Compassionate Leadership, Happiness, and Self-Compassion Summit for Law School Deans

June 27 - July 1, 2027

Overview

We are living through a historic shift. Many corporations now rival governments in power. The moral compass of those institutions often rests with their GCs and senior legal leaders.

This means that legal education is more important than ever.

Senior lawyers influence the lives of millions. In a time of unprecedented change, the compassion and judgment of lawyers matter more than ever.

How lawyers lead begins in law school, where future lawyers first learn not only how to analyze risk and apply precedent, but how to understand power, exercise judgment, and carry the ethical obligations of the profession.

Law school deans shape the future of the legal profession, and therefore the future of the world.

Participants of this summit leave with new frameworks for ethical leadership, deeper professional relationships, and practical tools for navigating complex decisions in law and education.

This is an exclusive invite-only event for current and former law school deans that will reach your senses, your intellect, your emotions, and your heart.

Ischia, Italy — June 27 - July 1, 2027
Small cohort. Limited seats available.

Attend

Speakers

Faculty are all volunteering their time because they care about creating a compassionate legal profession.

Brian Potts, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor, Founder & Board Chair of The Legal Mentor Network

David Hempton, Former Dean of Harvard Divinity School and Harvard Divinity School Professor

Hon. Edwina G. Richardson, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Justice Initiatives

Elizabeth Pyjov, Loyola Chicago Law School and Business School Professor and Compassion in Law Expert

Kellye Y. Testy, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Association of American Law Schools

Michael Puett, Harvard Professor and Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion

Scott Westfahl, Harvard Law School Professor and Director of Harvard Law School Executive Education

Our mission
Create a more compassionate legal profession.

Our focus
We will help you enhance the human skills that will be critical to how lawyers of the future add value in an AI-driven world.

Program

You’ll engage in meditation practice, compassion practice, and awareness practice with time also alotted for for cultural experiences and networking to develop personal and professional relationships with other deans. You’ll have the opportunity to get to know a wonderful group of people who understand the intricacies of your role and its particular challenges.

Who Attends

The five-day summit in Ischia, Italy convenes a small cohort of law school deans.

The cohort is intentionally in size to create meaningful conversation and lasting professional relationships.

Participants leave with new frameworks for ethical leadership, deeper professional relationships, and practical tools for navigating their own well-being, as well as complex decisions in law and education.

Register

Why Attend

• This is a leadership of self and others experience designed for law school deans.

• We provide an immersive, reflective experience that invites participants to think across disciplines, including philosophy, ethics, leadership, law, mythology, psychology, and the human dimensions of professional formation.

• The curriculum is designed to challenge fixed assumptions about legal education, leadership, and the evolving role of lawyers in society.

• We are building a supportive network of law school deans who want to help one another prepare lawyers for a world of profound institutional, technological, and moral complexity.

• To enhance focus and deepen participants’ learning, we have chosen the ancient, culturally rich, beautiful island of Ischia for this summit. Removed from daily routines, participants will have the opportunity to reconnect with nature, art, beauty, and the human-centered dimensions of their own leadership. Through this immersive experience, they will consider more clearly how law schools can prepare future lawyers to bring judgment, compassion, creativity, and ethical discernment to an AI-driven world.

Curriculum

Our curriculum invites law school deans and senior academic leaders to engage deeply and thoughtfully with leadership frameworks and perspectives at the intersection of law, education, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and theology.

Participants leave with new frameworks for ethical leadership, deeper professional relationships, and practical tools for navigating their own well-being, as well as complex decisions in law and education.

Our highly interactive sessions will explore topics such as:

Ancient Greek philosophers’ vision of the habits and practices of great leaders
How legal education leaders can apply psychology to become better leaders of themselves, and therefore others
Understanding how to leverage the neuroscience of compassion to lead oneself and others more effectively
How to lead people and institutions through change and uncertain times, applying empathy
Why poetry are meditation are important to leadership
The mindset that leads to long-lasting happiness and resilience

Hosted by:

Happiness Sangha

Association of American Law Schools

Experience transformative leadership training and build friendships for years to come.

