International Guidelines for Wellbeing in Legal Education

This webpage briefly explains the IBA’s International Guidelines for Wellbeing in Legal Education and the global Community of Practice which has grown around the Guidelines. It provides examples of how Community members have implemented the Guidelines across a range of legal education providers. 

In March 2024 the IBA launched its International Guidelines for Wellbeing in Legal Education, authored by Dr Jones, Prof. Caroline Strevens and Prof. Rachael Field (with input from a wide range of key stakeholders globally). For a summary of the Guidelines content, see here. 

A global Community of Practice, focused upon the Guidelines, was also formed. This includes a range of legal education providers who are implementing the Guidelines in their own settings, together with a range of other stakeholders who provide strategic oversight of the project.

This page contains a number of examples of good practice which can be used as inspiration when adopting and implementing the Guidelines. They are provided in alphabetical order. Please click on each title to access relevant examples.

If you are interested in joining the Guidelines’ global community of practice, contributing to this page, or sharing feedback on these examples, please contact Dr Jones.

Diagnostic support for students

Robert Dudley, Head of Employability & Engagement, Barbri UK

Recognising the pressures faced by law students and staff, we have developed a new diagnostic mental health and wellbeing app designed to promote positive mental health, improve access to support, and foster a more resilient community.

What we did

Legal education can be demanding, and ensuring that students and staff have the right tools to manage stress, anxiety, and workload pressures is essential. Our new app provides personalised wellbeing support, tracking and habits enabling users to monitor their mental health, access tailored resources, and connect with professional support when needed.

How we did it

We worked closely with the team at Student XP (formerly UniWellbeing) to create an app that provides real-time diagnostics, guided self-help techniques, and easy access to Barbri’s wellbeing services. Using AI-driven analytics, the app identifies early signs of stress and recommends specific interventions, such as mindfulness exercises, peer support, or professional counselling.

To ensure accessibility, the app integrates with existing Barbri services, including mental health first aiders, wellbeing advisors, and learning coaches, offering users a streamlined approach to managing their mental health. Feedback from students and staff was key to refining its features, making sure it aligns with real-world needs and challenges.

Expected Impact

• Early intervention: Helps prevent burnout by providing timely support and daily habits.
• Improved engagement: Encourages students and staff to take an active role in their wellbeing.
• Better learning outcomes: Reducing stress leads to stronger focus and productivity.
• Inclusive wellbeing culture: Encourages conversations about mental health in legal education.

Opportunities & Challenges

• Opportunities: Expanding the app to include legal career-specific mental health tools, such as stress management strategies for law students and good practice for transitioning into the profession.
• Challenges: Encouraging consistent engagement and overcoming stigma around seeking help in high-pressure environments.

Tips for law schools implementing similar initiatives

• Involve students and staff in the development process for user-centered design.
• Integrate with existing wellbeing resources for a seamless experience.
• Offer both digital and in-person support to maximise accessibility.
• Continuously collect feedback to refine features and improve engagement.

Implementing wellbeing Initiatives 

Dr. Judy Jaunzems-Fernuk, Well-being Coordinator at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law and a Faculty member in the College of Education.

In 2023, the University of Saskatchewan, College of Law appointed a Well-being Coordinator, Judy  to prioritize the mental health, resilience, and holistic success of law students, faculty, and staff. In this role, I have led initiatives to embed well-being as a core component of legal education, shifting the conversation from individual coping strategies to systemic and cultural change.

Key initiatives have included the development and delivery of trauma-responsive, healing-centered legal education, notably through the new course LAW 498: Trauma Responsive Law – A Human Curriculum for Fostering Resilient and Ethical Practice. Alongside course development,

I coordinated tailored well-being programming for high-stress periods, such as pre-Moot competition workshops on stress regulation, emotional resilience, and managing critical feedback. Regular wellness communications, webinars, and in-person workshops have created multiple points of access for students to receive practical skills training. I also offer counselling and bridge supports for students and staff requiring well-being services.

We pursued an evidence-informed approach, linking well-being education to outcomes like ethical practice, professional sustainability, and readiness for client-centered advocacy. Collaboration across the college — with administration, Indigenous Law Centre colleagues, student associations, and national/international bodies such as the International Bar Association Professional Wellbeing Commission — strengthened the breadth and reach of programming.

