Can Lawyers Be Happy? An Interview with Dan Bowling (Audio)

The legal profession is known for being occupied by unhappy lawyers. In fact, studies have shown that pessimism correlates with success in law school. I had the pleasure of a great conversation with one of the nicest law professors in creation: Dan Bowling. Professor Bowling not only teaches labor and employment law at Duke Law but he is also a positive psychologist and lectures on the subject at UPenn. He became curious about positive psychology while serving as Senior Vice President of Human Resources at Coca-Cola. His studies include exploring the connection between wellness and legal professionalism. Professor Bowling teaches a course on lawyers and personal well-being that has been featured in various national publications including the ABA Journal.

Professor Bowling and I talked about the (un)happiness level among lawyers and about how young lawyers can find happiness in the profession. This is a must-listen for young lawyers, recent law grads and current law students. Professor Bowling drops a ton of serious nuggets throughout our talk. Here are some of the things you’ll learn:

• Whether there is truly a correlation between pessimism and success in law school

• How optimism and social intelligence correlate with success

• How to find a career that will make you happy

• How to align careers choices with your strengths

• How to discover your skills and strengths

• The importance of unconventionalism in the pursuit of happiness

Listen to the interview below. It runs approximately 40 minutes.

Link

Editor’s Note: This was one of my first times using video/audio so please forgive me for the “ums” and giggling! Despite all of that, the sound quality is pretty darn good and I think you’ll get a lot out of it.

PS – You can connect with Dan Bowling on Twitter at @BowlingDan.

Photo courtesy of Duke University School of Law