First Friday Ethics (August 2026)
STUDIO WEBCAST – Aug 7, 2026
12:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (3.00 hr ethics) Need ethics credit? We’ve got you covered! UT Law CLE’s First Friday Ethics streams live every first Friday of the month, and features some of our best ethics speakers and presentations for a total of 3.00 hrs ethics credit. Fulfill your entire annual ethics requirement in Texas in one day! Join us for a transformative 3-hour CLE session Presented by Marla Mattenson, Founder of the Ethical Sales Institute that empowers Texas lawyers to achieve greater wellness and professional success. As a lawyer you don’t struggle with self-care because you lack discipline. You struggle because your nervous system is doing exactly what it was designed to do: prioritize urgency over restoration. In the high-pressure environment of a modern legal practice, this pattern can lead to chronic stress, burnout, and reduced clarity in communication and decision-making. In this wellness CLE, you’ll learn why traditional self-care often feels impossible for lawyers and how to regulate stress while continuing to work. You’ll leave with practical tools, including the Capture & Compost Method, to recover clarity under pressure, communicate more effectively (including through vocal tone awareness), boost productivity, and experience relief. 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. (1.00 hr ethics)Why Self-Care Feels Impossible for Lawyers You know self-care matters, yet during a demanding workday it often feels unrealistic or indulgent. In this session, discover why a stressed nervous system naturally prioritizes urgency over restoration and why traditional self-care advice rarely works for lawyers. Learn how to embed small regulation practices throughout your workday to shorten stress cycles, “timebending” how long you remain in a stress response. 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. (1.00 hr ethics) Your Brain on Burnout Burnout is not just emotional exhaustion, it is a physiological state that changes how your brain processes information, decisions, and reacts to pressure. In this session, learn how chronic stress affects your cognition, communication, and professional judgment, and how to recognize your own stress signals through thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and shifts in vocal tone. Understanding these signals helps you respond more effectively in conversations with clients, colleagues, and opposing counsel. 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. (1.00 hr ethics) Turning Stress Into Relief The thoughts and emotions you push aside during a demanding workday do not disappear, they accumulate. In this session, learn the Capture & Compost Method for recording stressful thoughts and later reflecting on them to identify patterns between thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and behaviors. This practice helps you recover from pressure faster, restore mental clarity, and bring greater focus, meaning, and renewal to your work. If you cannot watch the entire webcast at its scheduled time, register now and view the recording and eCourse when it is available in “Your Briefcase” after the webcast. Earn CLE credit (in TX and CA) on your time!
