Trauma and Healing Informed Lawyering

Trauma and healing informed lawyering is an approach to legal advocacy that involves developing awareness of manifestations of trauma in legal interactions, adapting communications skills and legal strategies, recognition of the imperatives of legal ethics when working with mentally ill or traumatized clients, and developing clinical-legal partnerships and referral networks as needed. A trauma and healing informed practice is necessary when engaging with vulnerable populations and/or any client who may have experienced trauma. We will discuss in-depth, various forms of trauma including “vicarious or secondary” trauma caused by exposure to people who have been traumatized, and “institutional trauma” effected by the harmful ways in which under-resourced organizations are set up. Though trauma and healing informed advocacy can be relevant to any area of law, it is especially needed in the public interest sector.