Sarah Katz & Deeya Haldar, “The Pedagogy of Trauma-Informed Lawyering”

This article discusses the pedagogy of teaching law students to recognize and understand trauma and the effect of vicarious trauma on law students who work with clients who have experienced serious trauma. This article seeks to provide tools for teaching trauma-informed practice in all law school clinic settings.

Vicarious trauma, or compassion fatigue, is a term for the effect that working with survivors of trauma may have on individuals who directly help them, such as lawyers. Vicarious traumatization refers to harmful changes that occur in professionals’ views of themselves, others and the world as a result of exposure to the graphic or traumatic experiences of their clients. Symptoms of vicarious trauma may exhibit symptoms such as: denial of clients’ trauma, over-identification with clients, having no time and energy for oneself, feelings of great vulnerability, experiencing insignificant daily events as threatening, feelings of alienation, social withdrawal, disconnection from loved ones, cynicism, changes in identity, loss of feeling secure, etc.

Teaching trauma-informed lawyering in law school clinics furthers the value clinical legal education places on teaching social justice principles, such as the emphasis on voice and validation for clients. The notion of client-centred lawyering is also furthered. Teaching trauma informed lawyering in clinics also reinforces one of clinical legal education’s central tenets, the importance of client-centered lawyering. Teaching trauma-informed practice as part of client-centred lawyering improves the client’s experience of representation by encouraging students to think about non-legal aspects of a client’s situation and places value on the student’s understanding of a client’s perspectives, emotions, and values.

Clinics are particularly well-suited for teaching trauma-informed lawyering because students are readily able to put into practice with their clients the goals of identifying trauma, adjusting the attorney-client relationship, adjusting the litigation strategy, and preventing vicarious trauma. Moreover, clinics are one of the primary vehicles through which law students learn the practical aspects of professional responsibility. When students have a better understanding of trauma-informed lawyering, they become better advocates because they gain better interviewing skills, build trust with their clients more effectively, and tackle problems that clients face.

Clinical teachers can teach trauma-informed practice by teaching students about the four key hallmarks of trauma-informed lawyering:

1. Identifying trauma;
2. Adjusting the strategy for building an attorney-client relationship (with the assistance of the clinical teacher);
3. Adapting litigation strategy; and
4. Preventing vicarious trauma (through balancing and limiting caseloads, creating a safe space for practitioners to talk about the effects of working with their clients with trauma histories on a regular basis, teach and model good self-care, etc.).

Sarah Katz & Deeya Haldar, “The Pedagogy of Trauma-Informed Lawyering” (2016) 22:2 Clinical L Rev 359.