For those who may not have known Debi, she was a beautiful human being. Along with being a superb attorney—having practiced law for many years with Berger Singerman LLP and then serving as general counsel to Green Street Power Partners LLC in Tallahassee, Florida—she was authentic, joyful, hopeful, and kind. Keeping things real, she noted in one of her pieces, “Even as a mindfulness practitioner, I still, on occasion, have [one of those days.] Mindfulness is not so much about not having stressful days (it comes with the territory of being a lawyer) as it is about being better at dealing with them.”
When the Editorial Board of GPSolo magazine began planning the May/June 2019 issue devoted to mindfulness and lawyer well-being, Editorial Board member Angela Morrison and GPSolo Division Chair-Elect Melanie Bragg asked Debi to serve as a special consultant on the issue. In the issue, Debi contributed the piece “Mindfulness as a Tool for Lawyers,” helped assemble the body of contributions, and brought together authors for an additional article that shared ways of “Integrating Self-Care Practices into Daily Life.” Debi was also one of the original two writers for GPSolo eReport’s monthly “Mindfulness 101” column.
So that we might be reminded of some of Debi’s contributions in this area (albeit a small measure of the breadth of wisdom and compassion she offered so many of her colleagues, team members, clients, counterparties, law students, and the judiciary), below I have listed links to some of the “Mindfulness 101” pieces she wrote, as her message was evergreen.
- You Can’t Stop the Waves, But You Can Learn to Surf—A New Tool for the Lawyer’s Tool Belt: Mindfulness
- The Sound of Silence
- Navigating the New Normal and Increasing Your Productivity Through Mindfulness
- The Reemergence of Lawyers—Better, Smarter, More Efficient, More Mindful, and Healthier
- The Quest for Justice
- Overcoming Fear
- Greedy, Grumpy, Doubtful—Oh My! What’s a Lawyer to Do?
- Adversity—Give In, Give Up, Go Home? Or Transform, Transcend, Succeed!
- “Crazy Busy”—Synonymous with Being Successful, or Not?
- Mindfulness in the Law—Fact or Fiction
- Work Better, Not Harder, in Three Easy Steps
- How to Achieve “Success”—Mindfully
Debi also shared her insights and experiences with mindfulness in periodicals such as Bloomberg Law, the Berger Singerman Doing Business in Florida Blog, Lexology, and The Florida Bar News. She generously contributed her time to present to legal organizations and speak at conferences on ways people may meaningfully integrate mindfulness into their professional and personal lives. You can listen to an interview with Debi on the Resilient Lawyer podcast, where she speaks on mindfulness and the practice of law.
I am deeply grateful to be one of Debi’s many friends and for having had the honor of collaborating with her on various projects. I miss her dearly. Debi has three children and three young grandchildren, and she was clear on the importance of attending to what matters most and refocusing when we forget. Through her writings, she offers us reminders and points out accessible pathways for doing just this.