WHAT

The event is designed to be an immersive experience with remarkable people and a focus on helping implement both modern and ancient philosophies of leadership, as well as skills oriented toward refining your own approach to leadership.

The opportunity to build genuine friendships and partnerships with dynamic leaders in the legal education field to strategize together about ways to overcome challenges lawyers face today.

The program will also open you up to practical ancient philosophy of leadership, and the poetry, mythology, food, music, and wine of Italy.

Small town authentic Italian life for 5 days.
Engage directly over the course of five days with renowned leadership experts.
Work together with and gain insights from your cohort

WHERE

Ischia, directly adjacent to the island of Capri, is an idyllic vantage point on southern Italy where we have the quiet we need to concentrate and build community.

Ischia combines a deep history – Homer included it as part of Odysseus’ journey in The Odyssey, W. H. Auden composed poetry about it, and it's the first place where the Ancient Greeks landed when they moved to Italy – lovely small towns, beautiful vegetation and nature, the sparkling Mediterranean sea, friendly people, and natural thermal hot springs that relax the body and mind.

It's a wonderful place to spend time at the end of June and meet other leaders in law school education.

According to CNN, Ischia is “the paradise island that offers a taste of the real Italy.”

We believe that nature and physical beauty help break patterns and open up to a new way of thinking.

Speaker Bios

All faculty are presenting pro bono.

Mentorship Training with Brian Potts, University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor, Founder & Board Chair of The Legal Mentor Network

Brian is a partner at an AM Law 100 law firm and a Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. What Brian is best known for, however, is being a mentor and a connector. As the founder and board chair of The Legal Mentor Network, he’s passionate about fostering connections across the legal industry as a whole.

As a law student, Brian was rejected by each of the top 100 law firms in the U.S. — including the one where he made equity partner less than a decade later. After posting about this experience on LinkedIn in 2020, he found himself inundated with requests for mentorship. Over the next few months, he built a nationwide network of attorneys willing to mentor law students and recent J.D. grads — which formed the beginning of what is now the nationwide Legal Mentor Network. Brian has since connected thousands of mentors and protégés through the program, personally mentored more than 1,000 individuals, and helped thousands of others obtain mentorship.

Most recently, Brian was asked to speak about the UN on mentorship.

Brian is known for his authenticity with clients and his eagerness to serve not only as an attorney, but as a business connector.

Presentations with Harvard Divinity School Professor David Hempton

Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

Alonzo L. McDonald Family Professor of Evangelical Theological Studies

Dean of the Faculty of Divinity at HDS from 2012 to 2023

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society

Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy

Former Professor of Modern History and Director of the School of History in the Queen’s University of Belfast

BA, Queen's University Belfast

PhD, University of St Andrews

David N. Hempton has taught at Harvard University since 2007, joining from Boston University, where he served as University Professor. In 2021, he delivered the prestigious Gifford Lectures, presenting a series titled “Networks, Nodes, and Nuclei in the History of Christianity, c. 1500–2020.” He is a former chairman of the Wiles Trust and has held major research fellowships in both the United Kingdom and the United States, including from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

His scholarship explores religion and political culture, lived religion, Evangelical Protestantism and Pentecostalism, global Christianity since 1500, and secularization. He has published more than one hundred articles and chapters and authored numerous influential books, including Methodism: Empire of the Spirit (winner of the Jesse Lee Prize) and The Church in the Long Eighteenth Century (winner of the Albert C. Outler Prize). He has lectured widely across Europe and North America and has received distinguished teaching awards at both Boston University and Harvard.

