October 15th-19th, 2025 – Registration Open Now

Take authenticity and truth into the courtroom to give your clients a winning edge.

To succeed as a trial lawyer and a human being, it is necessary to be conversant not only in logic, but also in intuitive and emotional truth. In service to this, The Zen Lawyer Workshop & Retreat focuses on five cores of self-improvement that function both professionally and personally: physical, emotional, logical, motivational and Zen.

This three-and-a-half day workshop, facilitated by actor and trial consultant Joshua Karton, trial lawyer Michael Leizerman, and Zen Abbot Rinsen Roshi, fuses theater skills, martial arts, and mindfulness training to connect with a jury and win cases.

Workshop Highlights:

• Mindfulness in Law Practice: Learn Zen meditation to help you listen to your client, your opponent, your judge, your jury and yourself.
• The Trial Warrior: Learn Aikido principles as they apply to jury selection, cross-examination, and other parts of your trial.
• Transform stage fright into stage presence. Create the jury’s collective “NOW”.
• Experience a silent meditation retreat.  The first night includes a gourmet meal and socializing.  After that, participants are awakened by a bell and are silent other than during workshops.  Rest periods and mindful email time is part of the schedule.

Venue

The workshop will be held at the Zen Buddhist Temple of Toledo at 3902 Emmajean Road, Toledo, OH 43607. You are welcome to free lodging in a men’s, women’s or non-gender identified bunk room. There are men’s, women’s and non-gender identified restrooms and showers. There are 7 bunks (14 beds) per room. The mattresses are comfortable.

Staying at the temple is an important part of the experience, but there are also inexpensive (but new and clean) hotel rooms on Secor Road, about 3 miles (10 minutes by car) away at the Residence Inn by Marriott and the Holiday Inn Express.

Click here to register for The Zen Lawyer Workshop & Retreat 2024