Healthy minds, successful futures: wellbeing in legal education

Tracy L. Kepler is the Risk Control Consulting Director for CNA’s Lawyers Insurance Program. In this role, she designs and develops content and distribution of risk control initiatives relevant to the practice of law. She collaborates with the underwriting and claims teams to develop and execute strategies for the profitable growth of the program. Tracy lectures frequently at CNA-sponsored events and at state and local bar associations and national seminars hosted by industry-leading organizations. She also writes articles focusing on law firm risk control and professional responsibility issues.   Prior to joining CNA, Tracy served as the Director of the American Bar Association’s Center for Professional Responsibility (CPR), providing national leadership in developing and interpreting standards and scholarly resources in legal and judicial ethics, professional regulation, professionalism, client protection, professional liability and attorney well-being. Ms. Kepler has nearly 20 years of experience in attorney regulation as she served as an Associate Solicitor in the Office of General Counsel for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO), where she concentrated her practice in the investigation, prosecution and appeal of patent/trademark practitioner disciplinary matters before the Agency, U.S. District Courts and Federal Circuit, provided policy advice on ethics and discipline related matters to senior management, and drafted and revised Agency regulations. She also served as Senior Litigation Counsel for the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC), where she investigated and prosecuted cases of attorney misconduct.   Ms. Kepler has served in various volunteer capacities, including as President, on the Board of the National Organization of Bar Counsel (NOBC), a non-profit organization of legal professionals whose members enforce ethics rules that regulate the professional conduct of lawyers who practice law in the United States and abroad. Ms. Kepler is currently an Adjunct Professor at American University’s Washington College of Law, Georgetown University Law Center and Loyola School of Law (Chicago) teaching Legal Ethics. Committed to the promotion and encouragement of professional responsibility and attorney well-being throughout her career, Ms. Kepler has served on the ABA’s Commission on Lawyers Assistance Programs, is an Advisory Board member of the Institute for Well-Being in Law (formerly the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being) and is an author of its Well-Being Report. She is also a Board Member of the Mindfulness in Law Society and the Vice Chair of the ABA IPL Section’s Attorney Well-Being Committee. She is a graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and received her law degree from New England School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts.

Izabela Zielińska-Barłożek leads the Polish Corporate/M&A team. Izabela specialises in M&A transactions including cross-border transactions. She also provides ongoing advice on corporate law and has taken part in many enterprise restructuring projects including mergers, divisions and reorganisations. In her long practice, she has advised and coordinated legal support for the acquisition and sale of enterprises and assets, as well as of shares in companies, frequently on a global scale. Her clients include companies in various sectors including construction, technology, FMCG as well as private equity. Izabela serves as a Commissioner in the IBA Professional Wellbeing Commission. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Real Estate Committee of the International Bar Association and a past chair of that Committee, and the chair (le Président) of the Association Europénne d’Études Juridiques et Fiscales (AEEJF). She was a chair of Lex Mundi Environmental Law Practice Group. She is listed in Poland IFLR1000 Women Leaders for 2022 (M&A, Real estate transactions). Izabela is a member of the Poznań Bar Association.