Meghna Sridhar, Senior Associate
Meghna is a qualified solicitor in England & Wales, as well as a licensed attorney in New York. She has a background in international human rights, civil and criminal legal advocacy, asylum justice and corporate law.
No one considers taking legal action unless they have been harmed. When it comes to taking legal action over discrimination, personal injury or human rights abuses, that harm is usually serious, and often takes extreme forms such as sexual harassment, physical abuse, or sexual assault.
Bringing a civil lawsuit is an important step clients can take towards redressing the damage they have suffered. Through a lawsuit, clients can hold abusers to account, receive monetary compensation to make them whole, and foster systemic changes within institutions. While this can be healing, the process of bringing and fighting a lawsuit can sometimes compound a client’s trauma. A lawsuit can dredge up painful memories. Clients may face challenging cross-examinations. Length, delays, and uncertainty in outcome can further make a lawsuit challenging to endure.
These are also considerations that we, as civil lawyers, must be mindful of. Simply knowing the law or competently prosecuting a case on the client’s behalf is not sufficient. For sensitive and vulnerable clients, trauma-informed lawyering can make a profound difference to their experience of litigation. Trauma-informed lawyering can protect clients from facing revictimization through the legal process. It also cements trust in the attorney-client relationship and can help create better outcomes: clients who are adequately supported by their attorneys are more likely to make informed settlement decisions, endure roadblocks in litigation, and have the capacity to testify about what they have endured.
What does trauma-informed lawyering entail?
While trauma informed lawyering can look different based on the nature of each case and each client’s circumstances, there are a few key principles that every lawyer should note while building a trauma informed practice.
1. Understand trauma
Trauma is complex and multifaceted. Different clients might experience, manifest, and express trauma in different ways. Its impact on the way clients communicate and what they need is also varied. Understanding the genesis of trauma, its nuances, its various forms (including PTSD and complex PTSD) and the best practices towards sensitively addressing it is a critical first step in trauma informed lawyering.
2. Communicate transparently and build trust
Trauma is often connected to feelings of betrayal, loss of trust, or powerlessness. Lawyers who do not communicate openly and transparently with their clients can further entrench these feelings. An effective, trauma informed advocate ensures clients are promptly updated about developments in their case, have all the information available to make empowered and informed decisions, have a reliable and consistent line of contact with their attorneys, and feel supported and validated in the choices they make it litigation. Upholding the highest standards of professional integrity and honesty can go a long way in earning a traumatized client’s trust.
3. Work with empathy
Lawyers must always treat their clients with respect and patience. Traumatized clients may need tailored communication styles: some might respond better to video calls than phone conversations, for example, or may need breaks or space when talking about challenging subjects. Understanding the clients’ needs, withholding judgement, having patience with their participation in the process, providing validation and support for their choices and working with them to minimize revictimization are all critical building blocks of a trauma informed practice.
4. Keep up to date with training
Trauma informed lawyering has come a long way in the past few decades, with practitioners increasingly recognizing its importance. As such, several organizations and individuals offer resources, guides, and trainings on trauma informed lawyering. A sustainable trauma informed practice involves regular trainings to understand best practices to deal with trauma, a review of the latest studies and literature on the subject, and workshops to discuss and learn from experiences of handling traumatized clients.
At McAllister Olivarius, trauma informed lawyering is central to the way we approach cases. Having dealt with cases that involve severe instances of harassment, discrimination, systemic sexual abuse of both adults and children, we are sensitive to the needs of vulnerable clients and constantly revisit and refine our approach to provide them with the best service. Increasing awareness of, and sensitivity to, trauma within the justice system falls in line with our ultimate goal: making the justice system work for survivors and empowering access to justice for all.