Bench & Bar May/June 2025

Even purveyors of the most worryingly doom-laden and aggressively Luddite per spectives on electronically enhanced legal practice will eventually concede—when we perversely email, text, and message them enough—that some memory capabilities still attach to the process of representing clients, in or out of court. How, then, are we best advised to develop and sustain those capabilities? According to doctors at the Mayo Clinic (https://tinyurl.com/mayomemory), there exist several key and occasionally over lapping “tips to improve your memory,” presented and annotated infra : 1) Be physically active every day. This means more than driving to the office, driving to the courthouse, pacing back and forth in front of the jury, driving back to the office, and driving back home. The Mayo doctors observe that “the Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aer obic activity, such as brisk walking, or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity, such as jogging.” At this point, of course, counsel can be forgiven for asking if shak ing one’s head vigorously from one side to the other and laughing uproariously would count too. Yes, a bit, but … 2) Stay mentally active. Lawyers might rush to insist that they have this one covered simply by showing up to work. The Mayo doctors recommend that we also try to augment our mental itinerary by attempting to, for example, “play games” and “try a new hobby.” It turns out that variety is not only the spice of life, but also serves to exercise the mind in ways that are with others. Trial counsel might be ticking this box a bit too quickly when reflecting on at least 12 others with whom it is their fate to hang out for hours and perhaps even days at a time. Here, the Mayo doctors are referring to the more relaxing and uncluttered. 3) Spend time

sort of “social interaction” that “helps ward off depression and stress.” Perhaps we can sit around with other folks and enjoy some video that for once isn’t just body camera footage. 4) Stay organized. This one is perhaps more for the layper sons. If attorneys don’t stay organized then before long what they’ll most need to remember is what sort of plans they might have had for a making a living before going to law school in the first place. The Mayo doctors aren’t just making idle con versation when they stress the dangers that arise when, for instance, “your notes are in disarray.” 5) Sleep well. Counsel may still be laughing from the advice about “150 minutes a week of moder ate aerobic activity” and “75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity,” but prolonged sleeplessness catches up with all of us in the end. The Mayo doctors can cite no end of peer-reviewed research studies—not to mention pure common sense—in support of the conclusion that “not getting enough sleep has been linked to memory loss.” 6) Eat a healthy diet. For lawyers, who live or die professionally on the basis of verbal expression, the phrase “eat a healthy diet” may stick out like a sore thumb, but medical types know more than we do about nutrition … and come to think of it, about thumbs as well. The Mayo doc tors, like their colleagues elsewhere, are big fans of “fruits, vegetables, and whole grains” as well as “low-fat protein sources.” 7) Manage chronic health problems. Let’s consider this item a humor-free zone and get right to the point. As emotionally and physically daunting as it can be to grap ple with chronic health problems, we need to do what we can—with proper medical assistance whenever feasible—to try to get better for ourselves and for our clients.

Memory is a concept that handily reflects the guidance proffered by the “National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being” (the “Task Force”), an entity “conceptualized and initiated by the ABA Commission on Lawyer Assistance Programs (CoLAP), the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC), and the Association of Profes sional Responsibility Lawyers (APRL)” and made up of several other “participat ing entities” from within and without the American Bar Association (https://tinyurl. com/ntflwb). The Task Force has identified six pillars or “dimensions” that combine to “make up full well-being for lawyers,” one of which is the “Intellectual” dimension, described as “engaging in continuous learning and the pursuit of creative or intellec tually challenging activities thatfoster ongoing development” and “monitoring cognitive wellness” (https://tinyurl.com/ ntflwb-report). Let’s do our best to remem ber this advice.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

DR. ERIC Y. DROGIN is a Norton Healthcare Louisville Hospitals Medical Staff member with

clinical privileges in adult psychology. He teaches on the faculty of the Harvard Medi cal School, where he serves as the Affiliated Lead of Psycholegal Studies for the Psychi atry, Law, and Society Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and participates in the Program in Psychiatry and the Law at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center and the Forensic Psychiatry Service at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Proud to be a Kentucky lawyer for over 30 years, Dr. Drogin is a former chair of the ABA Science & Technology Law Section and a former president of the American Board of Forensic Psychology. Please contact him at eyd@drogin.net with your suggestions for lawyer mental health and wellness topics.

47 bench & bar