning alcohol and substances. Intoxicants meaning social media, News media, Entertainment in some forms. I once was interviewing, Got an offer from a firm that did ABC work in California. So if anyone doesn't know, That's the California Alcoholic Beverages Commission and turned it down for a few reasons. One of which was that sense in the body of no, I don't think I can do that, You know. But what if someone had offered me a job at Twitter when it was Twitter and very new or Facebook or more realistically? And this is actually very realistic, Although it hasn't happened. What if one of those their legal departments reached out to Warrior One and wanted a mindfulness program? Or frankly, What if the ABC reached out to Warrior One and wanted a mindfulness program? OK, So no dealing in poisons. Again, This big view of what poisons are could mean anything from pesticides to medicines, Which are poison for some people to get drugs and alcohol. Certain kinds of media could be considered poison, You know, On and on. And what would it mean to be offered a job in that space? Or for a person or a company in one of those spaces to want to bring business to your firm? Or for one of them to want a mindfulness program? And with weapons, You know, Same thing. Can we represent someone or some entity that deals in weapons or a component of weapons? And what are weapons? Arms or weapons? That's clear. Do I have time to tell this story? So my first husband's family were munitions makers in Hungary before the Second World War and also Jews. And because of that, They were not murdered. Because of that, They were able to get out. And my daughter exists because of that. And so it's the world karma. It's so complicated. And would I take the NRA as a client? No. If I were a lawyer. But if they called me and wanted a mindfulness program? Absolutely. Absolutely. Because I might hope it would help. Right. So, Again, You know, Dealing in humans. Full stop. No. Right. Full stop. No. But then again, You know, How far do we take it? Human trafficking, Of course. What about spaces where humans are commoditized or where humans are objectified? Right. And if those are online spaces, What about representing the domains that support the sites? Or the people who sit on the boards and control the domains? Or the politicians who vote against more stringent regulations? It's really an interesting investigation, I think. And then do no harm, Which is covered by wise action. But for me, It's always worth circling back because I can't consider it too closely or too often. I'm working in mindfulness, In the law, And still asking myself all the time, Am I causing direct harm? And also, What about indirect harm? Right. Is there any indirect harm being caused by my hobbies, My investments? Right. So there's two practices that can help with this inquiry. And I love these two practices. They're actually one practice. They're called the guardians of the world. Hiri and otapah. And hiri, H-I-R-I, Is that sense we can notice if we're being mindful of, Uh-oh, I better not go there. I better not do that. I better not say that. That would cause harm. And we all know that sense in the body if we just take a minute and it's like, Uh, Right? So hiri guards against that. We notice it, And we take another path. And, You know, In doing that, Then we're supporting ourselves in the big decisions, Too, Like about wise livelihood, What space I want to work in. And then otapah is that sense of, Oh, No, I just did or said that thing. Now what? Now what's going to happen? So it's considered a sense of dread. And it arises to remind us to also shift course, Also to apologize, To ask for forgiveness. And it's contextual in the sense that I might make a choice in theory that seems fine. And then in the context of the moment or the cultural context of the moment, It's not okay. And so we're listening to hiri and otapah all the time, And that's really helpful in terms of the ethical decisions that we're making, Right? And just the last thing I'll say is these aspirations of wise livelihood, They're framed as absolutes, Right? No dealing in intoxicants, Poisons, Weapons, Human, No causing harm. And I think of mindfulness as adding in the discerning wisdom, Right, And reminding us to tap into what's internal and what we know about what's wise and also how much we care, Right? And to work with hiri and work with otapah, That sense of shame, That sense of dread. And ultimately, You know, To ask ourselves throughout what could be a very long career, Will this choice lead to peace or will it lead to suffering? And then make the choice to forge ahead only when it will lead to peace. Okay, So let's sit. So finding a comfortable posture, Whatever will support you today. And let's just bring the attention first to the body. How is the body doing? And maybe there's a little adjustment that you want to make before coming to stillness, I'm going to do that. And then seeing if you can locate the sensation of the breath at either the nostrils, The rising and falling of the chest, Or the filling and emptying of the belly. The sensation of the breath at one of those three places. And then just this very kind invitation to come back to the breath, To bring the attention to the breath and to rest there. Take a refuge there. And whenever the mind wanders, Or you notice, If you're gone, You're gone. But when you notice, Just making that choice, The choice that comes from wisdom, The wisdom of knowing the benefit of training the mind, And also compassion. And caring about yourself. Make that choice to come back, Bring the attention back to the breath. Reaching out a kind hand to the wandering mind and just encouraging it back to the breath. Good to be with you today. Take good care. Be safe out there. I'll see you next Thursday.