Lawyer Like An Athlete

A program for attorneys wanting to excel with less stress and more rewards.

Attorneys face a unique type of stress and require unique solutions. Lawyer Like an Athlete is a proven program designed to target distinct stressors faced every day by attorneys. Developed by Dr. Wood, this system incorporates approaches used by sports champions and world-class achievers. The emphasis is on peak performance practices that reduce the strain of lawyering and promote greater happiness and productivity.

 

The Lawyer Like an Athlete program is delivered through:

  • One-on-One and Group Coaching
  • Professional Development Trainings
  • CLE Events
  • Speaking Engagements
  • The ABA-Published Book, Lawyer Like an Athlete

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Connect with Dr. Amy Wood to start a conversation about achieving more—with greater clarity, confidence, and calm.
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LAWYER LIKE AN ATHLETE SERVICES

Individual Coaching

Engage in a series of private, customized sessions with Dr. Wood, designed to enhance both personal and professional fulfillment. Each client begins by completing the self-administered Hogan Personality Assessment, gaining valuable insights into their strengths, blind spots, and growth opportunities. Building on the Hogan results, coaching sessions focus on clarifying desired outcomes, developing a strategic action plan, and navigating real-world challenges to achieve meaningful progress. Intensive learning, consistent accountability, and committed practice of new strategies between sessions promotes lasting progress.

Lawyer Like An Athlete Training

Bring Dr. Wood into your legal organization to lead half-day and full-day training sessions designed to teach the Lawyer Like An Athlete approach. This dynamnic group experience encompasses expert instruction, interactive exercises, and guided reflection. Every participant leaves with a set of sustainable tools for bringing out their best, along with a personalized action plan to keep their learning in motion.

CLE Options

Join the Bars of Montana, Florida, Connecticut, Alaska, and several other states in welcoming Dr. Wood for one of her popular CLE well-being webinars. In addition to Lawyer Like An Athlete, Dr. Wood covers topics like Boost Your Emotional Intelligence, Elevate Your Mindset for Greater Success, and How to Thrive Amid Uncertainty. Participants earn CLE credit while learning practical, sustainable strategies to manage attorney stress and create more success at work — and in life.

Speaking Engagements

Invite Dr. Wood to speak at your next conference or event. Her inspiring and practical talks captivate audiences, spark real change, and deliver actionable insights. Whether presenting keynotes or leading breakout sessions, Dr. Wood covers Lawyer Like An Athlete, and such topics as Elevate Your Mindset for Greater Success, Boost Your Emotional Intelligence, and How to Thrive Amid Uncertainty. With her talent for simplifying the unique complexities of attorney work and life into manageable solutions, she always gives attendees powerful, immediately useful tips. 

What People Say About Working with Dr. Wood

“One of our attorneys and I worked with Amy to create a customized half-day version of her Lawyer Like an Athlete program, including follow-up coaching for all participants. Dr. Wood provided practical ideas for building endurance and outsmarting burnout to help our associates be more effective and fulfilled. The seminar and coaching have been very well-received by the participants, all of whom appreciate both Dr. Wood’s approach and the time spent focused on their wellness.”

– Charles Vrtis
Director of Human Resources, Pierce Atwood

 

“Amy has presented several CLE seminars for the Maine State Bar Association. Her knowledge, experience, and presentation skills are key ingredients in the success of her programs and are consistently rated excellent by attorneys.”

– Linda Morin-Pascos
Continuing Legal Education Director, Maine State Bar

 

“Lawyer Like An Athlete takes direct aim at the high rates of toxic stress, anxiety, and depression that plague the legal profession. Smart, practical, and wise, this book should be on every lawyer’s must-read list.”

– Daniel Lukasik
Professor, University of Buffalo School of Law

 

“Lawyer Like An Athlete is vital reading for any attorney, or aspiring attorney, who struggles with burnout, stress, or work-life balance. Through real stories and practical exercises, Dr. Amy Wood breaks down the myth that you cannot be a successful lawyer and have a fulfilling life. In fact, she shows that being a successful attorney with a fulfilling life doesn’t have to be as difficult as we make it out to be. This book is essential for attorneys who want an easier way.”

