The Happy Lawyer Signature Talk

Learn how to avoid burnout and become happy(ier) in your life.

The Happy Lawyer Signature Talk has been distilled from the Happy Lawyer Project – a two year project spanning 100+ interviews with lawyers, and hundreds of hours of research, analysis, and development, all aimed at trying to answer one question:

How do we, as lawyers, become happier?

Using stories, anecdotes, and visual models, this one hour talk covers what the happy lawyers are doing (that the unhappy lawyers are not) that will move the needle for each of us in terms of reducing our risk of burnout and allowing us to flourish in our lives.

This is truly a unique talk. Paul has been saturated in law his entire life. His parents were lawyers, he is (was) a lawyer, his wife is a lawyer, most of his best friends are lawyers, many of his coaching clients are lawyers, and he practiced law for 12 years - on Bay St at one of Canada’s top firms, in the private sector at one of North America’s most storied retailers, and then in the public sector at a crown agency.

There is also an optional accompanying workshop. Both the talk and the workshop have been accredited by the Law Society of Ontario for 60 min of Professionalism CPD.

Most of us already have all we need to be happy, let’s figure out how to actually do it.

Designed to:

  • Provide the perspective and tools to accurately assess the burn-out risks and opportunities for each participant

  • Help participants develop an action plan to:

    • reduce risk of burnout, and

    • empower themselves to thrive (which will allow them to bring more energy and efficiency to their job and their life)

Feedback:

  • “Fantastic - a thought-provoking discussion that shifted my perspective.  The team loved the session and Paul's genuine and enthusiastic approach resonated with the group. His use of personal anecdotes kept us engaged and led to meaningful discussions, many of which continued even after the session was over.”
    — Mark Fedorowycz, General Counsel, Hudson’s Bay Company

  • “Very engaging and insightful presentation - the material really packs a punch. I particularly liked the visual models and the self-awareness to intentional action loop, which is helpful in day-to-day life. This is a really important conversation for us to have with ourselves and with our teams.“
    — Nicholas Saint-Martin, General Counsel, Diageo Canada

  • “Paul Karvanis’ “Happy Lawyer” talk is an essential resource for all lawyers who are seeking to optimize their mindset. Paul offers a realistic methodology to assess the internal and external variables that impact our happiness. Paul’s reflections on his own path, experience coaching lawyers, and findings from nearly 100 lawyer interviews make his presentation highly engaging and relatable. I have no doubt that Paul’s “Happiness Model”, based on building a foundation of self-compassion and self-awareness, will enable many lawyers to practice law while living a full and happy life.”
    — Christopher Selby, Partner, Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP

  • “Like the common sense that wasn't that common for you until you learned it, the ideas and framework that Paul presents stick with you and give you a different, more helpful, perspective on how to approach questions of thriving and flourishing when life and/or work are challenging. Would highly recommend the talk to anyone considering it.”
    — Philippe Savard, Vice Président, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at a Canadian Specialty Pharma Company

  • “Paul joined us to delivery his Happy Lawyer Talk, and it was both instructive and thought provoking for our students and associates alike. Paul’s delivery is excellent and engaging, and allows each participant to reflect on his insights and data to expand on their own life experiences, both in law and personally. As an added bonus, even after he left, his content left us still connecting, debating and applying the principles he shared. All in all, a great presentation and resource!”
    — Yoni Silberman, Partner, Bogoroch & Associates LLP

  • “The Happy Lawyer talk is very interesting with valuable substantive content, but where this talk shines is in the stories which both challenged me and helped me question my perspective on some fundamental issues I had been taking for granted. I've also found the action plan that comes out of it personally valuable. I would definitely recommend this to anyone considering it.”
    — Monique Lampard, Senior Counsel, Major Canadian Bank

  • “The happy lawyer talk is excellent! I have been through a lot of these sessions and this was the first where I actually had some ah-ha moments. I’m looking very forward to the happy lawyer workshop.”
    — Alex Fidler-Wener, Partner and Director of Operations, Adair Goldblatt Bieber LLP

What’s gone into this NFT (Non-Fungible Talk):

  • 100 interviews with lawyers over two years. Assuming a $600 billing rate on average (some lawyers who were interviewed were billing around $1.1-1.2k/hr), that’s $60,000 of billable hours dedicated to the Happy Lawyer Project.

  • A further 100-200 hours of my time dedicated to analysis, research, and development (assuming 150 hours at $300/hr - value of $45,000).

  • A further 50 hours dedicated to providing this talk to a beta audience, rehearsal, and further development in conjunction with feedback from lawyers (value of $15,000).

RESULT: The “Learning from the ‘Happy Lawyer’” Signature talk (value priceless). Don’t tell mastercard. 😊

We believe that improving happiness and reducing burnout among lawyers would benefit not just our profession, but society as a whole.

We have an opportunity with this project to transform our profession, one lawyer at a time, and we’re very excited to be able to share it with you.

Interested?