About me
Anne Brafford
Anne Brafford (JD, MAPP, PhD Candidate) is a former equity partner at Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius LLP and the founder of Aspire, an educational and consulting firm for the legal profession. Anne’s focus is on the many aspects of law firm culture that boost engagement and well-being and buffer against burnout, such as meaningful work, positive leadership, high-quality motivation, resilience, advancement of women lawyers, and more.
Anne earned a Master’s degree in Applied Positive Psychology (MAPP) from University of Pennsylvania in 2014 and has completed all but her dissertation for the doctoral program in Positive Organizational Psychology at Claremont Graduate University (CGU). Her MAPP Capstone, Building the Positive Law Firm, was selected for special honors by the faculty as among the top 5 in the class. Anne served as a teaching assistant for both co-founders of Positive Psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman and Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Anne is the author of an ABA-published book titled Positive Professionals is the co-chair of the ABA Law Practice Division’s Attorney Well-Being Committee, and was the Editor in Chief and co-author of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being’s recent report: The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practical Recommendations for Positive Change. Anne also was appointed by two recent ABA Presidents to the Presidential Working Group formed to investigate how legal employers can support healthy work environments. In her work with that group, Anne created the freely-available ABA Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers. Anne also is a Trusted Advisor to the legal profession’s Professional Development Consortium.
Experience
ASPIRE VALUES
Recent Professional Activities
- Chairperson of the American Bar Association (ABA) Law Practice Division’s Attorney Well-Being Committee
- Member of the National Task Force on Lawyer Well-Being
- Editor-in-Chief & Co-Author of the National Task Force’s 2017 Report: The Path to Lawyer Well-Being: Practice Recommendations for Positive Change
- Appointed by two ABA Presidents to a special Working Group to Advance Well-Being in the Legal Profession
- Author of Positive Professionals: Creating High-Performing, Profitable Firms Through the Science of Engagement
- Author of the Well-Being Toolkit for Lawyers and Legal Employers
- Author of book chapter Transform Lawyer Well-Being Into a Team Sport in the ABA-published book The Best Lawyer You Can Be