Lawyer Resilience, Empowerment and Expertise

This seminar is hosted by the Centre for Law, Science and Policy and the School of Law Research Seminar Series. Our series offers exciting insights into ongoing research projects within the law school and conducted by our external research partners. We often feature work from our three research centres (the Centre for American Legal Studies, the Centre for Human Rights, and the Centre for Science, Law and Policy). Our work is often transdisciplinary, dealing with law's relationship with broadly defined social justice, policy-making, science and much more. Join us for invigorating discussion!

In this session, we hear from Professor Hugh Koch. Professor Koch is a clinical psychologist and has been a pioneer in civil litigation, developing the interface between psychology and law in civil cases. He is both a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and the Expert Witness Institute. Professor Koch collaborates with academics to co-author articles for the Expert Witness; provides sessions on resilience training for staff and students; and provides an annual placement opportunity for a student to attend his Harvey Street Clinic in London.

In this session, Dr Koch will give the following presentation, followed by an interactive Q&A:

Lawyer Resilience, Empowerment and Expertise

Abstract

The key professions of law, psychology and medicine all require a high level of communication, logical thinking and behavioural ‘bias for action’. Professor Koch discusses the key practical skills required by a lawyer and how to ‘intentionally’ put these into practice. It covers social/communication, rational thinking and behavioural organisation in highly practical ways. 1) Key demands on being a lawyer 2) Defining ‘inner strength’ and cognitive empowerment 3) Effective communication, intentionality and lawyer microskills 4) Practical coping skills (paper, time, space and ‘bias for action’) 5) Compassion and calmness 6) Uncertainty and how a lawyer manages this: How to bounce back 7) Creativity and inspiration 8) The mind-set of the resilient lawyer 9) Outcome: empowerment and intentionality. At the end of the webinar, students and staff will be able to identify possible areas of their own personal development in this context. 

If you have any questions, contact Iyan Offor, the Research Seminar Series leader, at iyan.offor@bcu.ac.uk.

This seminar has now concluded but it is available on demand here. If you find that you do not have access, you can email the research seminar series leader at iyan.offor@bcu.ac.uk in order to gain access.