CLE
Doug Brown, JD
Doug Brown, JD Summit Success International
Managing Difficult Clients and Colleagues Protecting Your Mental Health and Wellbeing
Register Now
Premieres January 15, 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT
00 Days
00 Hours
00 Mins
00 Secs
Register Now
Managing Difficult Clients and Colleagues: Protecting Your Mental Health and Wellbeing

This program cuts through the generic wellness advice to reveal what actually works when dealing with difficult people. Using psychological frameworks from executive coaching and real-world experience managing panic attacks and ADHD in legal practice, you'll learn how to protect your mental health while maintaining professional relationships. No theory — just practical tools you can use Monday morning.

Core Learning Objectives:

  • Identify the mental health warning signs triggered by difficult professional relationships
  • Apply the EASE framework for managing challenging interactions without losing yourself
  • Understand why difficult people trigger your specific stress responses (and what to do about it)
  • Build boundary-setting skills that actually work in law firm culture
  • Develop your personal mental health action plan for relationship-induced stress
Topics covered include:
Agenda:
  • Why Difficult People Break Good Lawyers
    • Doug's panic attack during negotiation and the late ADHD diagnosis
    • The mental health crisis hiding in plain sight in legal practice
    • How difficult relationships trigger your nervous system before you realize what's happening

  • The Stress Response You're Not Managing
    • What happens in your brain during conflict (fight/flight/freeze)
    • The self-medication spectrum: overwork, perfectionism, people-pleasing, control
    • What ADHD, anxiety, and depression look like when hiding behind success
    • Why logical solutions don't work when emotions are hijacked

  • The EASE Framework for Managing Difficult Interactions
    • Empathize with emotional drivers without becoming their therapist
    • Actively listen using five specific techniques that actually work
    • Simplify what you need them to understand
    • Evaluate next steps together (even when they're resistant)

  • When Standard Techniques Fail
    • Understanding style and generational differences that reduce friction
    • "Yes, And..." principle from improv for defusing tension
    • When to disengage for mental health protection (and how to do it professionally)
    • Scripts that work: boundary-setting in law firm culture

  • Building Your Resilience System
    • Energy vampires vs. boosters: who drains you and who restores you
    • After Action Review: learning from difficult interactions without self-blame
    • When to seek professional support and what resources actually help
    • Your personal mental health action plan

  • Q&A (As Time Permits)
Read More
Duration of this webinar: 60 minutes
When: Premieres in 1 days | January 15, 2026 10:00 AM PT
Register Now
Speaker
Doug Brown, JD
Doug Brown, JD The Law Firm Leadership Coach
Summit Success

Doug Brown, JD is The Law Firm Leadership Coach and Chief Learning Officer at Summit Success, LLC. As an executive coach and law practice consultant, he shares practical strategies for sustainable legal practice and attorney well-being. After experiencing panic attacks during high-stakes negotiations and receiving an ADHD diagnosis in his early 50s, Doug developed frameworks that work with your wiring, not against it. His experience includes private and in-house legal practice, serving as chief executive of the Connecticut Bar Association, and designing MBA leadership programs for experienced executives. Doug's approach: practical strategies from someone who's been there, not theory from someone who hasn't practiced law. Read More ›

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Credits

*CLE credit is only available to Justia Connect Pros. Not a Pro? Upgrade today>>

California CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Wellness Competence

Illinois CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Professional Responsibility - Mental Health & Substance Abuse

New Jersey CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.20 Ethics/Professionalism

North Carolina CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Professional Well-Being

Ohio CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Attorney Professional Conduct

Pennsylvania CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Ethics, Professionalism, or Substance Abuse

South Carolina CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Substance Abuse/Mental Health

Difficulty: All Levels

Texas CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.00 Legal Ethics/Professional Responsibility

West Virginia CLE

Status: Approved

Credits: 1.20 Legal Ethics, etc.


This presentation is approved for one hour of Wellness Competence CLE credit in California, one hour of Professional Responsibility - Mental Health & Substance Abuse CLE credit in Illinois, one hour of Professional Well-Being CLE credit in North Carolina, one hour of Attorney Professional Conduct CLE credit in Ohio, one hour of Ethics, Professionalism, or Substance Abuse CLE credit in Pennsylvania, one hour of Substance Abuse/Mental Health CLE credit in South Carolina (all levels), and one hour of Legal Ethics, etc. CLE credit in West Virginia. This program has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 1.20 hours of total CLE credit. Of these, 1.20 qualify as total hours of credit for Ethics/Professionalism. This course has been approved for Minimum Continuing Legal Education credit by the State Bar of Texas Committee on MCLE in the amount of 1.00 credit hours, of which 1.00 credit hours will apply to Legal Ethics/Professional Responsibility credit.

Justia only reports attendance in jurisdictions in which a particular Justia CLE Webinar is officially accredited. Lawyers may need to self-submit their certificates for CLE credit in jurisdictions not listed above.

Note that CLE credit, including partial credit, cannot be earned outside of the relevant accreditation period. To earn credit for a course, a lawyer must watch the entire course within the relevant accreditation period. Lawyers who have viewed a presentation multiple times may not be able to claim credit in their jurisdiction more than once. Justia reserves the right, at its discretion, to grant an attendee partial or no credit, in accordance with viewing duration and other methods of verifying course completion.

At this time, Justia only offers CLE courses officially accredited in certain states. Lawyers may generate a generic attendance certificate to self-submit credit in their own jurisdiction, but Justia does not guarantee that lawyers will receive their desired CLE credit through the self-submission or reciprocity process.

Looking for CLE credit? Visit CLE Dashboard CLE Accreditation
Watch Related Videos
Feb 19, 10am PT CLE
Doug Brown, JD
Doug Brown, JD Summit Success International
Mindful Lawyers Boosting Productivity, Well-Being, and Mental Health
Register Now
CLE
Lenor Marquis-Segal
Lenor Marquis-Segal Attorney
Breaking the Silence Confronting Stress, Substance Use & Burnout in Law
Watch Now