Understanding Secondary Trauma Among Legal Professionals

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Understanding Secondary Trauma Among Legal Professionals

Secondary trauma is one of the legal profession’s best kept secrets.

Lawyers working on abuse cases hear and see their client’s pain every day. But most attorneys don’t even realize it’s affecting them until it’s too late.

What is secondary trauma?

• Sneaky
• Unspoken

…and why does it matter? Because secondary trauma has serious impacts on legal professionals’ ability to do their jobs — and live their lives.

Today you’re going to learn:

1. What Is Secondary Trauma In The Legal Profession?
2. Why Abuse Cases Hit Lawyers The Hardest
3. The Warning Signs Every Legal Professional Should Know
4. How To Protect Against Secondary Trauma

What Is Secondary Trauma In The Legal Profession?

Secondary trauma occurs when a legal professional takes on their client’s trauma.

Essentially, it’s like transferring the negative energy onto someone else. They don’t experience the abuse themselves, but after hearing graphic testimony, reviewing disturbing evidence and listening to traumatizing stories from clients… that trauma starts to feel real for them.

Also known as vicarious trauma or compassion fatigue, secondary trauma can cause burnout, anxiety, depression and even PTSD-like symptoms.

Lawyers who specialize in detention abuse legal action cases are particularly susceptible. These lawyers spend months — even years — working with some of the most graphic abuse material you can imagine. Whether it’s a case requiring a detention center sexual abuse attorney or another type of institutional abuse case, it’s rough stuff.

They see graphic photos. They listen to detainees describe abuse they endured. They read medical reports detailing injuries that no human should ever experience.

And unlike therapists or social workers, lawyers receive no training on how to handle the emotional nature of trauma.

Why Abuse Cases Hit Lawyers The Hardest

Not all cases are created equal when it comes to trauma absorption. Lawyers who take on abuse cases — and especially detention abuse legal action lawsuits — will experience more secondary trauma than most other practice areas.

Why? Because at the core of these cases are some of the most innocent victims out there. Kids. Jail detainees. People who couldn’t fight back to protect themselves.

According to research from the ABA, depression symptoms were experienced by 28% of lawyers while 19% reported experiencing anxiety. While those numbers are high on their own, those who handle abuse cases report higher rates of depression and anxiety.

Even more telling: research from the journal Psychiatry, Psychology and Law discovered higher rates of vicarious trauma symptoms among lawyers than mental health professionals.

When you consider that therapists are trained to deal with secondary trauma, that is a huge finding.

There are a few reasons trauma hits lawyers the hardest:

• Lawyers are conditioned to suppress emotions.
• Mental health support has a stigma attached to it in the legal community.
• Large law firms provide no formal training or support for trauma cases.

This combination of factors is lethal for law professionals that absorb secondary trauma from their clients.

The Warning Signs Every Legal Professional Should Know

Most lawyers start their careers thinking they are impervious to secondary trauma.

The common assumption is that hearing about abuse cases shouldn’t cause any personal harm because lawyers aren’t dealing with the victims directly. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

After years of working on jail abuse cases, many attorneys start to feel anxious all the time. Sleep patterns get disrupted. Stomach issues appear. Everything becomes irritating.

This isn’t brain surgery. If you work with traumatized people every day, you’re going to experience symptoms of secondary trauma. The big issue is that it doesn’t happen overnight.

Here are the 5 signs every legal professional should know:

• Sleep issues: Loss of sleep is one of the first symptoms you’ll see with secondary trauma. As soon as you start dwelling on case-related material outside of work, you’ve got a problem. A Bloomberg Law report found that the majority of attorneys experienced disrupted sleep and anxiety in 2024.

• Emotional numbing: Detachment from the world around you — whether that’s family, friends or cases you’re working on.

• Intrusive thoughts: Constantly thinking about case material when you’re supposed to be relaxing.

• Hypervigilance: Always feeling on edge or like the world is more dangerous than it was before.

• Hopelessness: Losing faith in the legal system. Feeling like your work doesn’t matter.

If left unchecked, these symptoms can spiral into severe depression, burnout and substance abuse.

Attorneys who suffer from secondary trauma aren’t just harming themselves. They’re also harming their clients.

Think about it.

When a lawyer is drowning in trauma at home, how present can they be during client meetings? How well can they focus when bad dreams keep them up at night? Clients deserve better than a lawyer who’s emotionally drained.

How To Protect Against Secondary Trauma

Secondary trauma isn’t impossible to manage. But it does require legal professionals to be proactive about their mental health.

Recognise The Risk

Lawyers are just as susceptible to trauma as anyone else. If you work with survivors of abuse and neglect, you need to understand that it’s going to affect you emotionally. You’re human.

Set Emotional Boundaries

This doesn’t mean you don’t care about your clients. It means you have to create a barrier between your work and home life. Stop reading case files before bed. Take a break between traumatizing cases if you can.

Seek Peer Support

Isolation is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a lawyer suffering from secondary trauma. Talk to other attorneys who understand the emotional nature of the work you’re doing. Some law firms are even creating peer support groups for lawyers who work with trauma survivors.

Get Professional Help

This can’t be said enough. If you think you might be experiencing symptoms of secondary trauma, talk to a professional. Therapists are great, but consider working with someone who understands the legal system and your specific practice area. Catching it early can make all the difference.

Push For Organisational Change

Law firms aren’t off the hook here either. If you start to notice trauma cases are impacting your attorneys, there are steps you can take to prevent it. Trauma informed policies, mental health resources and encouraging conversations about employee wellbeing are great places to start.

The legal profession has placed pride above people for way too long. It’s time that changed.

Pulling It All Together

Secondary trauma is insidious. It’s hiding in plain sight in your law firm right now.

Lawyers working on detention abuse legal action cases see and hear about their client’s trauma every day. And without the proper tools to manage it, secondary trauma will lead to mental health disorders and burnout.

Attorneys experience higher rates of secondary trauma than many other professions.

• Abuse cases take the hardest emotional toll.
• Secondary trauma symptoms are often mistaken for normal job stress.
• By implementing peer support groups, setting boundaries and seeking therapy, lawyers can reduce their risk.

Lawyers deserve the same access to mental health resources they fight for their clients to receive.

The work they’re doing matters. But they matter too.

It’s time the profession starts treating secondary trauma as seriously as case research. Because nothing hurts a client more than a traumatized lawyer.