Free event! 1.0 Hour Wellness Competence

Aragon High School Main
Parking Lot 900
Alameda de las Pulgas
San Mateo, CA 94402

Law practice can be grueling. The work can be intense, and the hours, long. Stress is inevitable, but with a systematic and comprehensive wellness program, with regular hiking as the foundation, manageable. This will be an easy-to-moderate 5-6 mile suburban hike, starting/ending at Aragon High School, and traversing virtually all of the green spaces, in San Mateo. This hike will coincide with the first day of the 2025 CLA Wellness Walking Challenge.

We will discuss practical strategies for managing mental health, stress, and overall well-being that are tailored to the legal profession, focusing on physical and professional health. Hiking and other structured social exercise activities, engaged in regularly and with intention, can form the foundation for a positive work-life balance, increase self-awareness and self-regulation, protect against attorney stress, and stimulate creativity and initiative both inside and outside a law practice.

An optional lunch, at La Cumbre, next to the San Mateo Caltrain Station, will follow. Program materials will be distributed to participants.

John Pavolotsky has hiked San Francisco Bay Area trails for the past 30 years and is passionate about attorney wellness. He is also the immediate past chair of the IP Section of the California Lawyers Association and a member of the CLA Health and Wellness Committee. In June 2021 John founded the Peninsula Hiking Club (https://calawyers.org/intellectual-property-law/covid-born-cla-hiking-group-marches-on-for-wellness/) and has been leading groups on monthly hikes, including the “Tour de San Mateo.”

Essential Information

Please bring water (at least 40 fluid ounces), snacks, good hiking shoes/boots, hat, sunblock, and long pants. Walking sticks are optional for this hike. Hiking can be a rigorous activity, with injury possible. By signing up, you understand and acknowledge the foregoing.

Questions

For program and registration information, please email ProgramRegistrations@calawyers.org or call 916-516-1757.

If there are questions about this program, including carpooling, please contact John Pavolotsky at IP@calawyers.org.