How Domestic Violence Impacts Lawyers' Mental Health and Practice

Featured Article

Traumatology | 2025, Vol. 31, No. 1, p. 56- 64.

Article Title

“On Thursdays I Feel Sad”: Interpersonal and Family Violence, an Inadequate Justice System, and the Impact of COVID-19 From the Perspective of Senior Lawyers

Authors

Lynne McCormack - School of Psychology Sciences, University of Newcastle

Madison Currie - School of Psychology Sciences, University of Newcastle

Claudia Lawson - School of Medicine, University of Newcastle

Abstract

Despite chronic, exposure to their clients’ trauma narratives of interpersonal and family violence, the mental health of domestic violence lawyers is poorly explored. Using semistructured interviews, data from senior domestic violence lawyers with greater than 5 years’ experience was analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Six subordinate themes emerged. Participants reflected on recurring waves of hopelessness and vulnerability to professional burnout that resulted from a systemic lack of psychological support for lawyers faced with repetitive exposure to family trauma. This precipitated a protective practice of “black” humor against cyclical trauma narratives but further placed them at risk of depersonalization, burnout, and secondary traumatic distress. COVID-19 suddenly brought risks in court services, but unexpectedly allowed time for self-reflection and self-reparation. Over time, these senior lawyers embraced a sense of authenticity acknowledging that through their clients they supported victims and families. Psychological self-care, mentoring, and supervision, as part of training and ongoing practice, emerged from the rich data as important recommendations for lawyers from students through to senior practitioners.

Keywords

burnout, interpretative phenomenological analysis, systemic dysfunction, domestic violence, lawyers

Summary of Research

“Those working at the forefront of legal intervention, including lawyers, are vicariously at risk of developing traumatic responses impacting their own mental well-being. This study explores the subjective interpretations of senior lawyers working in domestic violence. It seeks their sense making transitioning from early to senior practitioners, how they maintain longevity of career, and protect against burnout or mental exhaustion from exposure to chronic stressors, particularly in the workplace, and psychopathological risks….

In a large study of 12,825 currently licensed lawyers working with domestic violence… 28% reported significant levels of depressive symptoms, 19% reported anxiety symptoms, 23% reported symptoms of stress, and one-fifth reported levels of alcohol intake that is generally characteristic of a dependency. At least once during their legal career, suicidal thoughts were reported by 11.5%, with 2.9% engaging in nonsuicidal self-injury, and 0.7% attempting suicide. As lawyers play an important role in the framework of justice within society, the collision of an impaired lawyer and an already vulnerable population has the potential for thwarting justice and causing more harm….

Secondary traumatic stress theory proposes that although the professional has not directly been exposed to a traumatic event, empathic interaction by a professional with an individual, currently, or previously exposed to trauma, can trigger trauma exposure symptoms much like a contagion…secondary traumatic stress is a risk to all professional cohorts exposed to the narratives of traumatized clients, including doctors, nurses, mental health professionals, journalists, funeral directors, jurors, victim advocates, and lawyers” (p. 56- 57).

“The necessary empathy and prolonged or sustained contact with victims of trauma by caregivers of any profession are likely precipitants of secondary trauma responses commonly referred to as compassion fatigue or the erosion of empathy as a result of caring and helping others who are suffering. In clinical practice, mental health professionals may assess and address both the primary symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the secondary impacts of trauma to provide comprehensive and effective care for individuals who have experienced traumatic events… these secondary impacts [are] often considered in the assessment and treatment of individuals with trauma-related disorders…

Increased cynicism, by way of loss of hope in humanity or a pervasive disappointment in mankind, are characteristics of growing compassion fatigue… There has been very little research into the effects of rote exposure to evocative material on the mental health of lawyers. A meta-analysis yielded only nine studies concerning vicarious trauma in lawyers [and] there is very little documented by way of existing standardized institutional support outside of the availability of elective psychologist support… Using [interpretative phenomenological analysis] (IPA), this study sought the positive and negative subjective interpretations of lawyers working with client groups before the court for domestic violence, how they made sense of the impact of domestic violence narratives on their wellbeing, and the systemic impact on outcomes and work longevity” (p. 57).

“A small homogenous group of four domestic violence lawyers who had completed a 4-year law degree at an Australian university were recruited through domestic violence services in a coastal city, as participants for this study… Time was spent with each participant gathering demographic data, building rapport, answering questions, and noting tacit information prior to the semistructured interview that was important to the collaborative analytic process. Open-ended questions asked during the interview focused on the participant’s lived experience of working as a lawyer defending people who had received ADVOs and the meanings or interpretations they attached to these experiences, both positive and negative…. IPA is recommended for research in areas that are otherwise underexplored, especially those in which subjective interpretations are important but not well understood. As such, it was well suited for the present research into the idiosyncratic lived experiences of being a lawyer vicariously exposed to interpersonal violence” (p. 58).

“Six subordinate themes emerged: Transgenerational layers of disadvantage, systemic dysfunction, holding on to normal, claiming authenticity, COVID interruption, and conduit for change… this study found institutional stress was ever-present in the lives of these lawyers. This is an important finding as high levels of stress have been found to be both risk factor for and symptomatic of vicarious trauma” (p. 62).

Translating Research into Practice

“The themes followed;

their shifting feelings from optimism to despair, eroded by the troubling stories of abuse, violence, and disadvantage shared with them by their clients;
how this was compounded by the futility they interpreted in the often cyclical nature of domestic violence placing them at risk of burnout;
the inadequacy and ineffectiveness of the legal system for reparative outcomes in domestic violence;
redefining themselves as senior lawyers by authentically recognizing their strengths to incrementally and pragmatically support victims, some of the time” (p. 62).

Other Interesting Tidbits for Researchers and Clinicians

“This study [has] highlighted the absence of adequate psychological care and resources for domestic violence lawyers, the subsequent risks of compassion fatigue, burnout, and vicarious and possibly primary traumatic distress.

Second, as domestic violence is a complex interpersonal crime, the psychosocial ramifications continue to be poorly addressed through many legal systems and remain a challenge for any society particularly, the transgenerational risks of ongoing perpetration or victimhood for children as they grow and enter adult relationships.

Third, this study provides direction for future avenues of research, particularly regarding the protective potentials of past trauma, age, years of professional experience, and compartmentalization. Findings also prompt immediate queries as to how COVID-19 has changed domestic violence: its nature, its complexity, the support for its victims and courts adaptability” (p. 63).