Talks with Hon. Edwina G. Richardson

Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Edwina G. Richardson leads the New York State Unified Court System’s Office for Justice Initiatives (OJI), which is tasked with promoting meaningful access to justice in all New York State courts regardless of income, background, or ability. Judge Richardson has led OJI since 2017. Under her leadership, OJI has grown to house seven focus areas: Access to Justice; Child Welfare & Family Justice; Diversity, Inclusion & Equal Justice in the Courts; Guardianship Matters & Elder Justice; Judiciary Civil Legal Services (which administers a $150 million grant to support essentials of life legal needs for underserved communities); Problem Solving Justice (which supports New York’s 350+ problem solving courts); and Youth Emerging Adult Justice. Central to OJI’s work is community engagement. Recognizing how crucial judicial wellbeing is to this mission, Judge Richardson is developing robust coaching support systems for New York State Judges.

Judge Richardson is currently an active Judge on the Court of Claims. She first joined the court system as a Court Attorney-Referee in Queens County Family Court after representing clients in New York City Housing Court, Family Court, and Supreme Court. Judge Richardson became a Family Court Judge in 2003, the Queens County Supervising Family Court Judge in 2008, and the Administrative Judge of all New York City Family Courts in 2009. Judge Richardson earned her law degree from CUNY Law School and holds a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the CUNY Graduate Center.

Leadership Training and Experience Curated by:
Elizabeth Pyjov

Loyola University Chicago Law School Faculty

Quinlan School of Business Loyola University Chicago Faculty

New York City Bar Well-Being Committee Member

J.D. Harvard Law School

MTS Harvard Divinity School, Theology Degree

B.A. Harvard College, Romance Languages and Literatures

Author of Divinity School

‍Certification Stanford Medical School, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Pedagogy of Compassion

Experience working with the teams at Baker McKenzie, Carlyle Group, Columbia Medical School, Deutsche Bank, Library of Congress, the New York State Supreme Court, Novartis, Ropes & Gray LLP, & Warby Parker

Elizabeth is a lawyer, thought leader, speaker, and CEO who holds three Harvard degrees, speaks five languages, has lived in seven countries, and studied neuroscience at Stanford Medical School.

Her professional experience spans being a funds attorney at Sidley Austin, doing policy work at the United Nations, conducting legal investigations for the New York Attorney General's Office, marketing for Italy's top television station RAI in Rome, and working as a literary translator for Italian Nobel Prize-winning author Dario Fo.

Elizabeth combines what she learned about ritual and meaning at Harvard Divinity School, her literature degree from Harvard College, the rigor of Harvard Law School, and her time studying with the Dalai Lama to think outside the box and address modern challenges in the legal world.

She currently runs three organizations: Lead with Compassion, Self-Compassion for Lawyers, and Happiness Sangha. She is also Business School Faculty at Loyola University.

Elizabeth Pyjov's clients include Bessemer Ventures, The Carlyle Group, Columbia Law School, the Library of Congress, the New York State Bar Association, the New York State Supreme Court, Perkins Coie, Ropes & Gray, and Weil Gotshal. She regularly lectures at Harvard Law School.

“We have created a program centered on growth and leadership for high-achieving attorneys, enabling them to shift patterns. For a few days, law school deans are able to shift their vantage point in order to re-evaluate and be strategic about their impact as leaders on their lives and on the profession.”

— Elizabeth Pyjov

Leadership Training with Kellye Y. Testy

Kellye Y. Testy is the executive director and chief executive officer of the Association of American Law Schools which serves as the institutional membership organization for its 175 member law schools and as the learned society for the legal academy.

Prior to joining AALS, Testy served as the president and chief executive officer of the Law School Admission Council, where she led the organization in its committed efforts to advance law and justice by encouraging diverse, talented individuals to study law and by supporting their enrollment and learning journeys from prelaw through practice.

Testy served as dean and professor of law at University of Washington School of Law from 2009 to 2017 and at Seattle University School of Law from 2005 to 2009. She began her career as a law professor at the University of Puget Sound in 1992, which then became Seattle University. As a professor, Testy was an award-winning teacher and an insightful scholar who brought an equity lens to her focus on business and corporate law. Her areas of expertise include leadership, business and corporate law, gender and the law, and legal education. Testy earned her undergraduate degree in journalism from Indiana University in Bloomington, and her law degree from Indiana University Maurer School of Law—Bloomington.

