Lexlee Overton is a former trial lawyer who spent more than 30 years in the courtroom before choosing a different path. After experiencing firsthand how the legal profession can wear lawyers down, she founded Mind Over Law to help lawyers move beyond burnout and lead with greater clarity, resilience, and purpose.
Today, she works with both individual lawyers and legal teams using a science-based approach that combines mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and practical leadership tools to build healthier law firms with better performance.
WHAT'S COVERED IN THIS EPISODE ABOUT LAWYER WELL-BEING AND HIGH-PERFORMING TEAMS
The legal profession loves to reward hustle, grind it out, power through, keep your head down and just get the work done. But what if the real power comes from doing things differently?
Lexlee Overton spent decades playing by those rules until she realized something had to change. After 30 years in the courtroom, a health crisis at age 30 made her question everything about how lawyers are supposed to work. She founded Mind Over Law because she believes lawyers can be healthier, happier people and still do excellent work.
Now she works with individual lawyers and legal teams, teaching them that energy management is way more important than time management. She's discovered that when leaders work on themselves first, they naturally start building better teams.
In this episode of The Lawyer's Edge podcast, Elise speaks with Lexlee about why that "badge of honor" mentality around overwork is actually making lawyers less powerful, what happens when teams are chronically depleted, and how law firm leaders can build the kind of culture that actually attracts and keeps good people.
2:32 - Lexlee's personal breaking point and wake-up call
5:22 - The changing attitudes toward mindfulness in law
9:59 - Warning signs lawyers ignore before burnout hits
12:51 - Simple practices for skeptical, hard-driving lawyers
16:06 - The neuroscience of fight-or-flight in legal practice
18:32 - The statistics on lawyer mental health and malpractice
20:36 - Reframing the "lose your edge" mentality
23:15 - Why law firm leaders should care about well-being initiatives
26:41 - Using biofeedback to demonstrate coherency
29:12 - The one leadership habit Lexlee would change overnight
30:58 - Emotional intelligence in high-performing legal teams
37:16 - Getting started with culture change
40:04 - The curse of knowledge insight
MENTIONED IN BEYOND BURNOUT: BUILDING HIGH-PERFORMING LEGAL TEAMS THROUGH WELL-BEING
American Bar Association (ABA) study on lawyer depression and substance abuse
Get connected with the coaching team: hello@thelawyersedge.com
SPONSOR FOR THIS EPISODE...
Today's episode is brought to you by the Ignite Women's Business Development Accelerator, a 9-month business development program created BY women lawyers for women lawyers. Ignite is a carefully designed business development program containing content, coaching, and a community of like-minded women who are committed to becoming rainmakers AND supporting the retention and advancement of other women in the profession.
If you are interested in either participating in the program or sponsoring a woman in your firm to enroll, learn more about Ignite and sign up for our registration alerts by visiting www.thelawyersedge.com/ignite.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.