Can Mindfulness Help Law Students with Stress, Focus, and Well-Being: An Empirical Study of 1Ls at a Midwestern Law School

Recent calls for law students, lawyers, judges, and others in the legal profession to try mindfulness training to reduce stress and enhance wellbeing beg the question of whether mindfulness will work for those in the uniquely rigorous environment of law. There is no empirical research on mindfulness effects for lawyers - unlike the medical field, where research has found beneficial effects of mindfulness training for doctors, nurses, and other health care providers. To fill this gap in the literature, we conducted an empirical study of forty-seven first year, first semester law students at the University of Missouri School of Law during the 2013 and 2014 academic years to see what kind of impact, if any, mindfulness training might have on their stress, focus, well-being, and academic performance. We conducted the training during the eight weeks leading up to first semester exams