#82 The Integration Work Lawyers Need Before AI’s Disruption

Clarissa Dominguez couldn’t shake the feeling that traditional therapy was keeping her stuck. Despite years of Western treatment for borderline personality disorder—and pouring most of her 401(k) into healing a chronic illness—she kept cycling through the same emotional patterns. So she did something most lawyers would never risk: She walked away from her BigLaw career for an entire year to study neuroscience coaching and rebuild herself from the inside out. In this episode of Lawyers Who Learn, host David Schnurman speaks with Clarissa — now Professional Development Manager at BakerHostetler — about transforming personal crisis into professional expertise. She designs neuroscience-based leadership programs for Baker’s groundbreaking Business Development Coaching Program, a year-long coaching experience focused on growth, performance, and purpose. Clarissa also partners with The Honor Foundation, coaching transitioning special operations leaders as they move from mission-driven service to purpose-driven civilian life. After co-presenting at PDC with Harvard Law Professor Scott Westfahl on The Awakened Brain and purpose-driven leadership, Clarissa now brings flow-state science, nervous system regulation, and spiritual anchoring into BigLaw’s achievement-obsessed culture. Clarissa’s work addresses what she calls the integration crisis in legal practice: Lawyers climb the ladder of billable hours and business development while ignoring the emotional incidents accumulating along the way. This disconnect between intellectual achievement and emotional wellbeing produces high-functioning attorneys who don’t know who they are anymore. Her stance is bold: Lawyers need spiritual grounding—reflection, stillness, prayer, community—not just training and productivity hacks. Especially now, as AI begins reshaping the profession and the value of being human becomes the competitive edge. This conversation offers practical neuroscience-backed tools for legal professionals who feel stuck in chronic stress, achievement addiction, or the exhausting pursuit of external validation.