Location:
Online
CPD Hours: 20hours
Join our certification course to gain comprehensive updates and practical knowledge of trauma-informed practice. This course will elevate your client care skills within many practice areas including family law, criminal law, child law and personal injury.
Advance notice of the next dates for this course?
Trauma-awareness and trauma-informed practice are increasingly at the heart of a fair justice system.
This course is designed for all solicitors working with people, no matter their practice area, whether working in criminal law, family and child law, personal injury, succession and estate planning or conveyancing and beyond, and is suitable for all levels of expertise.
In becoming trauma-informed, you will learn to recognise the impact of trauma in those you work for and with, and to be able to practice in a way that does no further harm, supports recovery and is most effective and efficient for people affected by trauma. Just as importantly, you will understand the ways that you can adapt your approach to legal practice and communication skills to take account of the impact of trauma in order to work effectively with colleagues and clients, including minimising the risks of re-traumatisation while also preserving your own wellbeing against vicarious trauma.
If you are interested in training on autism, please look at these courses run by Scottish Autism.
This course is priced at £560 + VAT and consists of 20 hours verifiable CPD.*
*Becoming a trauma-informed lawyer is an increasingly essential competency that sits at the heart of a fair justice system. This is more important than ever at a time when growing emphasis is placed towards the development of a trauma-informed justice workforce that needs to be able to both improve the experiences of victims and witnesses, and to ensure a fair justice system for the accused.
With this in mind, we created this course at a lower rate than our other certification courses to reflect our ambition to increase awareness among our members about the importance of trauma awareness in all areas of law, while also to provide any solicitors working with people with the tools to elevate their client care skills.
| Date | Location | Webinar |
| Thursday 26 May, 1.30 - 3.30pm | Online | Introduction to trauma and trauma-informed practice for Lawyers |
| Thursday 2 June, 1 - 4.30pm | Online | Vulnerable witnesses seminar |
| Thursday 9 June, 1.30 - 3.30pm | Online | Professional experience workshop |
| Thursday 16 June, 1.30 - 3.30pm | Online | Trauma in practice |
| Thursday 23 June, 1.30 - 4pm | Online | The ethics and skills of trauma-informed lawyers |
- Sign up for the certified course.
- Complete introductory pre-materials (trauma skilled e-module and coercive control) for 3 hours verifiable CPD.
- Attend six live online webinars for 15.5 hours CPD.
- Certification as Trauma-Informed Lawyer awarded with use of our marque.
Trauma Skilled e-module
This module, from NHS Education for Scotland, consists of five units, and takes around 1.5-3 hours to complete. It is designed to increase your understanding of what psychological trauma is and how it can affect us, how to support recovery and develop trauma informed relationships that incorporate trust, safety, choice and collaboration, and control and empowerment, and how to recognise when a person may benefit from a trauma specialist intervention
3 hours verifiable CPD
Coercive Control and the Law - A Trauma Informed Approach module
Complete this module, we collaborated with Scottish Government and other stakeholders to develop trauma informed training for solicitors. Trauma informed knowledge is essential to elevate your client care skills within many practice areas including Family law, Criminal law, Child law and Personal Injury.
You can find the resources and complete the quiz to gain 1 hour verifiable CPD here.
Ahead of the 'Vulnerable witnesses and vulnerable accused seminar',you should watch the below three videos
- Trauma and Credibilty (9 mins)
- Re-traumatisation and Trauma Informed Approaches (6 mins)
- Window of Tolerance (7 mins)
- Warriors by Stephen Bennett (60 mins)
All of the videos are accessible through Vimeo, please follow the links above to access each video.