Impacts observed include increased student engagement in voluntary wellness activities, positive feedback on trauma-responsive teaching methods, and a growing culture of openness around mental health. Faculty and staff have also begun engaging more deeply in discussions about sustainable legal practice.

Challenges have included navigating the stigmatization of mental health topics in law, balancing high academic demands with well-being initiatives, and finding sustainable resourcing. However, these challenges have also created opportunities for innovation, including building networks and partnerships with the broader legal community, both locally and internationally.

Tips for Other Legal Educators Implementing Well-being Initiatives:

• Start by Listening: Conduct surveys or focus groups to understand your students' and faculty’s specific well-being needs.
• Normalize the Conversation: Embed well-being discussions into coursework, orientation, and key stress points (e.g., exams, moots).
• Model Wellness: Faculty and staff should actively model boundary setting, self-care, and stress management strategies.
• Collaborate Broadly: Partner with mental health professionals, Indigenous knowledge keepers, and wellness experts to enrich programming.
• Build Gradually: Begin with small, achievable initiatives and scale based on feedback and engagement.
• Tie to Professional Identity: Frame well-being as integral to ethical, effective lawyering — not separate from professional success.

Improving the student experience of class participation

Assistant Prof Chantal Bostock (Law & Justice), A/Prof Chien Gooi (Science), Dr  Felipe Balotin Pinto and Dr Anna Rowe (Academic Development) of the University of New South Wales, Australia have developed good practice guidelines for teachers on improving the student experience of class participation. These can be accessed here.

The Guidance currently shared with UNSW’s Law & Justice students can be found here.

Reimagining Legal Education

Dr Mary O’Rawe, Barrister and Senior Law Lecturer, Ulster University

This project examines how complexity theory has influenced recent paedagogical initiatives at Ulster University Law School, advocating for a reimagined legal education that moves beyond the traditional “thinking like a lawyer” paradigm. Drawing on Complexity Theory, Interpersonal Neurobiology, Embodied Learning, and Law and Creativity, it critiques the ability of linear, reductive, reasoned approaches to legal pedagogy to address global challenges like the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the rise of generative AI. Legal reasoning, often framed as formal and objective, is underpinned by unexamined myths and narratives that shape outcomes. By acknowledging these hidden stories, legal education can promote a deeper understanding of law that transcends anthropocentrism and explores what it means to be human and post-human in the 21st century.

Complexity Theory views law and human systems as emergent and adaptive, interconnected within social and ecological contexts. A mindful, embodied, spirited approach to legal education is emerging aligned with consilience from neuroscience, polyvagal theory, deep ecology and ancient wisdom. It proactively cultivates creativity, emotional resilience, trauma awareness, compassion, and ethical reasoning. This holistic framework bridges intellectual rigour with emotional wisdom, equipping students to address complex challenges with eco-compassion and care.

As generative AI increasingly automates technical legal tasks, uniquely human capacities for empathy, somatic awareness, ecocognitive flexibility, and ethical insight become indispensable. This project calls for holistic legal education that nurtures these qualities. By fostering intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth, legal education can prepare professionals to navigate an evolving world with integrity and wisdom.

This biopsychosocial and spiritual approach to the legal curriculum at Ulster Law School links into the idea of education as knowing thyself. It encourages students to move outside their comfort zones as a means to evolve and deepen their understanding of themselves, the concept and practice of law and the different worlds and experiences they are navigating. It promotes wellbeing as not necessarily a move towards comfort – but one that attunes students more deeply to how understanding more about their nervous systems and the new science of safety might help them see where law is missing in action. Through creative use of myth, poetry, storytelling, somatic practice, breathwork, mindfulness and engagement with AI, wellbeing becomes interwoven with the learning experience and allows students to see what mining and aligning values can bring in terms of more optimal health and more nuanced understandings of and approaches to law.

Restorative approaches to learning and teaching 

Lorna Baldry, CEO of Brightlink Learning

Brightlink is established and run as a restorative organisation. Our CEO worked within and created restorative environments before establishing Brightlink. This provided her with an insight and evidence of the incredible impact this approach can have, which triggered her lifelong commitment. 

Restorative is not something we do but rather everything we are and all we do. From how we present ourselves to people through planning and strategy, policies and procedures to delivery and evaluation, the approach and its strong values base impact everything. Most importantly it underpins and is weaved throughout all of our relationships. 

