Trial Magazine

As a lawyer working to become a licensed mental health counselor, I am often asked whether I plan to stop practicing law when I complete my training. My intention is to combine the two in a meaningful way to serve clients in both fields. I continue to be amazed about how the experiences and skills I am cultivating in one profession directly support and inform those I have acquired in the other. Fundamentally, the foundation of both professions is to help ease pain and suffering. While strikingly different in the mechanics and procedures, both fields are uniquely situated to help ease clients’ suffering and contribute to a more compassionate and just society.

Trauma plays a large role in the lives of clients in both fields. It is important for lawyers to be aware of what trauma is, the impact it has, and the importance of showing up as a trauma-informed legal professional. While there are clearly delineated boundaries and duties in both professions, legal professionals can use principles of trauma-informed communication to better connect with their clients.

Consider, for example, dealing with a client whose reactions might appear unreasonable, irrational, or incongruent with the circumstances. You should approach these encounters with curiosity and openness, along with a realization that these reactions could indicate residual trauma. This approach will allow you to be nonjudgmental and more compassionate. This knowledge will help you understand that prior exposure to adversity, including highly stressful or life-threatening events, changes a person’s psychological, physical, social, spiritual, and emotional responses.

Mental health counselors help clients with unique trauma backgrounds process their experiences and move forward. The primary goal is to decrease their subjective distress and help them access their inner resources and cope with stressful events more easily and quickly. Legal professionals can use some of these trauma-informed techniques to enhance relationships with clients.

Bring empathy and compassion. Empathy requires effort to understand another’s suffering, while compassion is the action taken to help the other person. This means listening to understand—instead of to respond—and setting aside judgment. Being empathetic and compassionate requires self-compassion first. This might include becoming familiar with your own prior traumas and how they impacted or continue to impact you. It might also include reaching out for professional help. There is no shame in asking for help, and it will help us in our advocacy role with clients.

Be present. Listen to your client’s story. The tremendous ways that trauma has impacted the client’s life can often be uncomfortable and difficult. Enhancing your personal awareness can be critical to allowing you to stay present with clients. Pay attention to how you respond or react to different situations. For example, consider your initial response to stress. Mine usually involves my heart beating fast and a sensation of energy flowing in my body. I find it comforting to acknowledge it, take a few deep breaths, and exhale slowly. This helps me stay present.

If you are not tuned into yourself and how you react to different situations, you could be inadvertently contributing to your own burnout and exhaustion. Having a connection to your inner experience will allow you to seek the support you need and find ways to cope and adapt.

Be aware of body language. This can make a huge difference in not only clients’ perception of you but also with the level of comfort and safety they feel when talking with you, which can have a significant impact on their ability to trust you. Posture impacts how much oxygen your brain receives and how you communicate. Consider how crossing your arms and putting your hands on your hips might be perceived as confrontational or cold. If you are meeting with a client in person, keep a comfortable distance and allow your body language to be open and neutral.

I never imagined that the experience, knowledge, and skills I have learned in my roles as a lawyer and mental health counseling intern would complement each other and intersect with such similar paths. These professions alleviate others’ suffering in different ways. I hope that as a trauma-informed attorney you can provide ethical legal representation that will make your clients feel their experiences and their stories matter—because they do.

Alexandra “Cookie” Echsner-Rasmussen is an attorney at Aylstock Witkin Kreis Overholtz in Pensacola, Fla., and can be reached at aechsner-rasmussen@awkolaw.com.