Lawyer Labs™
Steady Mind Sharper Judgement Better Practice
Lawyer Labs™
The Inner Skills of Practice
Seven, 3-week live Labs for Lawyers, February to November 2027.
Clear thinking, real conversations and staying grounded under pressure, with wellbeing built in.
Small groups, real practice, 4.5 CPD hours each.
You know what good practice looks like. Pressure makes it harder to reach.
Lawyers rate clear communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and ethical judgement among the most critical skills in practice, right alongside knowing the law.
Yet more than half of Victorian lawyers report psychological distress. Under pressure, the brain's capacity for careful thinking narrows. We listen to reply, we decide too fast, and we miss what matters.
And now there's a fast, fluent machine in the room. It can draft in seconds. It can't carry your judgement, and it won't carry the responsibility.
The pressure isn't only local. In a 2026 survey of more than 1,100 US lawyers, about two-thirds reported disrupted sleep and anxiety because of work, and most felt more isolated than they used to. Half don't use the wellbeing services their workplace offers. Many of those who need it most say they simply don't have time.
Lawyer Labs works on both at once: the skills, the steadiness and wellbeing that keeps them available.
*Victorian Legal Services Board + Commissioner, 2025 Lawyer Census, Bloomberg Law, State of Mind: 2026 Attorney Well-Being Report (US data)
Built for how lawyers actually work.
• Three weeks, not three months. One 90-minute live session a week. That's it.
• No pre-work. Each week you try one small experiment inside the work you're already doing.
• Small groups. So there's real practice and real coaching, not a webinar.
• Coaching that goes deeper than advice. Midway through each Lab, you'll work in a group of four using a structured peer coaching process. No quick fixes, just the kind of listening that helps you see your own situation differently.
• Change that lasts after the Lab. Each Lab moves from noticing, to choosing, to trying one small change in your real work. Afterwards, you can join a peer coaching circle that keeps the practice going.
• Wellbeing built in, not bolted on. No yoga invitations. Every Lab looks after the whole lawyer (sleep, recovery, connection and meaning) inside the skill you're building, in the time you've already set aside.
• Grounded in evidence. Every Lab draws on current research, including studies of lawyers, and maps to the regulator's own competency findings.
• One foundation. Every Lab builds on the same ground: knowing when you've left your best state, how to come back, and how to close the workday so you can actually recover.
The Skills AI Can't Do
AI can now draft, synthesise and spot risk in seconds.
Soon every firm will have the same tools. So what will your clients choose you for?
New research from Harvard Law School's Center on the Legal Profession* points to the human value-adds: judgement, empathy, courage, and real attention to the client.
These are the inner skills of practice and they can be trained.
That is what Lawyer Labs™ is for.
*Michele DeStefano, "How Lawyers Can Add Value in the Age of AI", The Practice, Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession, July/August 2026.
Seven Labs, Commencing 2027
Choose A Lab Or Join Them All
Session Times:
Session 1: 12 noon AEDT/AEST Session 2: 7pm AEDT/AEST
February -Steady
Wednesdays 10, 17, 24 February Inner regulation as a professional competency. Recognise your state under pressure, return to a grounded core in a few minutes and learn to come down at the end of the day. This is your starting point.
March - The Ethical Pause
Wednesdays 10, 17, 24 March
Notice dilemmas early, pause before acting (including before you rely on AI), and speak up with integrity, anchored in your own values. Ethics and professional responsibility for the time we are in.
April - Communication That Lands
Wednesdays 14, 21, 28 April
Listening to understand, speaking that lowers defensiveness and builds real connection. Writing that's clear the first time.
May - The Client at the Centre
Wednesdays 12, 19, 26 May
Mastering first meetings expectations, no surprises, asking your clients what they actually need, and staying steady with distressed clients; caring for them without carrying their weight home.
July - Mastering Time and Attention
Wednesdays 14, 21, 28 July
A mid-year reset. Protect your focus, plan your week, hold your boundaries, and actually recover properly, including sleep and real breaks.
October - Difficult Conversations and the Inner Game of Negotiation
Wednesdays 6, 13, 20 October
Stay steady when others don't, and negotiate from interests, not positions. Have the conversations we avoid: checking in on a colleague, giving accurate feedback, sharing your actual ideas.
