#064: Heidi Brown - Expert on Introversion, Fear, and Performance in the Legal Profession (Mental Health Month Collaboration with Personal Jurisdiction Podcast)

**This month, May 2022, How I Lawyer is teaming up with the Personal Jurisdiction Podcast (https://www.personaljxpod.com/) to feature five interviews on the important topic of mental health in the legal profession. Learn more here.**

In today’s episode I speak with Professor Heidi Brown who is the Director of the Legal Writing Program at Brooklyn Law School. Having grappled with extreme performance anxiety as a law student, attorney, and new law professor, Heidi ultimately untangled her fears, and embraced authenticity as a powerful asset in teaching and practicing law. She is the author of two fantastic books on the subject, The Introverted Lawyer: A Seven-Step Journey Toward Authentically Empowered Advocacy, and Untangling Fear in Lawyering: A Four-Step Journey Toward Powerful Advocacy. 

Professor Brown’s brand new book, The Flourishing Lawyer, analogizes law students and lawyers to athletes and performers & offers a fresh lens through which to view the palpable challenge of enriching and safeguarding well-being in the legal profession—an approach that (1) champions individual and collective strengths, rather than stigmatizing purported weaknesses, and (2) redefines “character and fitness to practice law” as attributes we can, and must, actively and continuously cultivate, as individuals and legal communities. 

She recently earned her master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BA and JD from the University of Virginia.

In our conversation we discuss her path in the law and her decision to study topics related to mental health and success in the legal profession, staying true to yourself as a lawyer, the difference between introversion and social anxiety, techniques from athletes and performers that can be applied to a career in the law, and so much more. 

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This episode is sponsored, edited, and engineered by LawPods, a professional podcast production company for busy attorneys.