Life at Winston

Throughout the month of June, Winston & Strawn team members made strides toward their fitness goals for the 5th annual WinSTRIDE activity challenge.

Diane Costigan, Winston & Strawn’s Director of Coaching & Well-Being, helps hundreds of students navigate the nerves and stress that come with the law student recruiting process and with exams every year. Here, in her own words, are Diane’s tips for putting your best foot forward.

From May 3–7 2021, Winston & Strawn celebrated Well-Being Week in Law with programs that focus on how to be resilient, healthy, and successful.

October 10 is World Mental Health Day, an opportunity to reassess our own mental health needs and check in with friends and family. This year, acknowledging our psychological wellbeing is particularly important as we struggle with increased challenges caused by COVID-19 and physical distancing, as well as daily political and social unrest.  

Throughout the month of July, Winston & Strawn team members made strides toward their fitness goals for the 3^rd annual WinSTRIDE walking challenge. Competition was fierce as each office teamed up to walk and run their team to the highest number of average steps.

Calling all Winston employees! June 1st marks the beginning of WinSTRIDE 2020, an annual steps challenge organized by Well at Winston. In this friendly competition, our employees are grouped by office to see which location can take the most average steps over the course of a month. You can also race to the top of the personal leaderboard by having the highest number of total steps for an individual.

Today marks the beginning Winston’s participation in Lawyer Well-Being Week. This five-day series of programs aligns with Mental Health Awareness Month to incite positive changes in the day-to-day operations of our Lawyers and their support staff.  

Building on an annual tradition that began in our Chicago office, Winston & Strawn went national for Cycle for Survival with new teams in Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. for 2020.

Fitting exercise, healthy eating, or meditation into an already jam-packed to-do list can be tough for busy lawyers and professional staff. Winston & Strawn is addressing this challenge with a new approach to physical health, mental wellness, and emotional resilience—Well at Winston.

Winston & Strawn was pleased to be a sponsor of Wellness Week at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where our firm’s Director of Coaching and Well-Being Diane Costigan presented “Deconstructing Stress to Enhance Performance” to a group of law students.

As part of our Year of Mental Health, Winston participated in 2019 Out of Darkness Walks in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, raising nearly $35,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s research, support, education, and advocacy activities and spreading kindness along the way.

In this Spotlight Q&A, Silicon Valley Partner Mike Rueckheim discusses his support for Bike MS and their mission to help end multiple sclerosis.s.

As part of the firm’s Mindful Winston program, Director of Coaching and Well-Being Diane Costigan recently hosted “Mindfulness/Mediation Pop-ups” in several offices to help interested firm members integrate this stress-reducing tool into their daily lives. Associate John Tschirgi, a Vedic Meditation teacher-in-training, joined Diane for her August 13 pop-up in the Los Angeles office. We recently caught up with John to get his take on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness in the life of a busy attorney.

Winston & Strawn’s partnership with Born This Way Foundation’s “21 Days to Be Kind” Challenge reminded firm members around the globe about the importance of daily acts of kindness for the mental well-being of us all. Performing simple acts of kindness has been shown to boost reported levels of happiness, self-worth, and calmness while decreasing symptoms of depression.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the firm is pleased to provide an update on our Year of Mental Health Winston Wellness initiative, a signature component of which was Wellness Week held May 13-17 in all U.S. offices.