As part of their day-to-day work, legal practitioners are often exposed to other people’s traumatic experiences. This can result in the development of a range of cumulative and harmful symptoms described as vicarious trauma. To identify vicarious trauma risks and exposures specifically for legal professionals and their staff, and to highlight best practice approaches to addressing this risk, we commissioned Phoenix Australia to deliver Vicarious trauma in the legal profession: Discussion paper.

This project is part of ongoing work seeking to develop collaborative and systemic approach to improving lawyer wellbeing. It was undertaken in partnership with our Uniform Law Partners, The Law Society of New South Wales and The Legal Practice Board of Western Australia, and the Law Institute of Victoria. 

The paper presents:

• factors contributing to the risk of vicarious trauma in legal practice
• current approaches to address the risk of vicarious trauma in legal practice
• key factors in an integrated organisational approach for legal workplaces
• barriers to implementation, specific to the legal sector
• strategies and opportunities for future system-wide responses to address vicarious trauma risk in the legal profession, at individual, organisational and systemic levels.

We would like to thank the participants from legal workplaces across the sector, and the members of the Lawyer Wellbeing Community of Practice, who shared their experiences and expertise with Phoenix Australia to develop this paper.

We hope that sharing the paper with the legal sector can inform greater evidenced-based, proactive action, especially at the organisational and sector level, to reduce the harm of vicarious trauma for lawyers and legal staff.

Download and read the full discussion paper below.

Vicarious trauma in the legal profession: Discussion paper Download Icon

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