Gemma Smyth
Law is a helping profession; as such, many lawyers encounter trauma also found in other helping professions, such as social work or medicine. However, the legal profession has been slower to identify the effects of working in highly stressful and possibly traumatic contexts. Some research focuses on client problems as a major source of secondary trauma for lawyers. There is no question that clients, especially in certain areas of law, experience traumatic events and expose lawyers to secondary trauma. Witnessing and working with a client to access a legal remedy – particularly on a longer-term basis – may cause stress, vicarious trauma, and/or burnout. However, the nature of legal systems and legal workplaces also set up lawyers for secondary trauma and can prevent healing. For example, billing practices that encourage long hours, unreasonable time to access court, litigation practices, and the sometimes technocratic nature of practice and some firm cultures can also be serious, exacerbating sources of stress. As Donalee Moulton noted in Canadian Lawyer, “[f]or many lawyers and judges (as well as jurors, courtroom personnel, and others), the violent, disturbing reality they witness inside and outside the courtroom as part of their profession can become debilitating. It can become vicarious trauma…..” (Sandra Shutt, “Vicarious trauma: the cumulative effects of caring”, Canadian Lawyer Magazine (Feb 2015). When left unaddressed, secondary trauma can also lead to behaviour that triggers Law Society complaints, possibly leading to discipline. This section defines secondary or vicarious trauma, identifies symptoms and signs of secondary trauma, and links to a self-assessment tool and other possible supports.
What is Secondary or Vicarious Trauma?
Secondary trauma or vicarious trauma (sometimes also called “secondary traumatic stress”) is experienced by people who work with others who have experienced trauma. Figley defined secondary trauma as “the natural, consequent behaviors and emotions resulting from knowledge about a traumatizing event experience by a significant other. It is the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatized or suffering person” (Figley, 1999, at 10). Secondary trauma can be one of the natural impacts of working in a helping profession. It is more likely to occur where there is a detailed re-counting/re-enactment of a traumatic event, as opposed to simply discussing an occurrence, as is found in talk therapy. When a lawyer needs to help manage the stress of an event with a client, there is a great risk of vicarious trauma. Some studies have shown greater impacts depending on the lawyer’s own trauma history and whether it has been addressed. Importantly, secondary trauma does not have to be caused by one extreme event; rather, it can accumulate over time with repeated exposure to a traumatized person or even, in law, to evidence of a traumatic nature. Exposure to traumatic events may simply be inevitable in certain areas of law, although there are approaches that can minimize its impact and manage its effects. However, there are strong associations between secondary trauma and lower job satisfaction.
Understanding Symptoms & Assessing Risk
There is significant literature in the helping professions identifying risk factors. These risks include: people who have themselves experienced one or more traumatic events, people with few social supports and/or few opportunities to debrief with colleagues, people who are poorly prepared to work with clients/patients who have experienced trauma, and those who have higher levels of other general stress. In law, there are often few supports built into a workplace that allow for systematic debriefing and mentorship (although that is changing in some areas). Further, there are few supports built into legal education that prepares students to enter workplaces with traumatized clients.
This article provides a more in depth explanation on symptoms that may arise from experiencing secondary trauma in a medical context, but applies equally to a law context including:
- experiencing lingering feelings of anger, rage and sadness about patient’s victimization
- becoming overly involved emotionally with the patient
- experiencing bystander guilt, shame, and feelings of self-doubt
- being preoccupied with thoughts of [clients] outside of the work situation
- over identification with the [client] (having horror and rescue fantasies)
- loss of hope, pessimism, cynicism
- distancing, numbing, detachment, cutting [clients] off, staying busy. Avoiding listening to client’s story of traumatic experiences
- difficulty in maintaining professional boundaries with the client, such as overextending self (trying to do more than is in the role to help the patient).
Prevention & Self Assessment
The best way to initially deal with or prevent secondary trauma is to know yourself and your experiences deeply, and be aware of what may trigger latent emotions associated with personal experiences of trauma. Failure to know what can be an emotional trigger can impact the legal advice that the lawyer gives the client. It can also cause the lawyer to transfer their personal feelings onto the client. Self-knowledge can also help with early identification of secondary trauma.
