Recapping the 2026 One Mind at Work Legal Industry Summit: Designing Better Work for People and Performance
On June 2, in a full day gathering in New York City, One Mind at Work held its 4th Annual Legal Industry Summit, hosted by Morgan Lewis. Presented under the theme of “Designing Better Work: Elevating the Practice of Law for People and Performance,” this year’s Summit marked a deliberate shift in how the legal industry approaches workplace well-being, moving beyond benefits and awareness campaigns toward a harder goal: redesigning the actual conditions of legal work so that stress, burnout, and disengagement are prevented before they begin, not managed after they arrive.
Moving Beyond Awareness: Redesigning the Conditions of Legal Work
Speakers throughout the day agreed that the legal industry has built a solid foundation of mental health benefits and resources over the past decade, and that foundation matters. But it is not enough on its own. Amanda D. Smith, Partner and Chief Engagement Officer at Morgan Lewis, described how the firm built its integrated talent and well-being model over ten years, rising from unranked in quality of life in 2013 to first in the industry by 2026, through partner training grounded in science, upward feedback embedded in formal evaluations, and a coaching culture reframed from remedial to developmental.
“Our product is human judgment. People who are engaged, who feel connected, valued, and challenged, are going to give you better judgment.” — Amanda D. Smith
“Your culture is so clearly defined by who you hire, who you fire, who you promote, and the problems that you tolerate. The opportunity and the challenge for people in law firms is to start to pay attention to the problems you’re tolerating. That’s data.” — Adrienne Prentice, Co-Founder and CEO, Keep Company
Performance and Well-Being Are the Same Argument
A consistent thread across the day’s sessions was the reframing of well-being as a performance argument rather than a soft benefit. George Demos, COO and Partner at O’Melveny & Myers, and Kim Morris, Partner and Chair of the Firm Wellness Committee at BakerHostetler, joined Dr. David Ballard, VP of One Mind at Work, to discuss the Healthy Habits Framework, the product of fifteen months of collaborative work with the NeuroLeadership Institute. Built around three science grounded habits, Communicate Clearly, Take Care, and Lift People Up, the framework addresses the root causes of well-being challenges in legal settings rather than the symptoms.
“This framework is the on-ramp to making bigger, more systems-level changes. It gives people agency, concrete actions they can take, and a common language.” — Dr. David Ballard
From Individual to System: AI, Leave Culture, and the Coalition Model
The Summit also examined where the legal industry still has work to do. A panel on artificial intelligence explored the widening gap between firms that have invested early in AI governance and those still finding their footing, along with the well-being risks that come with it. A separate exercise asked attendees to evaluate a fictional vendor pitch, launching the coalition’s first step toward a shared vendor evaluation guide. A panel on leave readiness reframed leave culture as an organizational system on par with compensation and performance evaluation, not an afterthought.
“Where outputs shape legal judgments, financial disclosures or regulatory decisions, ‘almost right’ is not enough. What is required is AI grounded in authoritative content, built with domain expertise, and designed to produce outputs that can be verified and defended. At Thomson Reuters, we describe the standard required for high stakes professional work as Fiduciary-Grade AI.” — Nita Cumello, VP, Account Leadership, Thomson Reuters
“According to research from Prudential and Aflac, 73% of people who cover for other people’s leaves experience extra stress and anxiety, and 24% of them end up with a new diagnosis themselves. There is real ROI around supporting that whole team and alleviating that feeling of who’s taking my work and who’s going to hand it back.” — Lauren Smith Brody, CEO and Founder, The Fifth Trimester
Next Steps for the Legal Community
One Mind at Work is turning the day’s momentum into shared infrastructure for the industry. O’Melveny & Myers is spearheading a practitioner toolkit built on the Healthy Habits Framework that is expected to reach coalition members by mid summer 2026, and as more Legal Coalition members complete the Mental Health at Work Index, a legal-specific benchmark will become available so firms can compare their progress against peers.
If you’re not yet a member of One Mind at Work, please consider joining. We can have the greatest impact with a coalition committed to real change. Reach out to membership@onemind.org to learn more.
To establish a baseline for your organization’s mental health efforts and learn from peers in the legal industry and beyond, law firms and One Mind at Work members are highly encouraged to complete the Mental Health at Work Index self assessment. Membership is not required to take the assessment. For more information, contact MentalHealthIndex@onemind.org.
“One of the best kept secrets about workplaces is that we have made up the rules. And the best kept secret is that we can change them.” — Dr. Kathleen Pike, CEO, One Mind
Together, we’re driving a future where well-being and high performance go hand in hand. To learn more or join our mission, visit OneMindatWork.org or contact membership@onemind.org.
