Why An Unconference Makes Sense For Lawyers
At an unconference, participants gather around a theme or very broad topic, and it is perfect for lawyers.
On Friday, April 29th, 80 women lawyers from all walks of life, from Biglaw to solo, gathered to have difficult, yet necessary conversations at the Shape the Law unconference. The theme was wellness, wealth and wisdom.
How often do you get to connect with lawyers from all walks of life who share similar issues and have conversations about those issues? My guess is, not very often. This has been a source of frustration for me for many years. I’d meet lawyers and they would share their struggles, challenges and issues but there wasn’t a setting where we could gather and have deep, meaningful, authentic conversations about these topics.
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When I attended my first unconference at Google, I was completely blown away. The event was sponsored by Wisdom 2.0. Wisdom 2.0 addresses the great challenge of our age: to not only live connected to one another through technology, but to do so in ways that are beneficial to our own well-being, effective in our work, and useful to the world.
First, let me explain what an unconference is. At an unconference, participants gather around a theme or very broad topic. In the beginning of the day, participants gather and each person is given a topic card. He or she is free to write down whatever topic he or she chooses. Then the topics are grouped and the schedule for the day is set according to those topic cards.
At Shape the Law, we had eight concurrent breakout sessions. The topics included:
- Feeling/ finding purpose and value at the workplace
- Alternative career for lawyers
- Moving from aggression to wisdom
- Pay inequality
- How to add joy to law practice
- Creating a sustainable, supportive communities for in-house lawyers
- Taking it to the next level
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The guidelines for an unconference are basic and simple.
- Radical inclusion: everyone is encouraged to share his or her thoughts (especially those people who are more reserved or shy)
- There are no experts
- You don’t need to have all the answers to share
- You are free to leave one session and move to different session
We had three breakout sessions, so the participants had an opportunity to choose from 32 different sessions. Two of the most popular sessions, not surprisingly were work/life balance, and career transition.
The wonderful thing about an unconference is that it creates a space where everyone feels included and feels free to share his or her thoughts, struggles, and experiences. It’s a way to create community.
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I feel so fortunate to have been part of building and designing this unconference. Not only because of the amazing women attorneys that attended the event but also because of my collaborators. I met all three of them on Twitter, so never underestimate the power of social media connection, or a power of a Tweet.
My collaborators were:
Alexandra “Alix” Devendra, legal design consultant. Alix left BigLaw to follow her passion for design. She teaches other attorneys how to use design principles to innovate their practices. Alix also consults for legal tech startups on a wide range of issues including user-experience design and content strategy.
Laura J. Maechtlen, partner at Seyfarth Shaw LLP. Laura is the National Vice-Chair of Seyfarth’s Labor & Employment Department and Co-Chair of the firm’s Diversity & Inclusion Action Team.
Mary Redzic, in-house counsel at Vionic Group, a comfort shoe company in the Bay Area. Mary also runs the boutique law practice Beta Law Group and blogs about legal technology at disrupt.legal. As a side project, she is also learning how to code.
We had women from Biglaw, including Seyfarth Shaw LLP (one of the main sponsors), Goodwin Procter LLP, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, Reed Smith, Drinker Biddle & Reath, and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP. This created a space where the lawyers can share and compare notes about what is happening at her firm. We also had in-house counsel as well as solo practioners. Then there were the women lawyers who chose an alternative career path.
For me, the most powerful moments were when one woman shares something she’s been going through and struggling with and many other women in the group says “me too.”
Shape the Law wants to bring unconference to cities across the U.S. If you want to get involved, drop us an email: shapethelaw@gmail.com
P.S., I am offering a free CLE for Clio tomorrow from 11:00 – 12:00 PST on Building a Sustainable Legal Practice.
Jeena Cho is the author of The Anxious Lawyer: An 8-Week Guide to a Joyful and Satisfying Law Practice Through Mindfulness and Meditation (affiliate link). She is a contributor to Forbes and Bloomberg where she covers diversity/inclusion, resilience, work/life integration, and wellness in the workplace. She regularly speaks and offers training on women’s issues, diversity, wellness, stress management, mindfulness, and meditation. You can reach her at hello@jeenacho.com or @jeena_cho on Twitter.
