Upcoming Events
We use this page to list events that may interest you. Please note, however, that only events marked with our 
symbol are "official" Contemplative Mind Law Program events. All other events are associated with other organizations.
last update: August 28, 2008
Meditation Retreat for Law Professionals and Students
September 11-14, 2008 (Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon)
Menla Mountain Center, Phoenicia, NY
4 hours of MCLE Credits
Mindfulness meditation can provide a practical tool for busy legal professionals to quiet the mind, enhance clarity and professional effectiveness, and restore a more peaceful balance to their lives. This program will include meditation instruction and practice, and will explore the interplay between contemplative and legal practices and the role meditation can play in the professional and personal lives of lawyers, judges, law professors, law students, and other legal professionals. There will be periods of silent meditation, lectures, and group discussions concerning skills training and the ethical practice of law..
The Center for Contemplative in Society has offered retreats for legal professionals for ten years, offering annual retreats in California since 2004. We are pleased to return to the East Coast to present this special program.
This retreat is co-sponsored by the City University of New York School of Law.
Retreat Leaders
The leadership for the retreat is comprised of individuals who have been leading retreats for law professionals for the past five years:
Norman Fischer | Founder and Spiritual Director, EveryDay Zen Foundation
Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a poet and Zen Buddhist priest. For many years he has taught at the San Francisco Zen Center, the oldest and largest of the new Buddhist organizations in the West, where he served as Co-abbot from 1995-2000. He is presently a Senior Dharma Teacher there as well as the founder and spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, an organization dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhist teachings to Western culture. His latest book is Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer's Odyssey to Navigate Life's Perils and Pitfalls.
Susan B. Jordan | Nationally recognized criminal defense lawyer
Susan B. Jordan is a well-known criminal defense lawyer and civil litigator. She has distinguished herself in many areas. She is most well known for her work defending women charged with violent crimes, as well as her work in defense of civil liberties. She is credited with the creation of the battered spouse defense. She currently defends all types of criminal cases in State and Federal Court and is a civil litigator in sexual harassment, sexual abuse, real estate and business cases as well as a licensed mediator.
She writes frequently on topics in the law and is a sought after public speaker. She was recently honored by being sworn in as the first tribal Judge for the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians. She is listed in Best Lawyers of America, and maintains an “AV” rating in Martindale Hubbell.
Charles Halpern | Founding Dean, CUNY School of Law; Chair, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Charles Halpern, currently Scholar in Residence at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at Berkeley, is a public interest entrepreneur, an innovator in legal education, a pioneer in the public interest law movement, and a long-time meditator. From 1989-2000, he served as the founding President of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, stimulating the development of a creative program in the area of contemplative practice. In the early '90s, he hosted meetings of the Working Group on Contemplative Mind in Society, and subsequently has served as the chair of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society. The Foundation supported the revival of Jewish meditation, meditation retreats for environmental and social activists, and programs to restore the contemplative dimension in law, journalism, and business.
He was the Founding Dean of the City University of New York Law School at Queens College, a public interest law school with a novel curriculum. Previously, he was a professor at Stanford and Georgetown Law Schools, and a Senior Fellow at Yale Law School. He was the co-founder of the Center for Law and Social Policy (1969), the Mental Health Law Project (now the Bazelon Center for Law and Mental Health) (1971), and the Council for Public Interest Law (now the Alliance for Justice) (1976). After graduating with honors from Yale Law School and Harvard College, he practiced law at Arnold & Porter, in Washington, D.C.. He was chair of the board for Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action, a new think tank in New York City, until 2002 and continues to serve on the board. He has practiced meditation for the past 20 years, with a variety of Jewish and Buddhist teachers. He recently published Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom.
Douglas Chermak | Law Program Director, Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Doug Chermak practices public interest environmental law in Alameda, CA. He is a 2004 graduate from Boalt Hall School of Law, at the University of California (Berkeley), where he received a JD with a certificate in Environmental Law. In 2001, he received a B.S. in Chemistry (with Honors) from the University of Florida, where he began an exploration of contemplative practices through yoga, prayer, and meditation. He has run the Law Program at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society since 2004.
Travel Information
By car, Menla Mountain Retreat Center is 2 hours north of Manhattan and 3.5 hours west of Boston. Participants will be able to post car-sharing information on our online ride board. Nearby airports include Albany and Newburgh (both are 1 hour away), and JFK Int'l and LaGuardia (approximately 2 hours away). A bus to Phoenicia from the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York is available through Adirondack Trailways. The Amtrak Rhinecliff train station is approximately 50 minutes from Menla.The train ride is less than two hours from New York City; taxi service is generally available at the Rhinecliff station.
Retreat Fees & Accommodations
Menla Mountain Retreat & Conference Center is set on 320 acres in the historic Catskill Mountains of New York State. Surrounded by a national forest preserve, the retreat center offers complete privacy in a tranquil setting.
The retreat fee is $500. Protein-balanced vegetarian meals will be provided. Need-based scholarships are available; you may apply for a scholarship when you register for the retreat.
For more information, contact Doug Chermak, Law Program Director at the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, at law@contemplativemind.org.
DC Area Contemplative Law Group
The DC Area Contemplative Law Group is a group of lawyers who seek to balance the externally driven practice of law with contemplative practices. We meet almost every month for meditation and discussion in a private room on the third floor of Skewers/Luna Books (1633 P Street NW).
The meetings run from 7:00PM to 9:00PM, but people often come early to chat or eat something. Parking is $2.00 with validation.
For more information, email Linda Lazarus, LindaLazarus[at]starpower[dot]net
Dharma Group for Lawyers
One Sunday per month
San Francisco and Berkeley Zen Centers
9:30-11:30 a.m.
Led by Mary Mocine
We meditate for a half hour, then discuss an aspect of law practice as it relates to meditation and our deeper values. We will continue to work with Norman Fischer’s book, Taking Our Places:The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up.
The meetings alternate between San Francisco and Berkeley Zen Centers. After the discussion, we have a potluck brunch. Coffee and tea are provided.
A teaching donation will be requested.
Meditation instruction will be offered.
For information, please contact Mary Mocine at mmocine[at]sbcglobal[dot]net or (707) 649-2480.