Stay Sharp Through
Your Lawsuit
High-performance training and litigation readiness for founders, executives and professionals before, during and after litigation. Turn the pressure of your case into fuel with sharper focus, faster decisions, and the presence to lead your business and your family through it.
Saturday, Jan 23 · Live online · 20 seats · $1,500
Dr. Lyman, PhD, Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and Practitioner of Somatic Experiencing
For individuals: join a retreat · For organizations: litigation readiness and programs for your people · For attorneys: refer a client
Photo: Khamkéo / Unsplash
- Losing hours every week to the case?
- Watching your company or practice slow down?
- Losing your marriage to legal trauma?
The legal fees are the cheap part.
We take care of
the expensive part:
Legal trauma.
The fatigue, the lost time and opportunity, and the emotional cost to your family.
If you set out to design a system that produces traumatic stress,
“…one could not do better than a court of law.”
Trauma and Recovery, 1992
For people whose success makes them a target: founders, CEOs, investors, board members, executives, physicians, surgeons and lawyers.
Science to understand it. Art to master it.
- Your nervous system on a caseA lawsuit keeps your body on alert for months or years, draining your sleep, your focus and your judgment. Learn to turn the alarm down and think clearly under pressure. Read the science: how stress takes the brain’s decision center offline →Arnsten, Yale School of Medicine · Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2009
- It is common, and it is hiddenThe average U.S. physician spends more than four years of a career with an open malpractice claim; neurosurgeons, 27% of their careers. 81% of founders don’t openly share their stress.Seabury et al., Health Affairs, 2013 · Startup Snapshot, 2023
- Clear under pressurePractices that work to reduce stress instantly and increase focus.
- The hard roomsA before, during and after protocol for depositions, mediations, hearings, board meetings and the press: walk in steady, stay clear, come back down.
- The long gameAttention management for a case that runs for years: contain it to set hours so it stops taking your workday, your evenings and your sleep.
- Beyond the caseTrauma-informed tools to cut rumination, anger and negative spirals, and healthy coping skills that last. Learn alongside a small cohort of peers at your level, so the clarity you build outlasts the verdict.
For more than 25 years, Dr. Lyman has worked with people at the hardest moments of their lives: dying, chronic illness and legal crisis.
As a licensed psychotherapist and meditation teacher, he now specializes in taming legal trauma and turning pressure into performance. He is the creator of the Legal Trauma Recovery Method™, designed specifically for you: professionals living through intensive litigation.
Lawsuits run for years. Train for the distance.
One Saturday, online, with people performing under the same pressure. 20 seats. January 23.
The Executive Retreat
Saturday, January 23, 2027, 10 am to 4 pm Mountain time, live online, in a cohort of 20 at most. Keep your camera off for privacy if you wish. You don’t have to speak, share your name or talk about your case. Every guided practice is recorded for you to replay at home.
Understand it
What legal trauma does to judgment, and why your reactions make sense.
Practice it
The Legal Trauma Recovery Method™, practiced together live.
Prepare for the hard rooms
Depositions, mediations, hearings, boards and the press.
Take it forward
Pacing the long game, and bringing the day back to your work and home.
See the full timetable
Legal trauma: what it does to judgment
Understand the dynamics that keep you hijacked, and why your reactions make sense.
Clear under pressure
The Legal Trauma Recovery Method™, practiced together live. Practices to steady yourself under pressure, and to bring that steadiness home to your family.
Lunch break with Dr. Lyman
Informal chat and Q&A over lunch.
The hard rooms
How to prepare for depositions, mediations, hearings, boards and the press.
Healing to take home
Practices for litigation-related distress (chronic rage, anxiety and overwhelm) to keep using at home.
The long game
Pacing a case for months or years: health, company, family and children.
Beyond the case
Bringing the day together into what you take back to work, then more live questions with Dr. Lyman.
Small cohorts. Online. By application.
The Executive Retreat
Less than one hour of a top litigator’s time.
Founding cohort price. Next cohort: $2,000.
- Saturday, January 23, live with Dr. Lyman, 20 people at most
- A two-minute centering practice for before a deposition or hard meeting
- A settling practice to come back down afterward, so the case doesn’t follow you home
- Attention tools to contain the case to set hours and get your workday back
- Healthy coping skills to cut rumination, anger and negative spirals
- Recordings of every guided practice; camera off if you wish
- Not worth it by lunch? Leave and get a full refund
Circles with Dr. Lyman
- Led by Dr. Lyman: monthly, 75 minutes, live online
- Up to 10 people, matched by profession and stage of case (for example, founders in discovery, or physicians facing a malpractice claim)
- Each meeting: a short check-in, a guided practice, and preparation for what is next in your case, whether a deposition, a mediation, a board meeting or a verdict
- The same group for six months, so no one has to re-explain their situation
- Cameras on and first names, under a signed group agreement
- Six-month minimum ($2,400)
- The retreat first is recommended, not required
- ApplyTwo minutes. No case details.
- Short callDr. Lyman replies within two business days to confirm fit.
- JoinAccepted applicants receive a payment link and joining details.
Prefer to learn at home? A home-study version of the guided practices is coming. Join the list to hear first.
Private sessions with Dr. Lyman
Bespoke, one-on-one sessions, tailored to you and to where you are in your case.
- Tailored to your case’s stageBefore a deposition, through mediation or trial, after a verdict.
