Ethics/Professionalism: Interrupting Implicit Bias to Improve Mental Health in the Legal Profession

Friday, October 16 from 12:00 to 1:00 pm, 1 hour CLE (Credit pending); (Speakers: Margaret Hannapel Ogden and Barbara Mardigian).

Registration Required In Advance For This Webinar: REGISTER NOW! 

Written Materials: 

• PowerPoint Presentation: Interrupting Implicit Bias to Improve Mental Health 
• Written Resources: Ethics – Implicit Bias and Mental Health Written Materials
• LEO 1886: SCV_leo_1886_121516
• LEO 1887: SCV LEO 1887
• Language and Stigma: Language and stigma _ Everymind

Summary: 

As neuroscience continues to deepen our understanding of how our brains rapidly sort and process information, legal scholars have begun to examine the role that implicit biases play in decision-making.  We all hold biases about mental health based on both cultural stereotypes and individual lived experiences.  How can attorneys slow down our thinking, notice these often unconscious biases, and interrupt them before they negatively impact our behaviors?  This real talk session will examine the language we use to talk about common mental health problems, and how that can perpetuate stigma.  Finally, attorneys will be given tools to develop equitable workplace policies that meet our ethical obligations, guard against mental health risks, and encourage help-seeking behavior.

Registration Required In Advance For This Webinar: REGISTER NOW! 

Faculty Biographies: 

Barbara Mardigian, Deputy Clinical Director, Virginia Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program 

Barbara has worked in the field of addiction since 1997. She received her Master’s degree from MCV in Rehabilitation Counseling in 1997 and became a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in 2004. She has worked in a variety of settings, including Intensive Outpatient, Residential, private practice, and with the first Health Professional Monitoring Program in Virginia as the Director of Intake Services. Most recently, as the Executive Director of an Intensive Outpatient treatment facility in Richmond. She worked for the Farley Center from 2010-2016 as a lead clinician in their professionals program, having experience working with lawyers, physicians, and CEO’s as well as high ranking military individuals. She has been with Virginia Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program since September 2019 as the Deputy Clinical Director.

Margaret Hannapel Ogden, Wellness Coordinator, Supreme Court of Virginia

As the Wellness Coordinator in the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia, Margaret Hannapel Ogden is dedicated to improving mental health and addressing substance abuse in the legal profession through education, regulation, and outreach.  A lawyer by training, Margaret began her career in the Roanoke City Commonwealth Attorney’s Office before entering private practice to defend criminal cases throughout the Roanoke and New River Valleys.  Immediately prior to joining the Virginia Lawyers’ Wellness Initiative, she served as the Staff Attorney for the Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial and Ethnic Fairness, where she analyzed policy, drafted and commented on proposed rules and legislation, and advised judges and attorneys on best practices for addressing bias in the state court system.  A native of Washington, D.C., Margaret graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland’s College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.  She earned her J.D. from Washington & Lee School of Law in 2011.  When not traveling around the Commonwealth discussing attorney well-being, you can find Margaret walking in Richmond’s Fan neighborhood with her husband, Nathan, and their dogs, Jackson and Tilda.

Registration Required In Advance For This Webinar: REGISTER NOW!