Restorative Approaches (RA) – is a way of being which includes outlook and the day to day skills involved in preventing and pre-empting conflicts and harm.  It builds and maintains relationships and community, as well as reacting/ responding when things go wrong¹. RA engages and develops positive relationships and resilient communities, to reduce harm, and de-escalate conflict quickly, by prevention and problem solving effectively. 

Restorative justice (RJ) - responds to harm and conflict. RJ brings those harmed by crime, and those responsible for the harm, into communication, enabling everyone affected by a particular incident to play a part in repairing the harm and finding a positive way forward².

¹ Adapted from Belinda Hopkins, Just Schools; a whole school approach to restorative justice, 2004

² Ministry of Justice definition

Practically speaking in educational terms, the ethos, tools, training and practice bring with them:

• Improved engagement
• Improved attendance
• Improved outcomes in learning and assessment
• Improved opportunities after study
• Reduced exclusion
• Reduced sickness

Restorative approaches are based on 5 core beliefs:

• Everyone has unique and equally valued perspectives
• Thoughts influence feelings and feelings influence how we behave
• Empathy and consideration for others
• If our physical and emotional needs are met we are able to function at our best
• Attributing the ownership of problem-solving and decision making to those most affected; working collaboratively with people wherever possible. 

Restorative conversation, enquiry or meeting links to these 5 themes by asking 5 questions:

• What happened?
• What were you thinking and so what were you feeling?
• Who has been affected?
• What do you need to move on?
• So what could happen now to meet these needs and repair any harm? What could you do?
• What next?

Within teaching and learning, one example of a restorative tool would be the needs exercise. We begin any new engagement with a learner by undertaking this. The question is asked ‘what do I need to give of my best in my study?’ Learners are offered a number of suggested needs e.g. clarity, patience, humour and so on, or they can suggest their own. Once they pick their top two, behaviours are associated with this by the learner, the tutor and anyone else in a study group. For example ‘Because I need clarity to give of my best I will always…’  ‘Ask questions if I don’t understand something’ ‘try to explain myself to others clearly.’ This forms a clear relationship and understanding and a king of contract between learners or tutors and learners. 

Tools are numerous and based on the themes and values and are applied throughout study to support, deliver and assess the content. 

YouTube

Patreon

Restorative Leadership (powerpoint)

Kind goal setting (PDF)

Table of intention and control (document)

Incorporating the Guidelines into strategy

The Faculty of Law of the University of Canterbury (Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha), Christchurch, New Zealand has incorporated reference to the Guidelines in its Faculty Learning and Teaching Plan.

About the Authors

Lorna Baldry
Lorna is CEO of Brightlink Learning, a member of the Legal Wales board and Chair of the board of trustees for Ministry of Life. Lorna completed a Law Degree, Legal Practice Course and PGCE and taught and lead teaching and learning in secondary, further and higher education for 16 years before founding Brightlink.  

During Lorna’s time as Business & Operations Manager at a large inner city further education college, it was a centre of excellence for professional and vocational training. She was involved in writing some of the first law and restorative approaches qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework, was an Examiner for WJEC and a Chief Examiner for the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. Lorna developed an e-learning platform, the first of its kind for Chartered Legal Executives. This facilitated learning all over the world, for those who are disabled, with families or other caring responsibilities and provided high quality, learner centred experiences. Between 2012 and 2014 Lorna was Social Engagement & Community Collaboration Manager at Cardiff and Vale College where she built a community outreach teaching team and designed methods of bespoke community learning with wrap around multi agency support, which was wholly restorative. She developed the first multi sector pro bono partnership between a further education college, law firms, third sector organisations and the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, providing free legal advice and support on family law, immigration law, debt homelessness, and property and
employment law.

Lorna was also Business & Operations Manager and Director for Wales Restorative Approaches Partnership and also Service Manager for the Domestic Abuse Restorative Family Approaches consortium, managing the Choices for Change programme.

Brightlink Learning
Brightlink is a training organisation, a teaching and learning community. Our vision is ‘reduced inequality in learning and careers.’ Our mission, is ‘quality education for all, for life.’ We bridge the gap between knowledge and practice, equipping individuals and organisations with the skills to thrive and empowering justice. We are a team of 9 employees and 14 self-employed associates, offering legal apprenticeships, CILEX courses and SQE preparation as well as leadership training to around 500 learners.  We embrace a restorative approach to learning, blending the efficiency of technology with the power of human connection. This unique methodology fosters engagement, retention, and real-world application, it creates inclusive and accessible learning environments. We prioritise mental health and wellbeing, recognising the challenges that individualsmay face in law school and in the workplace. Our policies are restorative and traumainformed to support team members and to empower them to do what they need toinclude all learners in the learning process. 

