Debra Austin
Professor of the Practice of Law
303-871-6205 (Office)
Office 330J, Frank H. Ricketson Law Bldg., 2255 East Evans Ave. Denver, CO 80208
Specialization(s)
Lawyering Process
Professional Biography
Dr. Austin teaches Lawyering Process and Professionalism and Well-being Skills for the Effective Lawyer. She received the University of Denver Distinguished Teaching Award in 2019 and the William T. Driscoll Master Educator Award in 2001.
Dr. Austin writes and speaks about how neuroscience and psychology research can improve the well-being and performance of law students, lawyers, and other professionals. Her presentations connect well-being to enhanced performance and ethical obligations, and they are accredited for general and ethics CLE in multiple states. Killing Them Softly shines a bright light on lawyer depression, substance abuse, and suicide, and its application of neuroscience to the chronic stresses of law school and law practice depicts how law students and lawyers suffer cognitive brain damage that impairs them from doing precisely what their studies and practices require. Drink Like a Lawyer uses neuroscience research to demonstrate how self-medication with substances like alcohol, marijuana, and study drugs impairs law student and lawyer thinking. Food for Thought examines neuroscience research that explores the relationship between diet and increased risk of cognitive damage, such as dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, and describes optimal nutrition habits that build and maintain a healthy lawyer brain. Positive Legal Education proposes a new field of inquiry and a new method of training lawyer leaders, and offers research-based guidance on how law schools can address the recommendations in the ABA National Task Force on Lawyer Well-being Report. Windmills of Your Mind challenges law students, legal educators, and lawyers to improve their understanding of the impact emotion and stress have on performance, and how building mental strength can empower their professional and personal lives. Dr. Austin is a contributing author on the 2017 ABA National Task Force Report on Lawyer Well-being – The Path to Lawyer Well-being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change.
Degree(s)
- PhD, University of Denver, 2004
- JD, Law, University of San Francisco, 1989
- BME, University of Colorado, 1982
Featured Publications
- Leadership Lapse: Laundering Systemic Bias Through Student Evaluations, 65 Vill. L. Rev. 995 (2021).
- Unsafe at Any Campus: Don’t Let Colleges Become the Next Cruise Ships, Nursing Homes, and Food Processing Plants, (with Peter H. Huang, University of Colorado), 96 Ind. L.J. Supp. 25 (2020).
- Windmills of Your Mind: Understanding the Neurobiology of Emotion, 54 Wake Forest L. Rev. 931 (2019).
- Positive Legal Education: Flourishing Law Students and Thriving Law Schools, 77 Md. L. Rev. 649 (2018).
- Food for Thought: The Neuroscience of Nutrition to Fuel Cognitive Performance, 95 Or. L. Rev. 425 (2017).
- Emotion Regulation for Lawyers: A Mind is a Challenging Thing to Tame, 16 Wyo. L. Rev. 387 (2016).
- Drink Like a Lawyer: The Neuroscience of Substance Use and its Impact on Cognitive Wellness, 15 Nev. L.J. 826 (2015).
- Got Stress? You May Be Harming Your Brain, The Coffee House 6, a Publication of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association, Spring 2015.
- Foreword: Enlightenment, Apocalypse, and Other States of Mind (e-book) (Colorado Bar Association (October 27, 2014).
- Killing Them Softly: Neuroscience Reveals How Brain Cells Die from Law School Stress and How Neural Self-Hacking Can Optimize Cognitive Performance, 59 LOY. L. REV. 791 (2013).
