CLE: Imposter Syndrome

Description

Imposter syndrome is a phenomenon through which an employee believes she or he is inadequate despite evidence to the contrary. Individuals experience chronic self-doubt and feelings of intellectual fraud, often feeling that their successes are accidents and that they will eventually be exposed as deficient. Imposter syndrome disproportionately affects people of color, women, immigrants, and first-generation college graduates.

The goals of this program are to:

• Discuss the psychological root causes for imposter syndrome, including why marginalized populations tend to experience the phenomenon at greater incidence, and how this manifests in the legal world and particularly in law firms;
• Provide techniques that marginalized attorneys groups, such as, women and people of color, can utilize to detect and overcome symptoms of imposter syndrome;
• Equip attorney mentors and practice group leaders with an understanding of Imposter Syndrome, the ability to see symptoms, and the tools to address the phenomenon to reverse the trouble tends of minority lawyer attrition/under-performance; and
• Assess the damaging impact of imposter syndrome to attorney work product, trustworthiness, and leadership.