November - Thinking Clearly Under Pressure
Wednesdays 10, 17, 24 November
Train the attention good judgement depends on. Catch the blind spots experience doesn't fix, and keep your own thinking switched on when AI offers an answer. Close the year by looking back at what’s changed and what kept you well.
For Lawyers At Every Stage
Whether you're in your first year or your thirtieth, in private practice, in-house, government or community legal work, Lawyer Labs is for you if you want:
• CPD that's worth your time
• to stay clear-headed when the pressure is on
• better conversations with clients, colleagues and the other side
• to lead and supervise in a way that helps others stay steady too
• a way to look after yourself that fits inside the work, not on top of it.
How a Lab Works
1. Register and check in. A three-minute self-assessment so you can see your progress.
2. Three live sessions. 90 minutes each, on Wednesdays: a settling practice, focused teaching, practice in small groups, and group coaching on real challenges.
3. Notice, choose, try. In week 1 you notice how the skill shows up in your own work. In week 2 you choose one thing to practice. In week 3 you try a small, real change and ask for feedback. Each comes with an optional wellbeing habit, and a practice partner from your group if you'd like one.
4. Leave with a plan and a circle. A one-page practice plan, a two-minute practice for closing your workday, and 4.5 CPD hours and the option to join a peer coaching circle that keeps meeting after the Lab.
Labs will run twice on the allocated Wednesdays:
Session 1 at 12 noon AEST/AEDT (coinciding with 5pm PT/8pm ET) and Session 2 at 7pm AEST/AEDT (coinciding with morning in Europe)
Your Facilitator
I've practiced law for more than 25 years, as a corporate lawyer, as Head of Legal, across international jurisdictions, and now as Principal of my own firm.
I know the pressure of practice from the inside. I've felt my thinking narrow when it mattered most.
I've also spent nearly two decades designing and delivering education for professionals, and most recently, 3.5 years as the Head of Learning Transformation at the Law Institute of Victoria. I'm a board member of the Mindfulness in Law Society and Co-Chair of its Australian Chapter, a member of TEDLaw’s Advisory Council for Future Ready Lawyers and I hold degrees in Science, Law and Psychology from Monash University.
Lawyer Labs brings those threads together: the realities of practice, the science of how we think and feel under pressure, and practical skills you can use the next day.
- Artemis Evangelidi
Choose How You Join
Choose from one of the seven live labs. You will have access to the topic of your choice, three live sessions, 4.5 CPD hours
All seven Labs · 31.5 CPD hours across three of the four compulsory CPD fields · priority places
FAQs
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Most training moves straight from new information to new behaviour, and the change fades once you're back at your desk. Lawyer Labs is informed by Theory U, developed by Otto Scharmer at MIT and the Presencing Institute. Each Lab gives you time to see your own patterns clearly, choose what to change, and test it in your real work, with others alongside you. Underneath it all is steadiness: Jeremy Hunter's green, red and grey zones.
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90 minutes a week for three weeks. The weekly experiment happens inside your normal work, so it adds no extra time.
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Yes. Each Lab is 4.5 hours of live, interactive learning. You're responsible for recording your CPD and confirming the field that applies to you.
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No, but it's recommended. Steady gives you the foundation every other Lab builds on.
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No. It teaches the human skills AI puts under pressure: attention, verification, clear writing and judgement. The Ethical Pause and Thinking Clearly Under Pressure address AI directly.
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Life happens. You'll receive a short summary of the session and the practice audio, so you can catch up on the key ideas and try that week's experiment. The coaching and practice stay in the room, so each group can speak freely.
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Each group agrees to keep what's shared in the room. All client and colleague details are de-identified.
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Sessions run on Melbourne time, and anyone is welcome. CPD rules vary by state and country, so check your own requirements.
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No, and it isn't therapy either. It's professional skills training. Wellbeing runs through every Lab because sleep, recovery, connection and meaning are what keep your judgement and communication sharp. You'll never be asked to share more than you choose to, and we'll point you to support if you need more than a skills program can offer.