Christina Sava is not your typical attorney. She has an ace up her sleeve. Or in her mind. Christina practices mindfulness meditation as a means to handle the day-to-day stress of her practice and a busy urban lifestyle. She also teaches mindfulness to other attorneys, in hopes that they may find the same benefits that she does. “The hallmarks of a mindfulness practice are empathy and equanimity, and a lawyer with a mindfulness practice is best equipped to meet the client’s legal and emotional needs.”
Christina, a 2014 graduate of the University of Miami (UM) School of Law, apprenticed under Scott Rogers, the director of the university’s Mindfulness in Law program. Christina brought these experiences and her passion for community-oriented legal work to the CLPI program.
“There is a growing need for attorneys to explore the tools offered by mindfulness meditation for their own sake, for the sake of their clients, and for the sake of the legal profession as a whole. As a participant in CLPI, I had a chance to put mindfulness practices and principles to the test in a community law practice setting.”
Christina’s own past experiences as an assistant to a successful solo attorney have motivated her to pursue a solo path. She is committed to social justice and diversity and hopes to use her solo practice to help ameliorate the current crisis of lack of accessibility to much needed legal services.
“I want to be a solo practitioner so that I can offer the most attuned, empathetic, and encouraging representation possible for my clients. I deeply appreciate the interpersonal aspect of legal representation—the human connection formed between attorney and client. I want to help create a culture of practice that assures clients that the justice system can work for them.”
But the path to solo nirvana isn’t easy. In her quest to create a practice that not only focuses on community needs and sustainability but also seeks to promote empathy and awareness, Christina has found solace in community and cooperation.
“Although I am interested in solo practice, I still believe in the power of joining forces and sharing, and I would like to share my own experience with the community of colleagues I connect with through the incubator.”
Christina is the managing attorney at the Law Offices of James Anthony and is using the solo practice she started at CLPI to continue to help low-income clients through the JDC and LRIS low-fee referral system.