Dr Chantal Bostock

Dr Bostock previously worked as a migration/refugee lawyer in Sydney and as a senior lawyer at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal and the Law Commission in London and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), Sydney. She was a member of the MRT/AAT for 5 years.  She is currently A/Prof at the Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW, where she teaches administrative and immigration law and sits on the NSW Medical and the Nursing and Midwife Councils. She holds an LLM and a PhD and has published and delivered papers both nationally and internationally on various topics relating to administrative/migration/refugee law.   

Dr. Judy Jaunzems-Fernuk 
Dr. Judy Jaunzems-Fernuk is the Well-being Coordinator at the University of Saskatchewan’s College of Law and a Faculty member in the College of Education. Her interdisciplinary work bridges legal education, mental health, and trauma- responsive practices, focusing on sustainable professional development and ethical, resilient practice in high-stress fields. Judy is a registered therapeutic counsellor and holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studies. She teaches and researches trauma-responsive education, mental health, well-being, and access to justice initiatives, and represents Saskatchewan on the International Bar Association’s Professional Well-being Commission. Her recent projects include the development of LAW 498: Trauma Responsive Law – A Human Curriculum for Fostering Resilient and Ethical Practice and cross-institutional well-being programming. Judy’s commitment to systemic change is reflected in her collaborative work with Indigenous legal education, land-based learning initiatives in legal education, CREATE Justice initiatives, including a focus on transformational change in Family Justice, and student-centered initiatives across disciplines. University of Saskatchewan (USask) College of Law.

The University of Saskatchewan (USask) College of Law, founded in 1912, is one of Canada’s oldest law schools. Located on Treaty 6 territory and the homeland of the Métis, the College is committed to excellence in teaching, research, and community engagement, with a strong emphasis on Indigenous legal education and access to justice. The College’s vibrant research centers, including CREATE Justice and the Indigenous Law Centre, foster interdisciplinary, socially responsive scholarship. Recent innovations include embedding trauma-informed, resilience-building approaches into the legal curriculum to better prepare students for ethical, sustainable legal practice. As part of the broader University of Saskatchewan — a U15 research institution — the College benefits from a rich academic community committed to reconciliation, innovation, and societal impact. For more information, visit College of Law, University of Saskatchewan and their wellbeing page.


Dr Mary O’Rawe

Dr Mary O’Rawe, among other things, is a legal scholar, accredited mediator and practising barrister. She is a mother of 6, a cold water swimmer, a student of Tai Chi Chuan and a teacher of yoga and qi gong. Mary is also a therapeutic sound practitioner, baby massage therapist and a Reiki and trainer. She specializes in trauma aware, polyvagal-informed approaches to law and legal education with a view to enhancing resilience and flourishing in law students, lawyers and those they serve. Drawing on complexity theory, ancient wisdom traditions and the new science of safety and connection, in particular, Mary has developed an innovative SELF CARE ALCHEMY learning model, reflective of the need for a biopsychosocioecospiritual approach to justice, in an era of increasing global and existential crisis. Her current research focus on reimagining legal education includes exploring the foundational contradictions and anomalies at the heart of the human rights and legal project more generally. Her academic contributions have evolved through a forensic analysis of violence, safety and security in divided and transitional societies, to emphasise the benefits of embodied and relational legal education and practice. Mary’s work demonstrates how understandings of law and justice can be evolved beyond neurocolonialism, to meet the broader challenges of integrating what it means to be human in a thicker ecological context. She is married to David, a psychoanalytic psychotherapist, supervisor and author. They live in Belfast.
 
Anna Rowe

Associate Professor Anna Rowe SFHEA is the Academic Development Lead, Pro Vice-Chancellor Education Portfolio at the University of New South Wales Sydney, Australia. She leads various institution wide initiatives including professional development programs for staff, Advance HE Fellowships and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Anna has published widely in higher education learning and teaching with specific areas of interest including the role of emotions in learning, work-integrated learning, pedagogy, feedback and peer review of teaching. Anna is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning and past Director of WIL Australia (previously, the Australian Collaborative Education Network), the peak national professional association for work integrated learning in Australia.