Photograph: Eagle statue outside law school.

Judge Ron Greenberg - Spring 2011 Patrik W. Neustrom Practitioner in Residence

Photograph: Ron Greenberg.The Center for Excellence in Advocacy is pleased to host Judge Ron Greenberg from Wednesday, April 20 to Friday, April 22, 2011 as the spring 2011 Patrik W. Neustrom Practitioner in Residence. During his visit Judge Greenberg will make severalpresentations, including the benefits of meditation and how it can play an important role in students' success in law school and beyond; the effect of law school on lawyers; how meditation can improve health, professional ethical performance and satisfaction with work; and how the meditative perspective can be transformative in the working lives of lawyers.

It is commonly acknowledged and supported by scientific studies that meditation is beneficial for health and wellbeing. Less commonly known is meditation's potential to transform the way one views self, world, and activity. In the legal profession, whose culture emphasizes speed, stress, and oppositional energy, meditation's capacity to radically alter one's view and style of work provides an especially attractive possibility.

What exactly is meditation practice, or, as it is often called, contemplative practice? Broadly defined, a contemplative practice is any activity that quiets the mind in order to cultivate the capacity for insight. Mindfulness meditation is a powerful contemplative practice that is simple to learn and incorporate into one's daily routine.

Judge Greenberg's presentations will cover a number of areas where meditation plays an important role in a lawyer's career - from law student to senior practitioner. He will also discuss the connection between meditation and mediation, and how each influences the other.

  • Judge Greenberg has authored numerous articles on issues of law and social justice for the San Francisco Examiner and New York Times. In 1995 and 1998, he taught judicial education in Cambodia and Vietnam with The Center on Global Justice, University of San Francisco Law School. He was the co-producer of the Academy Award nominated film, Regret to Inform.
  • With more than 200 hours of mediation training including intensive courses taught by Stanford and Harvard faculty, Judge Greenberg has developed listening and other skills that help him understand the many facets of every dispute.
  • Judge Greenberg received his juris doctor from Chicago's DePaul University in 1968.
  • From 1968 through 1970, he served as a legal assistant to the Chairperson of the National Labor Relations Board and appellate litigator for the agency. He then worked as a Deputy Public Defender in Contra Costa County.
  • Judge Greenberg served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the State Agricultural Labor Relations Board from 1976 through 1982, at which time he was appointed Municipal Court Judge in the Berkeley-Albany Judicial District by Governor Jerry Brown on January 12, 1982.
  • He succeeded to the Superior Court in 1998 pursuant to Proposition 220.