Coral Gables attorney Harley Tropin has carved a niche in high-caliber complex and class action litigation with a national profile, and many of his cases are enveloped in messy fraud claims.

The president of the 25-attorney Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton serves on the board of the International Academy of Lawyers, is a member of Florida's Federal Judicial Nominating Commission and has lectured on trial advocacy for 25 years at the University of Miami School of Law.

Tropin is not exactly unflappable, but he has worked for decades at defusing stressful situations by pausing to think — even momentarily — before reacting to professional challenges.

Tropin, who meditates and practices mindfulness, was asked for his thoughts on stress in the legal profession starting in law school.

As an advocate for greater access to mental health services, explain how your work overlaps at the University of Miami School of Law, which pioneered a mindfulness in law program, and the university's Department of Psychiatry.

There are two critical problems in mental health — the stigma that still surrounds mental health issues, which prevents people from seeking treatment, and access to mental health services when they do seek help. When I served as co-chair of the UM psychiatry department advisory board, we worked with many others to put on programs to “stop the stigma.” We also had outreach from the departments' psychiatrists who spoke at law firms on signs of depression and substance problems in coworkers and family. This always resulted in people approaching the doctors or me to ask for numbers of professionals or how best to seek some sort of advice. And I think people found comfort in simply knowing that many others face these issues.

There are also heroes in the Miami community like Miami-Dade County Court Judge Steve Leifman, who has developed initiatives that I will support to help improve access for people in our community. With Florida either 49th or 50th in the country in spending on mental health care, this is a critical issue.

I also work with Scott Rogers in the UM law school's mindfulness program. I help Scott teach law students how mindfulness can help them deal with issues in school and in real-life situations as a litigator.

What do you practice or recommend for mindfulness in a high-stress legal environment and in law school? What is your favorite quick-hit technique for calming down or improving concentration?

For 25 years or so, I have practiced meditation by closing my office, turning off all my devices and sticking a yellow DND post it on my door. For about 20 minutes, I just breathe and meditate. It re-energizes me and focuses me for the rest of the day.

When I get hit with a stressful situation — a bad ruling or a tough phone call with an opponent — I breathe for a few moments and try to avoid the immediate emotional response and analyze where that might be coming from. Those few seconds help me choose my best response — maybe waiting a while to respond. Or responding more gently than I might otherwise have. Maybe talking to a partner to get more perspective.

Here's a good example. At a mediation not long ago, our adversaries — after keeping my partner and me waiting for hours — presented us with what everyone knew was an outrageous offer. Instead of the explosion that everyone expected, I took a moment and said, “We'll take a while to consider this and give you a complete, thought-out response.” Taking that time and coming up with a thought-out blueprint actually worked; we ended up with a reasonable, fair result close to what we proposed; and I remember it because our two co-counsel said when it was over, “That reaction was really something. You were doing that mindfulness stuff, right?” I know it was a better strategy than the explosive response, which I've also used.

How do you work around the concept that the touchy-feeliness of mindfulness conflicts with the image of a hard-charging litigator?

I used to get this more in the past than I do now. The DBR published an article on mindfulness a few years ago, and I was part of it. Almost all of the reaction was positive and interested; one of my friends though emailed me, quoted Justice Antonin Scalia and said, “If I were you and I was spouting that new age argle-bargle, I'd wear a bag over my head.” So clearly not everyone is a fan.

But law firm leaders are incredibly open to it now, and certainly younger lawyers see the upside to having a more balanced existence and reducing stress. There are very few detractors.

Give an example of a lesson about litigation and attorney mental health that makes an impression on law students.

I tell the students that if they were coal miners, they would be at risk for lung disease. I tell them I love what I do and I hope they will too, but it is stressful, and they should take precautions to avoid burnout, depression and substance abuse. Those include mindfulness, great relationships with family and friends, religion and avoiding “being a lawyer” with your spouse. A way law students can use mindfulness is in the trial advocacy classes. A major obstacle which gets in the way of their performance is stage fright. Breathing techniques and other aspects of mindfulness help here as well.

Mindfulness allows you to choose a more thoughtful response instead of reflexively sending the snarky email when in the middle of a discovery dispute when you get one from an opponent. When you take the moment that mindfulness can give you, you can choose a better response than firing off the nasty email that will be attached as an exhibit to a discovery motion that the judge who reads it will probably conclude is lawyer bickering. Maybe you will call that opponent or meet with him. Or at least write a more thought-out email.

Did a single event or discovery bring you to a greater appreciation for stress relief in the legal profession?

For me personally, it was the stress of starting a firm, developing business and trying to learn how to try complex cases. Recently, the tragic loss of wonderful trial lawyers like Richard Sharpstein and Ervin Gonzalez to depression has reemphasized the importance of reducing the stigma of mental health issues and making access to mental health care more available.

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