CHAPIN CIMINO: CO-PRESIDENT
Mindful Leaders in the Law: An Interview with Chapin Cimino
by Christopher J. Lhulier
Welcome to the November edition of Mindful Leaders in the Law. Each month we feature a “q & a” style interview with a leader from the MILS community. Our goal, through this series, is not only to strengthen our community by sharing interesting conversations with some of the amazing individuals that make-up MILS. We hope, by spotlighting the paths and practices of others, to also inspire and empower our members to build their mindfulness practices in creative ways that are uniquely satisfying to them.
We are so excited to share with you our recent discussion with the newly elected co-president of MILS, Chapin Cimino. Chapin is a law professor at the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law in Philadelphia. She has taught at the Kline School of Law since 2006 and prior to that she taught at Villanova Law School. She has also practiced at a large law firm in Philadelphia and was a judicial clerk for the US District Court for the District of Pennsylvania. As a longtime mindfulness student and practitioner, Chapin shares what she has learned with her law students in a course she developed called Contemplative Lawyering. She also leads weekly drop-in meditation sessions for the law school community at Kline.
We had a chance to talk with Chapin about the diverse authors, teachers and philosophers who have influenced her approach to mindfulness practice. We also talked about the positive influence she hopes to have on her law students and law school community through her Contemplative Lawyering course and the ways in which she works to foster a supportive environment for her law students to develop their mindfulness practices.
Chapin is not only well read, she is also genuine, open and relatable. We are lucky to have her as one of MILS’ leaders. We hope you enjoy our conversation with her:
Q: How did you begin practicing mindfulness?
A: By attending a Tara Brach Radical Acceptance retreat at Omega Institute in 2012.
Q: What personal benefits have you experienced through your mindfulness practice?
A: I see the world differently now, including my roles and responsibilities. That "difference" has made all the difference to me personally, so it's hard to think in terms of specific benefits. My relationship to life is all-around better than it was eight years ago.
Q: Can you briefly describe the Contemplative Lawyering class that you developed and teach?
A: I introduce the students to the idea that it is possible to stop arguing with reality, which can reduce their suffering, and at the same time, cultivate some good stuff to replace all that arguing, which increases easefulness. Law students like to argue, so sometimes it takes a while! We read The Dalai Lama's Ethics for the New Millennium alongside Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness at Work, two books that complement each other very well, step by step. Sometimes I also assign Scott Rogers' Mindfulness for Law Students or Gil Fronsdal's The Issue at Hand. In addition to the reading, I assign a different podcast each week (they get some Tara Brach this way!). They also learn a new practice each week and chat with me about their experiences in a weekly journal entry. Class time is a mix of discussion, practice, reflection, sharing, and more discussion. And while I don't assign it, I end each class with a random entry from Krista Lester's Bunny Buddhism. Law students always love "the Bunny." One week I almost forgot and they were forlorn: "No bunny today?" Yes, always the bunny!
Q: As a law professor, what level of awareness and interest in mindfulness and other well-being practices do you see among your students?
A: I think students are well-aware of and interested in mindfulness and well-being practices, but at the same time, they carry an ever -present concern that they "don't have the time." Or, if they do manage to find time, they start to judge their "progress," which becomes its own inherent turn-off to practicing. So, interest is one thing, but having access to a supportive environment is another. The more opportunities I can create within my law school to support these students, the better.
Q: As someone who is in a position to influence the next generation of lawyers, are there any contemplative based principles or practices you try to impart to your students?
A: As the Dalai Lama wrote in Ethics, empathy is the "supreme emotion." No matter the course (Contracts, First Amendment, Media Law), empathy with others is a centerpiece of my teaching. (Adam Smtih, who, perhaps unexpectedly, I find fascinating, thought that empathy was the moral and ethical force that makes law binding.) Legal philosopher Anthony Kronman believes that empathy is crucial for lawyering and that it should be a centerpiece of legal education. He calls it developing a student's "moral imagination," so that's the term I use with my students, too. But I could just as well cite the Dalai Lama.
Q: Do you see mindfulness and well-being programs eventually being an integral part of law school and the legal profession?
A: That lawyers may one day regularly embrace mindfulness and well-being programs is a tremendously valuable and worthy aspiration, and one I wholeheartedly embrace. Not sure I would say it's my expectation, however.
Q: Do you have a go to mindfulness practice for those days when you do not have time to do a formal sitting?
A: Yes - consciously reconnecting with whatever sensory experience I'm having in the moment. I never thought I would say this, having been stuck in my head for so much of my life, but whenever I can remember to feel my feet on the floor or my hands on the steering wheel, I feel better immediately. More spacious.
Q: What advice would you give young lawyers and law students who want to balance their career success with their overall physical, emotional and psychological well-being?
A: I read recently that in her new book, Real Change, Sharon Salzberg reconceptualizes balance as a multidimensional concept: more like a gyroscope and less like a scale. I like that a great deal, and I would share that advice with anyone.