Cooley Adds Mental Health Benefits in Expanded Wellness Push
As more law firms tackle attorney mental health, Cooley's new partnership with Modern Health will offer additional support to lawyers and staff.
January 30, 2020 at 06:01 PM
3 minute read
In an expansion of its mental health initiatives, Cooley announced a new partnership Thursday to provide holistic, personalized mental health resources to its attorneys and staff.
The firm has entered a partnership with Modern Health to provide attorneys and staff with personalized mental and emotional support at no cost, Cooley said. The initiative is an addition to b.well@cooley, the firm's program addressing mental and emotional health and well-being at the firm.
Modern Health is a digital platform that provides workplaces with customized mental health and well-being programming for its workforce. At Cooley, program participants will be matched with a coach and provided with personalized resources, including certified coaches, licensed therapists, self assessments, digital programs and audio therapy, all through a smartphone app.
Cooley's move comes amid a broader effort among major law firms to confront mental health issues and overcome taboos about seeking treatment in the legal profession, which struggles with high rates of stress, substance abuse, suicide and other challenges.
Colleen Gillis, a Washington, D.C., partner and co-chair of Cooley's mental health and wellness committee, said the initiative, which was rolled out to all attorneys and staff earlier this month, has been met with positive feedback because it allows participants to seek mental health resources at a time most convenient for them.
"No one has to wait to be trained to deal with stress and anxiety—they can go right to the app," she said, noting there were different programs to learn about managing stress, meditation, mindfulness and promoting better sleep. "This is allowing for real life, real time access to those support tools that doesn't have to necessarily follow the schedule of the mental health and wellness committee."
The partnership with Modern Health is only the latest b.well@cooley initiative: The firm has taken multiple steps to affirm its commitment to mental and emotional health of its staff. Cooley said it has also been de-emphasizing alcohol—removing champagne flutes and martini glasses when promoting events—and facilitating mindfulness training by providing attorneys with six-month subscriptions to a meditation app.
Gillins says b.well@cooley has always done a good job of promoting good physical health practices, but it's really in the last year that the firm has doubled down on its efforts to promote mental health and wellness, too.
"We're trying to focus on recognizing that to operate at this level of performance in the legal profession is similar to the level of performance for professional athletes in the Super Bowl," she said. "They don't achieve their greatness and record success by focusing just on their sport—they're also training for focus, staying calm, managing stress and optimizing recovery."
"We're really focusing on bringing that paradigm to every corner of Cooley," she said.
|Read More
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllMeet the Finalists: The American Lawyer's Young Lawyers of The Year
Latham Departures Continue as Capital Markets Partner Joins Greenberg Traurig
2 minute readHSF's American Dream: What Will a U.S. Merger Mean For its Asia Practice?
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1As Gen AI Acceptance Grows, Lawyers Race to Mitigate Risks
- 2Decisions Have 'Real-Life Consequences': Juvenile Court Judge Considered for Appellate Bench
- 3NY District Attorneys Ask for Level Funding Amid Statewide Drop in Violent Crime
- 4Texas Trial Boutique Matches Milbank Bonuses, Paying Up to $140K
- 5'Final Countdown': SEC Launches Nearly 800% Litigation Surge in October
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250