The Grace Period: Shining A Light on Lawyer Wellbeing
A podcast for lawyers that explores the realities of big law, provides tips for better practice management, and shines a light on lawyer wellbeing.
The Grace Period: Shining A Light on Lawyer Wellbeing
Episode 51: Wellbeing is Your Edge
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The pressure to “power through” is strong in big law, but it’s also expensive. We open the year by reframing well-being as the core of competent, ethical practice—not a perk, not an afterthought, and definitely more than a snack table in the break room.
Drawing on research-backed definitions and the ABA’s landmark perspective, we connect the dots between clarity, stamina, judgment, and your duty to clients. When attention thins and sleep slips, error rates climb. When boundaries evaporate, ethics wobble. The fix isn’t grand or performative; it’s a return to the basics that make excellent lawyering possible.
Think practical boundaries that protect deep work, short resets that restore focus, and simple routines that make recovery non-negotiable. We challenge the myths that well-being is for people in crisis or that grit equals constant self-denial. The real badge of professionalism is disciplined recovery: the ability to pause, reset, and return with your full mind.
The goal isn’t perfect balance; it’s dependable presence under pressure. That’s what protects your clients, your license, and your future self. If this conversation helps, share it with a colleague who needs permission to pause—and subscribe so you never miss the next step in building a career that lasts.
Find out more at https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilystedman/.
Welcome to the Grace Period, where we get real about attorney mental health and well-being and pull back the veil on the high-stakes world of big law. I'm your host, Emily Logan Steadman, a commercial litigator, partner, and someone who believes that there's always room for more grace, even in a high-stakes profession. On The Grace Period, I share real stories from my own journey in big law and invite you behind the scenes, beyond the billable hour, to talk about what it means to stay human in a demanding field. Whether you're a lawyer, a legal professional, or someone just trying to find your footing, this space is for you. Let's pull back the curtain, start the conversation, and find our grace period together. The views and opinions shared on this podcast are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of my firm or any organization. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It is not legal advice, and listening does not create an attorney-client relationship. Welcome back to the Grace Period. Today I'm here with episode 51, kicking off 2026 with the next season of The Grace Period. Today I want to revisit a topic from season one, I believe, and season two. And that is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot these days, and that is lol your well-being. I want to talk about why it's not just a nice-to-have thing, but a professional obligation. I'll be real with you. I know and understand that the concept of well-being can sound fluffy. It can seem woo-woo. I definitely felt that way when I first entered this space and started to learn about things to support my own mental health journey. Well-being can also feel like that extra thing, something you have to do after you've met your billable target, after you've completed all your obligations for the day. Maybe it brings to mind yoga snacks or yoga snacks, yoga mats, free snacks in your firm or business's break room, or a once-a-year well-being seminar. I'm here with a definition of while your well-being that goes much deeper. I want you to believe what I believe, and that is well-being isn't a perk. It's the foundation for everything we do, not just as attorneys, but as human beings. It's physical, it's mental, but it's also emotional, relational, and ethical. It's our ability to think clearly, to serve our clients well, and to ultimately sustain a demanding career for the long haul. So, how do we define well-being? I have two definitions that I come back to over and over again. The first is from psychology today. Well-being is the experience of health, happiness, and prosperity. It includes having good mental health and high life satisfaction, and a sense of meaning or purpose, and the ability to manage stress. More generally, well-being is just feeling well. I like this definition from psychology today because it shows that well-being is not just about our minds or the woo-woo, like meditation, yoga, and deep breathing. It's holistic. To be well, we must recognize our entire humanity and attempt to engage with our entire sense of self. And for me, that is a daily effort. The second definition I like is naturally from the American Bar Association and their 2016 report on the path to lawyer well-being. The ABA defines well-being as a continuous process whereby lawyers seek to thrive in each of the following areas: emotional health, occupational pursuits, creative and intellectual endeavors, sense of spirituality or greater purpose in life, physical health and social connections with lawyers. Lawler well-being is part of a lawyer's ethical duty of competence. That last bit is my favorite. Law your well-being is part of a lawyer's ethical duty of competence. Lawyer well-being goes beyond ourselves. To better the profession, to best serve our clients, we must be well, or at least striving to be our best selves, whatever that looks like. I want to emphasize well-being isn't just about feeling good. It's about competence. Under the ABA's model rules, competence is the first and core duty of every lawyer. ABA model rule one point one says a lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness, and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation. Some have proposed adding to this model rule as follows. In addition to legal knowledge, legal skill, thoroughness, and preparation, competence requires mental, emotional, and physical ability reasonably necessary for the representation. Even if not formally added to our model rules for competence, this addition gives important context to our duty of competence. When we're burned out, anxious, or overwhelmed, our judgment suffers. We make more mistakes, we're more likely to miss deadlines and overlook details, or even worse, violate our ethical obligations. I'm here to tell you that taking care of yourself isn't selfish or even optional. It's how you protect your clients, your license, and your reputation. I ask you, can you be competent? Can you provide the competence required by rule, law, and by your clients if you're not taking care of yourself, of your whole human self? I believe the answer to that question is a resounding no. Now, let's bust a few myths about well-being. Law your well-being or well-being generally. Well-being is not just for people who are struggling. Struggles are what led me to focus on my well-being. But through that struggle and through that finding of law-year well-being and building and sustaining my own well-being, I have learned that well-being is for anyone and everyone who wants to build a sustainable, rewarding career. That also means that well-being is not a luxury. It's a necessity. It's a necessity, especially in high-stakes, high-achieving fields like the law. And ultimately, powering through, which many of us have done for years, for a month, at one point or another, powering through is not a badge of honor. It is a risk, ethically, physically, emotionally, and ultimately to your life in general. So, what does well-being actually look like in practice? I'll give you some high-level options here, but I encourage you to go back and look at season two where I talk in every episode about ways to build a toolkit to support your well-being. Well-being in practice looks like setting boundaries around your time and your energy. Well-being looks like asking for help when you need it. Well-being looks like taking breaks, saying no, making space for rest and recovery, even in busy seasons. Well-being means building habits that support your health, your focus, and your decision making. And most importantly, well-being means being part of a community. Maybe that's a firm, a bar association, a tennis club, a games club, a pets club, a church, whatever it is, well-being includes being part of a community. A community that values your humanity as much as your productivity. What's one small habit you can change? One small boundary you can set to support your well-being. Your clients, your colleagues, and your future self count on you to take this seriously. Well-being is not an afterthought. It's not a footnote to your success. It is actually the foundation. And this is something I wish I had figured out much, much, much sooner in my career. Because taking care of yourself, focusing on your well-being is required to building a lasting and sustainable career. Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Grace Period. Remember, you don't have to choose between your well-being and your ambition. By setting boundaries, building supportive habits, and giving yourself permission to pause, you can thrive in law and in life. Until next time, take care of yourselves and each other. That is the path to our grace period. The views expressed here are solely my own and do not represent the official policy or position of my firm or any organization. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only, not professional or legal advice, and does not create an attorney client relationship.
