Lawyers as Healers
Claim This Podcastby Dave Albrechta
Podcast Overview
<p>“The obligation of our profession is, or has long been thought to be, to serve as healers of human conflict.”<br />— Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, <i>The State of Justice</i>, Address to the American Bar Association (1971).</p><p></p><p>What would the legal system look like if lawyers actually lived up to that idea?</p><p></p><p><i>Lawyers as Healers </i>explores a quiet (r)evolution happening inside the legal profession where a growing number of lawyers are rethinking how law is practiced and how conflict can be resolved.</p><p></p><p>Host Dave Albrechta, a coach, mediator, and recovering litigator, shares his own journey away from traditional adversarial practice and toward approaches that prioritize healing, understanding, and resolution.</p><p></p><p>Through solo episodes and conversations with lawyers who are pioneering new ways of practicing, this podcast challenges conventional assumptions about law, justice, and conflict.</p><p></p><p>If you're curious about what the legal system could become, and the people working to transform it from within, you're in the right place.</p><p></p><p>www.davealbrechta.com</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
4/2/2026
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Recent Episodes
July 27, 2026
Ep. 13 - It's Not Efficient. It's Important.
<p>In this episode of <i>Lawyers as Healers</i>, I’m joined by Hillary Wandler, a lawyer, law professor, and director of the Veterans Advocacy Clinic at the University of Montana’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law. Hillary teaches legal analysis, legal writing, and veterans disability law, and her work sits at a powerful intersection: helping students learn the traditional tools of legal analysis while also asking how lawyers can remain connected to compassion, humanity, and the people they serve.</p><p>Our conversation begins with Hillary’s path into law, including her early pull toward advocacy, her experience feeling like she had gotten on a professional “train” that was difficult to get off, and the moments that helped her realize traditional litigation was not fully aligned with who she was or why she entered the profession.</p><p></p><p>We also talk about the culture of legal practice, the pressure to always be available, and the way the profession often moralizes efficiency and responsiveness. One of Hillary’s central reflections is that some things may not be efficient — but they are still important.</p><p></p><p>A major part of the conversation explores Hillary’s work with Cognitively-Based Compassion Training, or CBCT®, a compassion training program developed at Emory University, and how that work has influenced her teaching, legal writing, and thinking about the formation of future lawyers.</p><p></p><p>Hillary shares how she has brought more integrative and human-centered approaches into her legal writing classroom, including helping students compare a traditional client advice letter with one that is more compassionate, collaborative, and values-centered.</p><p></p><p>We also discuss generative AI, legal education, and why the rise of AI may force lawyers to ask an essential question: If technology can do more of the technical work, where do human lawyers actually bring value? For Hillary and me, the answer kept coming back to the same place: Our humanity.</p><h2>In this episode, we discuss:</h2><ul><li>Hillary’s path into law and legal education</li><li>the professional “train” of legal achievement</li><li>the pressure to always be available</li><li>why the legal profession moralizes efficiency</li><li>necessary pain versus unnecessary pain in law</li><li>compassion in legal writing and client communication</li><li>Cognitively-Based Compassion Training</li><li>integrative law in the classroom</li><li>generative AI and the future value of human lawyers</li><li>what gives Hillary hope about the next generation of lawyers</li></ul><h2>Learn more about Hillary’s work:</h2><p>University of Montana profile:<br /><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://umimpact.umt.edu/en/persons/hillary-wandler/" target="_blank">https://umimpact.umt.edu/en/persons/hillary-wandler/</a></p><p>University of Montana — Alexander Blewett III School of Law:<br /><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.umt.edu/law/" target="_blank">https://www.umt.edu/law/</a></p><p>CBCT® — Cognitively-Based Compassion Training through Emory University:<br /><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://compassion.emory.edu/cbct-compassion-training/" target="_blank">https://compassion.emory.edu/cbct-compassion-training/</a></p><h2>Guest</h2><p><b>Hillary Wandler</b><br />Professor of Law and Director of the Veterans Advocacy Clinic<br />Alexander Blewett III School of Law, University of Montana</p><h2>Host</h2><p><b>Dave Albrechta</b><br />Mediator, coach, recovering litigator, and host of <i>Lawyers as Healers</i>.</p>
July 20, 2026
Ep. 12 - The Intersection of Intuition and Law
<p>In this episode of <i>Lawyers as Healers</i>, I’m joined by Jason Ciofalo, also known as Jason Zuk, The Social Psychic.</p><p></p><p>Jason is both a licensed attorney and an intuitive psychic medium whose work sits at the intersection of logic, intuition, personal transformation, and consciousness. His website describes him as an attorney licensed in five states, an intuitive psychic medium, and host of <i>The Social Psychic Radio Show</i>.</p><p></p><p>This conversation explores a tension many lawyers and professionals experience in different ways: the tension between the analytical identity we build for the outside world and the deeper intuitive parts of ourselves that often get pushed aside.</p><p></p><p>Jason shares the story of his first major mediumship experience, why he kept his legal and intuitive work separate for years, and what it has been like to navigate both identities publicly. We also talk about fear, ego, caregiving, cancer, burnout, self-care, professionalism, and why lawyers may become better advocates when they are more connected to their own humanity.