Trauma-Informed Lawyering in the Student Legal Clinic Setting: Increasing Competence in Trauma-Informed Practice

Abstract

Research in clinical law, critical legal studies, and therapeutic jurisprudence has spotlighted serious challenges that clients face when they encounter the law, particularly when they have experienced previous trauma. Lawyers who fail to recognize and effectively respond to clients’ trauma may struggle to communicate, interpret narrative, and build trust – all of which are foundational to the lawyer-client relationship. Trauma is common across human experience, with more than 70% of the general population reporting at least one traumatic life experience and 30% reporting four or more. Although trauma is not a unique experience, it is experienced more often, and with greater impact, by people who are marginalized within dominant power structures. This makes trauma particularly relevant for lawyers who work with populations that are systematically marginalized, often in intersecting ways – as is the case for many clients who seek support from student legal aid clinics. Drawing on a growing body of research on trauma informed approaches in lawyering, psychology, and pedagogy, the co-authors – two legal clinicians/academics and a social psychologist – developed and evaluated a trauma informed educational Module for law students working in clinical law settings with clients experiencing low income. Using open questions alongside a scenario, we evaluated this Module through a pre and post-test analysis to assess how students interpreted client behaviour before and after receiving trauma informed training. Before explaining the results of our analysis, we review the background to our work, including the relevant literature and theory that influenced this project. Although we had quite a specific goal in mind, the results of this project demonstrate the potential wide-ranging benefits of trauma informed lawyering, and support its place as a central component of legal clinic training and practice.