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21 J. L. Bus. & Ethics 35 (2015)
How Improving Decision-Making and Mindfulness Can Improve Legal Ethics and Professionalism

handle is hein.journals/jourlbun21 and id is 43 raw text is: How IMPROVING DECISION-MAKING AND MINDFULNESS CAN IMPROVE LEGAL ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM* Peter H. Huang ABSTRACT Lawyers who behave unethically and unprofessionally do so for various reasons, ranging from intention to carelessness. Lawyer misconduct can also result from decision-making flaws. Psychologist Chip Heath and his brother Dan Heath, in their best- selling book, Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work, suggest a process to improve decision-making. They introduce the acronym WRAP as the mnemonic for these decision- making heuristics: (1) Widen your options; (2) Reality-test your assumptions; (3) Attain distance before deciding; and (4) Prepare to be wrong. The WRAP process mitigates these cognitive biases: (1) narrow framing of a decision problem; (2) confirmation bias of seeking only supportive information; (3) temptation of short-term emotions; and (4) overconfidence in predicting the future. This Article applies the WRAP process to analyze how lawyers can improve their ethical and professional decision-making. This Article thus proposes teaching law students about improving their ethical and professional decision-making in general and the The inspiration for this Article was the presentation titled Adventures in Decision Coaching by Chip Heath as the Distinguished Lecturer in the 2013-2014 Decision Processes Colloquia, Wharton Marketing Department (April 21, 2014). Thanks for helpful comments, discussions, and suggestions to Rebecca Huss, Scott Moss, members of the audience of the Works-in-Progress Colloquium at the University of Colorado Law School, students in Legal Ethics and Professionalism: Business Law Issues at the University of Colorado Law School, students during IL orientation week at Syracuse Law School, and students in Positive Conflict Resolution and Negotiation at IE School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Executive Master in Positive Leadership and Strategy program. Professor and DeMuth Chair of Business Law, University of Colorado Law School. J.D., Stanford Law School; Ph.D., Harvard University; A.B., Princeton University. 35 21 J.L. Bus. & Ethics 35 (2015)

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