11:00 – Noon: Wellness in the Legal Community, Justice William C. Mims

Presentation Summary:

In this now prolonged pandemic “season,” how do we continue to respond in a healthy way? What do we do? What should we do? What do healthy habits look like in this “new, for now, normal?” Drawing from the statistical reports of A Profession at Risk and Occupational Risks of the Practice of Law and the recommendations from those reports, Justice Mims will lecture on (i) each of the six dimensions of wellness, (ii) why each facet is critical to the well-being of attorneys, and (iii) how habits have evolved to support wellness in the current state of our worlds.

The presentation works from the following operational definitions of wellness:

• Physical Wellness: the ability to maintain a healthy quality of life through positive habits such as a balanced diet, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, and routine check-ups, while avoiding destructive behaviors such as drug abuse, excessive alcohol consumption, and the like;
• Emotional Wellness: the ability to understand ourselves and cope with life’s challenges, including acknowledging feelings of anger, fear, sadness, or stress;
• Spiritual Wellness: the ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives, including developing congruency between our values and our actions;
• Social Wellness: our ability to establish and maintain positive relationships with family, friends, and co-workers;
• Intellectual Wellness: the ability to learn new concepts, improve skills, and seek challenges in pursuit of lifelong learning; and
• Occupational Wellness: the ability to receive personal fulfillment in our careers by making a positive impact on the organizations we work in our communities.

Written Materials: 

• VJLAP Retreat 9 2020
• Profession at Risk 2 Year VLWI Summary
• https://richmond.com/news/faith-and-values-what-has-the-pandemic-given-to-you/article_b8065a43-26cc-584b-a314-7597e1bd5a29.html

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Faculty Biography:

The Honorable William C. Mims (Justice), Virginia Supreme Court

 Justice William C. Mims became a member of the Supreme Court of Virginia in 2010. From 1992 until 2010, he served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates and State Senate, as Chief Deputy Attorney General, and as Attorney General of Virginia.

During his years in the General Assembly, Justice Mims worked as an attorney in Leesburg. Prior to practicing law he served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Frank Wolf and as Deputy Legislative Director to Senator Paul Trible. He was a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law at George Mason University from 2002 through 2005.

Justice Mims grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia and was educated in the Harrisonburg public schools. He received a degree in History from the College of William and Mary, where he also pursued graduate work in Public Administration.  He has law degrees from George Washington University and Georgetown University.