In addition to her role at AALS, she serves on the boards of the Washington Law Institute and LSSSE and teaches law and leadership at a number of law schools across the country.

Daily Leadership Training with
Harvard Professor Michael Puett

Most teaching awards of any Harvard Professor

Bestselling author of ten books, including The Path

Joint Professor in the Harvard Department of Anthropology and East Asian Languages and Civilizations: Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History

Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University

Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science

Lectures at conferences and universities globally

Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Chicago

Michael Puett is the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. He is the recipient of a Harvard College Professorship for excellence in undergraduate teaching, the Joseph R. Levenson Memorial Teaching Prize, the Everett Mendelsohn Excellence in Mentoring Award, and the Star Family Prize for Excellence in Advising. He is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science. He is the author of The Ambivalence of Creation: Debates Concerning Innovation and Artifice in Early China and To Become a God: Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self-Divinization in Early China, as well as the co-author, with Adam Seligman, Robert Weller, and Bennett Simon, of Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity. His interests are in the inter-relations between philosophy, anthropology, history, religion, and leadership.

Read his full bio here.

Daily Leadership Training with Harvard Law School Professor Scott Westfahl

Director of Education at Harvard Law School

Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School

Professional Development at McKinsey & Company

Professional Development at Goodwin Procter LLP

2009 - 2011 Chair of the Professional Development Consortium

A.B. Government Dartmouth College, summa cum laude, 1985

J.D. Harvard Law School, 1988

Scott A. Westfahl is the Director of HLS Executive Education and teaches courses on leadership, design thinking, and innovation within the law school’s J.D. curriculum. In 2024, his J.D. course Legal Innovation Through Design Thinking was recognized by Bloomberg Law as one of the law school innovations of the year. As the Director of Executive Education, he leads the HLS effort to support and develop lawyers as leaders across the arc of their careers, particularly as they advance to new levels of leadership and responsibility. He oversees and teaches in Executive Education’s core, global leadership programs for law firm managing and senior partners, emerging law firm leaders, law firm associates, senior in-house lawyers and general counsel. He also collaborates with HLS colleagues and other Harvard faculty to design and teach custom programs for law firms, law departments, governmental agency legal departments, state and federal judges and other legal-related organizations. He focuses his Executive Education teaching and writing on leadership, teams, talent development as strategy, design thinking and driving innovation and organizational alignment from a talent management and diversity and inclusion perspective.

In 2023 and 2024, Professor Westfahl participated as a keynote speaker and facilitator in major lawyer well-being Summits that brought together in-house and law firm leaders, as well as experts on protecting and promoting mental health and well-being. His latest case development and writing are focused on creating a more sustainable legal profession.

Movement Specialist and Yoga Teacher: Larisa Forman

Larisa Forman has been practicing yoga for 20+ years and teaching in the Boston area for over 10 years. Larisa leads workshops and immersions both nationally and internationally, leads a 200 hr Yoga Teacher Training at The Yoga Loft, is a frequent presenter at The Nantucket Yoga Festival, and her yoga class was chosen as a part of "The ideal wellness day in Boston" by Well+Good.

Larisa is a yoga innovator blending the deeply traditional with the latest developments in fitness science, combining the Western obsession with the physical body and the Eastern approach to the Mind/Body/Spirit connection. Larisa received her 200H with PranaVayu Yoga founder David Magone in Boston and her 500H with her beloved guru Sri Dharma Mittra in NYC. Larisa is a Sanskrit enthusiast and loves meditation. Sharing these ancient techniques with the modern-day practitioner brings her tremendous joy :)

HEALING AND CHANGING PATTERNS

The realm of law school education is highly stressful.

The responsibility for making decisions that have significant impact on others’ lives, the routine exposure to emotionally charged situations, and the necessity to remain neutral while taking a stance are all heavy burdens to bear.

