In-Person Event
CC

Under Pressure: Practical Strategies for Lawyer Well-Being & Sustainable Performance 2026 – Bellefonte

  • City:Centre County Bar Association, Eugene Lederer Bar Center, 192 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA, 16823
  • Start Date:2026-12-14 12:00:00
  • End Date:2026-12-14 14:00:00
  • Length:
  • Level:Basic
  • Topics:Ethics

$209.00

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This program is eligible for 2 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 2.4 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.

This is a simulcast of a live webcast course, streamed live to a local site with faculty in remote locations. Please note: Walk-in registrations will not be accepted - you must register in advance.

Overview

The December Pressure Cooker.
The end of the year can bring a perfect storm of pressure for lawyers: deadlines, billable-hour demands, client expectations, holiday obligations, family responsibilities, and the feeling that everything needs to get done at once. But December may simply magnify challenges that exist within the legal profession all year long.

It’s Not Just You. It’s the Environment.
Lawyers work in an environment that often rewards constant availability, perfectionism, long hours, and pushing through stress. While individual well-being matters, sustainable change requires a broader conversation about both personal responsibility and the cultures, teams, and systems in which lawyers work.

Stress Happens. Let’s Talk About What You Can Do.
In this interactive program, attorneys Brian Quinn and Courtney Schulnick will explore the realities of stress in the legal profession and what lawyers can realistically do to navigate pressure more effectively. Through candid conversation, current research, audience polls and discussion, and practical experiential tools, participants will examine how stress affects attention, decision-making, communication, reactivity, and well-being, and learn strategies for responding more skillfully when demands are high.

The program will also examine the role of legal employers and leaders in creating healthier workplace cultures and why boundaries, balance, and well-being cannot rest solely on the individual.

Don’t Just Resolve. Rethink.
As the year comes to a close, you are invited to move beyond the familiar promise that “next year will be different” and consider practical, sustainable changes you can make - for yourself, your teams, and the profession - in 2027.

So, what does meaningful change actually look like? Let’s dig in:

  • The Year-End Pressure Cooker: Why December Can Feel Like Too Much
  • Stress, Burnout, Perfectionism, and the Realities of Modern Legal Practice
  • Lawyer Well-Being: Individual Responsibility vs. Organizational Culture
  • How Stress Impacts Attention, Reactivity, Decision-Making, and Communication
  • Practical Tools for Navigating Pressure in Real Time
  • Boundaries, Balance, and the Role of Leadership
  • Why Good Intentions and New Year's Resolutions Often Don't Last
  • Creating Realistic and Sustainable Change
  • Making 2027 Different: Individual Agency and Collective Responsibility

Faculty

Courtney B. Schulnick, Esq.

Courtney Schulnick, J.D., is a former litigator and mindfulness educator who works with attorneys, judges, bar associations, and professional organizations to strengthen clarity, resilience, and sound decision-making under pressure.
After more than 20 years in high-stakes litigation, Courtney understands firsthand the ethical complexity, competing demands, and chronic stress that can cloud professional judgment and well-being. Seeking a more sustainable way to practice law, she completed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program at Jefferson’s Myrna Brind Center for Mindfulness in Philadelphia – an experience that transformed both her professional performance and personal life.
She later completed the extensive mindfulness teacher training at Jefferson, where she now teaches the MBSR program and graduate-level courses. Through her company, Courtney Schulnick Mindfulness, she delivers evidence-based CLE presentations, multi-week programs, leadership workshops, and individual mindfulness-informed coaching for law firms, corporate legal departments, bar associations, and other professional teams.
Her work integrates neuroscience, professional responsibility, and practical mindfulness strategies to help legal professionals manage stress reactivity, enhance ethical clarity, and cultivate sustainable high performance.

Brian S. Quinn, Esq.

Brian S. Quinn, Esquire is a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania who currently serves as the Education and Outreach Coordinator for Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Pennsylvania, Inc., a Lawyers Assistance Program established in 1988 for the purpose of helping lawyers, judges and law students recover from alcoholism, drug addiction and mental health disorders.
Mr. Quinn obtained his undergraduate degree in 1970, his law degree in 1973 and a certificate in Drug and Alcohol counselling in 2012, from Villanova University. He has been a private practitioner for over 40 years, having litigated both civil and criminal matters during his career. Mr. Quinn also worked in the field of Alcohol and Drug Counseling in suburban Philadelphia from 2011 to 2017, allowing him to gain both practical and clinical experience with individuals suffering from alcohol, substance use and mental health disorders.
Mr. Quinn is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Delaware County Bar Association and is a past member of the Board of Directors of Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers of Pennsylvania, where he also served as a peer volunteer for over six years prior to accepting his current role as the organization’s Educator in 2017.
Mr. Quinn has written articles and made presentations on many lawyer wellness topics to law firms, Bar Associations, professional organizations and legal education providers on a state, national and international level reaching hundreds of thousands of lawyers during his career.
Mr. Quinn was the 2025 recipient of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s prestigious C. Dale McClain Quality of Life/Balance Award. This award honors someone who identifies issues relevant to attorney wellness, well-being and attorneys’ efforts to find balance in their professional and personal lives.

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