Mike Whelan on Authoring, Twittering, and Rising from the Ashes as a Lawyer with ADHD

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03/13/20 • 58 min

JDHD | A Podcast for Lawyers with ADHD

Show notes are coming, I promise!!!

Show notes are coming, I promise!!!

Previous Episode

Muggsy Bogues, the #IBSC, and Practical Tips for Lawyers with ADHD with Shawn Healy, PhD

Magically, Shawn Healy and I weave together Muggsy Bogues, the itty-bitty shitty committee, the evil New York Yankees, and spot-on practical tips for lawyers with ADHD.
He's charming, insightful, calming, and brilliant, and he talked for more than an hour about how to make meaningful progress building a better life and a better law practice as a lawyer with ADHD.
Learn More about Shawn Healy, PhD
Dr. Shawn Healy is Clinical Psychologist and a member of the clinical staff at Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers in Massachusetts where he provides individual clinical consultations, groups, and workshops to law students, lawyers, and judges. He regularly presents and publishes on all manner of mental health topics germane to the legal community. Over the past year, Dr. Healy has run several workshops on Practicing Law with ADHD and runs an ongoing monthly support group for law students and lawyers with ADHD. Dr. Healy is also the coauthor of the book The Full Weight of the Law: How Legal Professionals Can Recognize and Rebound from Depression (ABA Publication, 2017).

Two Quotes

"ADHD and ADD can look like something as simple as difficulty reading material and focusing on it. It can be something as difficult as having their mind wander during classes, during meetings, trying to get stuff done and struggling to focus enough to get important stuff done, feeling the pressure of a deadline bearing down, but just feeling totally powerless in their ability to focus and get the work product done."

"Everybody needs to feel like they have some control over when they work and when they stop working..."

ADHD Resources in this Episode

The Full Weight of the Law: How Legal Professionals Can Recognize and Rebound from Depression, by Jeffrey Fortgang and Shawn Healy
LCL-MA ADHD Resources
David & Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell
The Small Firm Roadmap, by Aaron Street, Sam Glover, Stephanie Everett, and Marshall Lichty
Quiet, by Susan Cain
Spark, by John Ratey, MD
Acuity Scheduling
Transforming ADHD, by Greg Crosby and Tonya Lippert

JDHD | For Lawyers with ADHD

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Next Episode

"No one can know about this." Erin Keyes, J.D.—Dean of Students and ADHD Panic Monster Slayer

Erin Keyes is a lawyer and the Dean of Students at the University of Minnesota Law School.
In this first episode since before the world shut down, we talk about what it means for law students and lawyers with ADHD to keep themselves healthy. We talk about why ADHD can make law school harder, how law schools can support ADHD law students, and the well-known pattern of ADHD law students falling behind and struggling to get caught back up.
We talk about how ADHD looks different in women, the panic monster and negative feedback loops, and how students are helping one another with ADHD and other mental wellness issues.
And we talk about how you slay the ADHD panic monster. Just start. Start the process of figuring out a way to figure out a way.
Learn More about Erin Keyes, JD

Two Quotes

"Some students struggle with how to build meaning over the course of a semester and give themselves lots of opportunities to test their understanding of information. Because you can't cram in law school."
"There is so much shame around the manifestation of ADHD in terms of the things that are left undone. The things that were started but not finished. There's a good reason why ADHD is so highly correlated with anxiety and depression. It is not just a function issue. It's also an emotional issue."
ADHD Resources in this Episode