In this episode of Lawyers as Healers, I’m joined by Hillary Wandler, a lawyer, law professor, and director of the Veterans Advocacy Clinic at the University of Montana’s Alexander Blewett III School of Law. Hillary teaches legal analysis, legal writing, and veterans disability law, and her work sits at a powerful intersection: helping students learn the traditional tools of legal analysis while also asking how lawyers can remain connected to compassion, humanity, and the people they serve.

Our conversation begins with Hillary’s path into law, including her early pull toward advocacy, her experience feeling like she had gotten on a professional “train” that was difficult to get off, and the moments that helped her realize traditional litigation was not fully aligned with who she was or why she entered the profession.

We also talk about the culture of legal practice, the pressure to always be available, and the way the profession often moralizes efficiency and responsiveness. One of Hillary’s central reflections is that some things may not be efficient — but they are still important.

A major part of the conversation explores Hillary’s work with Cognitively-Based Compassion Training, or CBCT®, a compassion training program developed at Emory University, and how that work has influenced her teaching, legal writing, and thinking about the formation of future lawyers.

Hillary shares how she has brought more integrative and human-centered approaches into her legal writing classroom, including helping students compare a traditional client advice letter with one that is more compassionate, collaborative, and values-centered.

We also discuss generative AI, legal education, and why the rise of AI may force lawyers to ask an essential question: If technology can do more of the technical work, where do human lawyers actually bring value? For Hillary and me, the answer kept coming back to the same place: Our humanity.

• Hillary’s path into law and legal education
• the professional “train” of legal achievement
• the pressure to always be available
• why the legal profession moralizes efficiency
• necessary pain versus unnecessary pain in law
• compassion in legal writing and client communication
• Cognitively-Based Compassion Training
• integrative law in the classroom
• generative AI and the future value of human lawyers
• what gives Hillary hope about the next generation of lawyers

University of Montana profile:
https://umimpact.umt.edu/en/persons/hillary-wandler/

University of Montana — Alexander Blewett III School of Law:
https://www.umt.edu/law/

CBCT® — Cognitively-Based Compassion Training through Emory University:
https://compassion.emory.edu/cbct-compassion-training/

Hillary Wandler
Professor of Law and Director of the Veterans Advocacy Clinic
Alexander Blewett III School of Law, University of Montana

Dave Albrechta
Mediator, coach, recovering litigator, and host of Lawyers as Healers.