– Katie Day Winchenback
Program Director, Ms. JD

 

“Lawyer Like An Athlete is an indispensable guide to solving the attorney stress problem. Similar to her no-nonsense CLE programs, Dr. Wood’s book surpasses standard self-help advice with attorney-specific strategies that are manageable, sustainable, and truly constructive.”

– Linda Morin-Pasco
Continuing Legal Education Director, Maine State Bar

 

Success stories

Nelson

It’s fair to say that Nelson was close to hyperventilating the first time we met. He described feeling on top of the world two years ago when he’d been offered a job at a huge New York law firm, but recently while working at home alone on yet another Saturday, he’d looked down from his high-rise apartment window at people doing regular Saturday things and realized he didn’t want this crazy, workaholic lifestyle any longer.

Read more about Nelson's story

Since then, he’d been vacillating between fiercely believing he could find a job that would allow him a life and feeling evermore mired in misery because he didn’t know how to make the transition happen instantly. Once I helped him to get off the madly swinging pendulum and get centered through verbal processing and relaxation techniques, Nelson saw the wisdom of replacing his A-to-Z-this-minute approach with a more sensible game plan. Then he was able to start moving forward in small increments — talk to a friend who had made a satisfying job change, dig out his resume, make a list of possible new jobs he might want to check out — to progressively unmoor himself.

Emily

Environmental law attorney Emily used to judge herself harshly — “I’m an idiot, I’ve totally messed this up — for making occasional typos when writing up documents, and her stress level would sky rocket from an associated sense of inferiority and hopelessness. Now when she’s feeling unduly stressed, she knows how to look at her thoughts and adjust them

Read more about Emily's story

“I made an error but it’s no big deal; lawyers make corrections all the time”–to dial her anxiety down. The more she notices, stops, and fine-tunes her mental reactions, the fewer mistakes she makes and the calmer and more capable she feels.

James

James, a longtime partner at an established firm, came to coaching because his fellow partners were concerned that he was burning out. He attributed his work success to eating while working, putting in long hours at night and on weekends, and working while his family vacationed, but he was willing to consider that his all-work, no-break policy might be serving him less as he got older.

Read more about James' story

Though he was willing to try some new tricks, he was afraid that rest and recovery, even in five-minute increments, would interfere with his belief that he should be working at the beck and call of his clients. By getting used to the idea of breaks little by little, session by session, he was able to see that, to his surprise, withdrawing regularly from work actually made him better able to be more present and patient with his clients and solve problems more swiftly for them.

Magdalena

Magdalena, a second-year associate, sought coaching to determine if she really had the right constitution for being an attorney. She liked the work, but negative feedback about her performance (“You’re not assertive enough”, “You don’t speak up enough”) had her wondering if she should switch careers.

Read more about Magdalena's story

I suggested that she was being influenced by the generalization that the best attorneys are aggressive and insistent; could it be that she could be successful as an unassuming introvert? Could she stop trying to line up with typecasting and shine in other, more productive ways? By looking more deeply at criticism, letting only valid reasons stop her, and finding ways to shine that aligned with her nature, Magdalena was able to feel more comfortable in her position. Sure, she still took feedback seriously, acknowledging that she needed to get better at being vocal and getting heard, then taking tiny steps—vowing to speak up at least once at every meeting and going from there—to maximize her voice. But she learned to toss irrelevant aspects of commentary that provided no value and only got in her way.

See the Program in Action

Watch Dr. Amy Wood lead a Lawyer Like an Athlete webinar for Clyde & Company, where she shares actionable strategies for reducing stress and improving performance in the legal profession.

Amy In The News

Dr. Wood’s work has been featured in national media outlets including Parade Magazine, Woman’s Day, New England Psychologist, and more. 

See full media list

How to Listen Better

Listen as Dr. Wood participates in a panel discussion on the importance of listening. How do we really listen to what others are saying? It’s not just a person-to-person matter—organizations and companies are focusing more on listening to employees or customers to...

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Anger & How to Manage It

Anger seems to be more pervasive in our society today. It can be attributed to our polarized national climate as well as problems at the interpersonal level. Listen as Dr. Wood discusses how to understand the causes of anger, and how to better manage this difficult...

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