This course explores the integration of trauma-informed approaches to enhance lawyer support for clients experiencing stress and trauma. Legal professionals and their clients routinely face highly stressful events, triggering responses such as fight, flight, or freeze, which can impede effective advocacy. Lawyers are also vulnerable to vicarious trauma, burnout, and compassion fatigue, impacting their capacity to serve clients effectively. Emphasizing trauma-informed practices, harm reduction, protective factors, communication strategies and empowerment, this course aims to equip students with practical tools to support clients more compassionately and effectively throughout legal processes. Despite the high prevalence of trauma in legal contexts, such approaches remain underrepresented in legal education. Designed to foster resilience and minimize harm, the course encourages a psychologically-informed perspective that enhances both client outcomes and lawyer well-being across diverse practice areas, ultimately promoting more ethical, empathetic, and effective advocacy. Subject areas of specific focus include: Criminal Law, Family Law, Human Rights Law, Employment Law and Bankruptcy Law.
Method of Evaluation: The course will be evaluated on a Credit/no Credit basis using the following evaluation components: (1) Case Study (75%): a case study in which students analyze a specific legal practice area or issue area of their choosing in terms of the impact of trauma and potential measures for trauma-informed practices. The case study may include drafting a proposed trauma-informed practice guide (or recommendations for such a guide, or a subsection of such a guide); and (2) Participation and Engagement (25%): active engagement in group discussions, structured reflection and practical exercises.