- The Legal Trauma Recovery Method™, one on oneThe full method, tailored to your situation, your family and your work.
- Format60-minute sessions, offered as a package of four. Online.
- DiscreetFor founders, executives and public figures who need privacy. Fit is confirmed in a free 20-minute call.
Limited availability.
Apply for a private sessionWhen your people are named in a case
For malpractice insurers, physician groups, hospitals and health systems, venture firms and boards. You sponsor the program. Your physicians, founders and executives attend at no cost to them, before a claim ever arrives, and from the week one does through trial.
The “without” line reflects research: after a malpractice allegation, emergency physicians’ patient loads fell about 10% and stayed down (Carroll, Cutler and Jena, NBER). The dashed line is the program’s goal, using the pressure of the case as fuel for focus and performance. It is a goal, not measured results.
Litigation readiness
Train everyone before anyone is named: physicians, founders, executives and the teams around them. In high-risk medicine alone, an estimated 99% of physicians face a claim by age 65. Prepared people stay sharp from day one.
Request a readiness proposal- A live online workshop for your team, any size, run in groups
- The first 30 days of a claim: what happens, and how stress narrows judgment
- Centering and attention practices to use before depositions and hard meetings
- A one-page plan each person keeps for the day a claim arrives: first steps, support, sleep and focus
- Education and coaching, not treatment: nothing is diagnosed, and no case facts are discussed
After a claim
Pilot
- One private retreat for up to 20 of your people
- Two circles of up to 10, each meeting three times
- Kickoff call with your claims, risk or wellness lead
- Invitation materials you send to eligible people
- Anonymous summary report at the end
Annual program
- Up to four private retreats a year, up to 80 people
- Up to six standing circles of 10, meeting monthly
- One-on-one sessions for up to 10 senior leaders or physicians, a package of four sessions each
- Quarterly anonymous reports on attendance and participant feedback
- A named contact and a launch briefing for your team
Train your team
- Dr. Lyman trains your wellness, peer-support or claims staff to teach the core practices
- Facilitator guide, session scripts and take-home materials
- Ongoing supervision calls
Pricing by proposal, scoped to the number of people you support.
- Confidential call30 minutes. Your goals and your number of open claims. No names.
- ProposalWithin one week, scoped to your people.
- LaunchKickoff, invitations, and a first retreat within six weeks.
- ReportAttendance numbers and an anonymous feedback summary. Never who said what.
A steadier client is a stronger client
A client who is sleeping, focused and calm is easier to prepare, makes better decisions and holds up in deposition. Refer a client confidentially. Dr. Lyman never discusses case facts and gives no legal advice.
The first 72 hours after you’re sued
Ten practical steps for the first days of a lawsuit, on one page. Not ready for a retreat? Start here.
The first 72 hours after you’re sued
- Call your lawyer and your insurer first. Do what they tell you about who to notify, what to keep and what not to do.
- Stop talking about the case. Not with colleagues, not online, not by email. Your attorney will tell you who you can talk to.
- Expect your body to react. Racing thoughts, poor sleep, irritability and replaying events are normal stress responses in the first days. They are not a sign you are failing.
- Protect your sleep first. Keep the same bedtime, and put the case, the news and your phone away for the last hour before bed. Sleep is what keeps judgment intact.
- Give the case a set time. Choose one 30-minute window a day to think about it. When it shows up outside that window, write it down and come back to it then.
- Use one steadying practice. Before a hard call, breathe out slowly, longer than you breathe in, for one minute, while you feel your feet on the floor.
- Tell one person at home. Not the facts of the case. Just what is happening, and what you need from them this week.
- Keep your routines. Work hours, exercise, meals. Routine tells your body that daily life is still steady.
- Hold big decisions for 72 hours. Stress narrows judgment. Unless your attorney says otherwise, give major choices a few days.
- Get support early. The people who do best do not wait until they are exhausted.
Education, not legal or medical advice. In crisis, call or text 988. · Legal Trauma Institute · Dr. Lyman
Before you come
Is this therapy?
No. It is education and coaching. It is not psychotherapy, treatment or a substitute for care from your own clinician.
Is this legal advice?
No. Make every decision about your case with your attorney.
Will I have to talk about my case?
No, and please don’t. What you say could matter in court. The day is about what you are going through, not the case.
How is the retreat different from the circles?
The retreat lets you take part quietly: camera off, and no need to speak or share your name. Circles are smaller and closer. You join with your camera on and your first name, and everyone signs a group agreement on confidentiality.
Is it confidential?
Participants agree to keep what others say in the room. A group is not covered by legal privilege, which is one more reason not to discuss the facts of your case.
Who is this not for?
People who want legal strategy or advice about their case. People in crisis right now: call or text 988. People looking for a substitute for their own therapist or physician.
Is it recorded?
Dr. Lyman’s guided practices are recorded for you to replay. Attendees’ voices and faces are never recorded.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. Full refund up to 7 days before the retreat. And if the morning session isn’t worth it to you, leave at lunch and we refund you in full.
Is this litigation stress coaching?
Yes. Litigation stress coaching is education and coaching for people living through a lawsuit. It is not therapy and not legal advice. The Legal Trauma Recovery Method™ adds practical training in focus, attention and steadiness for the long run of a case.
Saturday, January 23 · Live online · 20 seats · $1,500
Investors, boards and companies: bring this to your people.