During this retreat, you will learn self-compassion and leadership of self practices to recover from the stress and pressure you face in your role as a dean.

In a new environment, it is easier to release old patterns.

When trying new foods, experiencing beauty with all the senses, and connecting to the warmth and friendliness of others, we can begin to heal as we rewire the parts of ourselves that are self-critical and burned out, and rediscover the joy and meaning in life.

“I spent years living in Italy, and the food in Ischia is the most delicious Italian food I’ve ever had.”

L’amore si misura in piatti cucinati – Love is measured in cooked dishes (Italian Proverb)

Wine has been produced in Ischia for almost 3,000 years. It was introduced by the Ancient Greeks in the 8th century BC, and Ischia is still famous all over the world for its wines.

Local Experience

The owner of the villa where we will be staying owns an organic fruit and vegetable farm, and the food we'll be eating is sourced from there.

All the food for the duration of your stay is included. We will eat fresh fruits, vegetables, pasta, and salads as well as meat, seafood, and fish, with vegan and vegetarian options available.

Special dietary restrictions such as gluten-free, allergies, and sensitivities are happily accommodated.

A lot of the food we will be eating is grown in the garden at the villa.

LOCATION

Each guest is allocated a private room in a beautiful villa hotel with daily maid service.

Trainings will take place at one of the two beautiful Italian villas where we will be staying, one in front of the other. The villa hotel includes a rooftop terrace with a jacuzzi, and mineral hot springs are at your disposal on the property, as well as saunas, Turkish baths, and spas. You’ll enjoy the gorgeous views of the island from the rooftop terrace.

You can lounge on the terraces, wind down in the spa, enjoy an Aperol Spritz in the courtyard, and have traditional Italian multi-course meals in the dining room while building the future of what the legal profession becomes.

Excursions around the island on days 2, 3, and 4 are included.

“The goal is to create a truly magical experience for the attendees that impacts their life positively long-term and changes their habits for the better.”

— Elizabeth Pyjov

OPPORTUNITY TO NETWORK

As you enjoy your time on the island you will meet accomplished professionals in law school education who are leaders and changemakers in the legal profession. Here is what previous participants have said:

Feedback on Prior Events in Ischia by Lead with Compassion

CURRICULUM

The curriculum has four parts:

1) Leadership of self.

2) Compassionate leadership of others

3) A unit on the best of Italian poetry throughout history and the philosophy behind Italian poetry.

4) What we can learn and apply from Ancient Greek mythology.

What Is Included

Immersive, highly engaging daily leadership sessions led by top faculty training
Curated excursions around the island
Private hotel room with daily maid service and high-speed internet
Dinners with local wines each night
Networking events
Transportation all over the island during your stay
Breakfast, lunch, and five-course dinner each day
Spa access 24/7
Italian culture immersion series
Restorative yoga and mindful movement daily
Opportunities for daily guided meditations
Curated book of Italian poetry from 50 different poets
Connections and strategies to enhance your career for decades to come
Discovering more compassionate paths to innovative leadership strategies

The event fee is $4,650.

If you want to bring a significant other to share a room with, the fee for them is $3,650. They are invited to participate in all meals and excursions.

This payment can be split up into monthly payments over 6 - 12 months, interest-free.

DETAILS

Dates: June 27 - July 1, 2027

Place: Ischia in Italy

Directions: Fly into the airport in Naples, Italy. There is a direct flight from New York to Naples, for example. You can also fly into Rome and take a 1 hour train ride to Naples.

Plus-One: You are welcome to bring a plus-one. There is a separate registration link for plus ones.

REGISTRATION

Registration for deans: here.

Registration for +1: here.

This payment can be split up into monthly payments over 6 - 12 months, interest-free, if you select Affirm or Klarna at checkout at the link below. If you have questions about that, text Elizabeth Pyjov at 650-922-4262.

Plus-one participants are welcome to participate in almost every part of the event.