Book Update and Existing Article on Trauma-Informed Lawyering

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July 14, 2021

Helgi Maki

*Note: For regular updates check out our Twitter account: https://twitter.com/traumalaw

(This blog provides periodic updates only)

As you may have heard, we’ve been writing a book on trauma-informed lawyering to be published by the American Bar Association (Practice Management Division). The book will likely be published near the end of 2020, beginning of 2021.

It’s a group effort, co-edited by me, Helgi Maki (Creator of this website) together with Marjorie Florestal, Myrna McCallum & J. Kim Wright.

To create the book we collected contributions, stories and survey responses from Lawyers and other Experts from many jurisdictions and practice areas!

My own approach to the book is based on a previously published academic paper, co-written with Professor C. Tess Sheldon. You can find that article here. It’s likely in your local law library.

Helgi Maki & C. Tess Sheldon, “Trauma-Informed Strategies in Public Interest Litigation: Avoiding Unintended Consequences Through Integrative Legal Perspectives,” Supreme Court Law Review, 2nd Series, Volume 90, April 2019.

I’ll post another update here once the publication date has been confirmed.

My hope is that the book can help make initial trauma-informed legal practice resources available for every Law School, Bar Association and beyond (Courts, Firms, Legal Clinics and more…)

A key motivator for writing this book was speaking with too many clients and other legal system stakeholders who said that their experience with the legal system did not improve their situation. I’ve heard far too many times that instead of helping a situation or case, legal services can often create more harm than good (or at least more harm than necessary).

In addition, to me it’s no surprise that Lawyers encounter poor workplace health conditions and are notoriously affected by health issues. This is a profession in which many people are asked to argue or otherwise engage in conflict, all day every day. Trauma-informed approaches to legal services are a tool that can help improve client satisfaction with their experiences, reduce access to justice (and legal services barriers), potentially improve legal outcomes and even improve lawyer wellbeing.

I look forward to posting updates as the book gets closer to publication.