Aside from self-knowledge and self-reflection, there are several tools that can be used to assess secondary trauma and related professional stressors. One well researched tool is the “ProQL“, the Professional Quality of Life survey, which helps users identify compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue, burnout, secondary trauma stress, vicarious trauma and vicarious transformation. The ProQL is useful for its focus on both the satisfying and challenging aspects of helper work. Here is a printable pocket card based on the ProQL.There are also many other tools and educational resources aimed at clinicians available through the American Psychiatric Association.
Many wellness tips contained later in this Chapter are good prevention techniques for secondary trauma. Again, there are also systemic and structural aspects to prevention and recovery canvassed later in the Chapter.
“The Cost of Caring”
“As part of my externship, I had the opportunity to work with clients from across the Greater Toronto Area. Each intake included taking the address, average income, source of income and professions of client callers. When I spoke to my clients, sometimes during conversations that stretched over an hour, I was able to form a full picture of what type of life they lived.
In this role, my privilege was challenged significantly. The situations that my clients were experiencing related to evictions, pest infestations and emotional and physical abuse were all-consuming. I found myself reflecting deeply on why, during this experience, my immediate response to moments of joy or the security of having a paid job to support me through financial stress was often guilt. I questioned how my ability to rely on my education, legal skills, and familiarity with navigating tenant issues provided me a sense of relief and autonomy that my clients did not have, simply by virtue of being a law student.
Even though I have spent years studying injustice and working and volunteering with organizations committed to equity, this externship experience was a dramatic shift in my understanding of what it means to care. I spent the entire four months thinking about these feelings and “moral shifts”, speaking with trusted colleagues, family members and friends to understand where these questions were coming from, and perhaps why they felt so urgent.
The effect of this work, despite the challenges of working in a fast-paced, front-facing legal role, became outweighed by the immediacy with which our services could alleviate the hazardous and often heartbreaking circumstances our clients faced. While it may sound grandiose, I truly believe that this experience altered my state of mind around what a lawyer is, and what a lawyer can do. The “erosion of idealism” that I experienced while working at the [non-profit] is a concept that I had not been exposed to throughout my legal education but has become central to the development of my professional identity as a law student.
Before the externship seminar, I was not fully aware of the concept of secondary trauma or the ways it could affect me professionally. Recognizing signs like emotional over-involvement and persistent preoccupation with clients outside of work helped me to validate my own experiences. With this awareness, I was able to seek support during my placement and approach my work with greater care and intention.
A key part of forming my professional identity during this process involved me asking myself: What luxuries am I willing to forgo to challenge the oppressive structures embedded in this field and stand in solidarity with the causes I care about? In my final presentation, I spoke about one such luxury – my time. At this point in my life, I have the privilege of finishing my day at 5:00 PM. Yet during my externship, I often chose to extend my shift to ensure that clients received peace of mind before the weekend.
While I move forward in my legal career, I am aware that my boundaries and “luxuries” may change depending on my personal circumstances. But I also know that I can pursue both individual self-realization and meaningful service, understanding that long-term advocacy requires maintaining a sustainable approach to my work as a lawyer.
This experience has shown me that empathy is not just a feeling, but an action-oriented practice. Recognizing the “cost of caring” and learning how to manage its impact on my own actions has been essential in shaping a sustainable and compassionate approach to my future legal work. I have come to understand that tending to my own well-being is not separate from, but key to, serving clients effectively. I am grateful to this experience for equipping me with the tools needed to build resilience – allowing me to meet my own personal and professional obligations while continuing to contribute meaningfully to the needs of others.”
Reflection Questions
- What aspects of the legal profession and legal workplaces do you think lead to secondary trauma?
- What strategies have you observed in other professional contexts that might prevent secondary trauma?
- Have you observed any strategies in your workplace context that might acknowledge and potentially mitigate secondary trauma?
- If you begin to experience signs of secondary trauma, who can you reach out to? What supports can you pro-actively identify that might help both prevent and respond to signs of secondary trauma?