</p><p></p><p>A central theme in this conversation is that clients are not just files, facts, or legal problems. They are people. And when lawyers are more grounded, calm, intuitive, and compassionate, they may be better able to see the human being in front of them.</p><p></p><p>Whether you approach these ideas through psychology, spirituality, intuition, or simply learning to listen more deeply to yourself, this episode is ultimately about becoming more honest about who we are, how we serve, and how we want to move through the world.</p><h2>In this episode, we discuss:</h2><ul><li>Jason’s path from traditional legal practice to becoming publicly known as The Social Psychic</li><li>the tension between analytical legal training and intuitive knowing</li><li>why Jason kept his legal and intuitive work separate for many years</li><li>fear, ego, and professional identity in the legal field</li><li>how caregiving and cancer survivorship reshaped Jason’s understanding of purpose and calm</li><li>why “powering through” is not always the healthiest response to burnout</li><li>how lawyers can better see clients as human beings rather than files</li><li>the importance of boundaries with aggressive opposing counsel</li><li>intuition, compassion, and self-awareness as tools for more human lawyering</li><li>what it might mean for lawyers to become healers of human conflict</li></ul><h2>Learn more about Jason’s work:</h2><p>The Social Psychic:<br /><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.thesocialpsychic.com/" target="_blank">https://www.thesocialpsychic.com/</a></p><p>The Social Psychic Radio Show on Spotify:<br /><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/2BvbfY5CpkPwMOpHogUT28" target="_blank">https://open.spotify.com/show/2BvbfY5CpkPwMOpHogUT28</a></p><p>LinkedIn:<br /><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-zuk" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-zuk</a></p><p>Instagram:<br /><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.instagram.com/the_social_psychic/" target="_blank">https://www.instagram.com/the_social_psychic/</a></p><p>Ciofalo Law Firm:<br /><a rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.ciofalolaw.com/" target="_blank">https://www.ciofalolaw.com/</a></p><h2>Guest</h2><p><b>Jason Ciofalo / Jason Zuk</b><br />Attorney, intuitive psychic medium, life coach, and host of <i>The Social Psychic Radio Show</i>.</p><h2>Host</h2><p><b>Dave Albrechta</b><br />Mediator, coach, recovering litigator, and host of <i>Lawyers as Healers</i>.</p>
July 6, 2026
Ep. 11 - From Extraction to Stewardship: What Forests Taught Me About the Legal System
<p>In this solo reflection, Dave returns from a 30-day van trip with his family through the American West, the Pacific Northwest, and Vancouver Island. Along the way, time spent among Sequoias, Redwoods, coastal rainforests, clear-cut forests, and recovering ecosystems sparked a deeper reflection on the legal system and the role lawyers play in human conflict.</p><p></p><p>Standing among ancient trees and witnessing the visible consequences of extraction, Dave began seeing parallels between ecological destruction and the way the legal system often handles conflict. When a system is driven primarily by money, speed, efficiency, and winning, it can become very good at extraction—and very bad at stewardship.</p><p></p><p>This episode explores what happens when conflict becomes a commodity, when clients become cases, when opposing parties become obstacles, and when lawyers move from one dispute to the next without fully seeing what is left behind.</p><p></p><p>Just as damaged ecosystems can recover, species can return, and communities can begin repairing what was lost, Dave asks whether the legal profession may also be living in an age of restoration. More lawyers are asking different questions. More are exploring mediation, restorative practices, collaborative law, trauma-informed lawyering, coaching, emotional intelligence, and more human-centered ways of working with conflict.</p><h2>In this episode:</h2><ul><li>Reflections from a 30-day family van trip through the Pacific Northwest and Vancouver Island</li><li>What old-growth forests, clear-cuts, and ecological restoration reveal about systems</li><li>The difference between extraction and stewardship</li><li>How the legal system commodifies conflict</li><li>Why the consequences of legal conflict are often harder to see than environmental damage</li><li>What lawyers may leave behind after a case ends</li><li>Aldo Leopold’s land ethic and what it might teach lawyers</li><li>The hidden emotional and relational costs of litigation</li><li>Why lawyers should see themselves as stewards of human communities</li><li>The possibility of restoration within the legal profession</li></ul><h2></h2>
13 total episodes available
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- What is Lawyers as Healers?
<p>“The obligation of our profession is, or has long been thought to be, to serve as healers of human conflict.”<br />— Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, <i>The State of Justice</i>, Address to the American Bar Association (1971).</p><p></p><p>What would the legal system look like if lawyers actually lived up to that idea?</p><p></p><p><i>Lawyers as Healers </i>explores a quiet (r)evolution happening inside the legal profession where a growing number of lawyers are rethinking how law is practiced and how conflict can be resolved.</p><p></p><p>Host Dave Albrechta, a coach, mediator, and recovering litigator, shares his own journey away from traditional adversarial practice and toward approaches that prioritize healing, understanding, and resolution.</p><p></p><p>Through solo episodes and conversations with lawyers who are pioneering new ways of practicing, this podcast challenges conventional assumptions about law, justice, and conflict.</p><p></p><p>If you're curious about what the legal system could become, and the people working to transform it from within, you're in the right place.</p><p></p><p>www.davealbrechta.com</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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