Seminar One: Introduction to trauma and trauma-informed practice for lawyers
Trainer: Dr. Caroline Bruce, Principal Educator at NHS Education for Scotland, Clinical Psychologist and Honorary Senior Lecturer (Institute of Health & Wellbeing) at University of Glasgow
Ahead of this seminar, you should complete the following training:
- Trauma Skilled e-module (3 hours verifiable CPD)
- Coercive Control and the Law - A Trauma Informed Approach module (1 hour verifiable CPD)
- Recap and discussion of key points from skilled module integrated into legal practice
Seminar Two: Vulnerable witnesses seminar
Trainers:
Iain Smith, Partner, Keegan Smith
Melissa Rutherford, Director, Rutherford Sheridan
Nadine Martin, Associate, Gibson Kerr, and Accredited Specialist in Family and Child Law
Speakers TBC
Ahead of the 'Vulnerable witnesses seminar', you should watch the below three videos
- Trauma and Credibilty (9 mins)
- Re-traumatisation and Trauma Informed Approaches (6 mins)
- Window of Tolerance (7 mins)
- Defining and assessing vulnerability in relation to trauma
- Dealing with vulnerable witnesses
- Dartmouth wellness court
Seminar Three: Professional experience workshop
Trainers:
Iain Smith, Partner, Keegan Smith
Melissa Rutherford, Director, Rutherford Sheridan
Nadine Martin, Associate, Gibson Kerr, and Accredited Specialist in Family and Child Law
Kirsty Giles, Psychotherapist, Scottish Violence Reduction Unit
This module will consist of two parts:
- Pre-recorded content on lived experience to watch on demand
- 'Warriors' by Stephen Bennett (60 mins)
- 'Wisdom of Trauma' (released during course) - Live group discussion with facilitators
Seminar Four: Trauma in practice
Trainers:
Iain Smith, Partner, Keegan Smith
Melissa Rutherford, Director, Rutherford Sheridan
Kirsty Giles, Psychotherapist, Scottish Violence Reduction Unit
Nadine Martin, Associate, Gibson Kerr, and Accredited Specialist in Family and Child Law
Content: During this seminar, trauma-informed lawyers working in different practice areas will discuss their journey and what brought them to become trauma aware, as well as their experience of working with clients who have suffered from trauma. You will also hear about:
- the judicial response to date, the sentencing guidelines, what needs to be done
- what practitioners do and should do
Seminar Five: The ethics and ekills of trauma-informed lawyers
Trainers:
Iain Smith, Partner, Keegan Smith
Melissa Rutherford, Director, Rutherford Sheridan
Kirsty Giles, Psychotherapist, Scottish Violence Reduction Unit
Nadine Martin, Associate, Gibson Kerr, and Accredited Specialist in Family and Child Law
During this seminar, you will discuss:
- Enhancing your client engagement and communication skills: adapt your initial engagement and litigation approach to minimize re-traumatisation
- Recognising and applying legal ethics when working with traumatised clients
- Vicarious trauma – supporting and protecting your own wellbeing
Trauma-informed lawyering: looking abroad
Access to private study materials on this topic will be provided to those on the course.
1.5 hours verifiable CPD.
There will be a final assignment for the course, details will be provided in due course.
"This was an important course which I was very keen to attend. From the report, "Improving the Management of Sexual Offence Cases" (2021), it is clear that trauma informed training may soon be required in some areas. All practitioners should be aware of the potential impacts of trauma on those who seek our help. Many more will be suffering than is immediately apparent. We should be aware also of the potential impact of trauma on ourselves and our colleagues. This course helps to develop the necessary awareness, as well as making practical suggestions for how to cope and deal with the issue - avoid making assumptions about anyone; listen empathetically; display sensitivity, curiosity and compassion."
"This is one of the most important things I have ever done since qualifying as a solicitor. Knowledge and understanding of trauma is key to solicitors in almost all areas of practice being able to represent clients effectively. This was a fascinating course with superb speakers and trainers that was extremely thought provoking. I have taken a huge amount away from it and I hope that what I have learned will make me better at my job. I would recommend this course to any practising solicitor."
"The Law Society CPD Team created a great course, highlighting the need for all lawyers to understand the terrible impact of trauma on their clients. It is also vital to understand trauma in the workplace and to ensure self care. The Guest Speakers were all excellent and varied. I think the basics should be a mandatory part of the LLB or CPD."
"The Trauma Informed Lawyer Certification Course run by The Law Society of Scotland provided a quality learning experience with high quality trainers .... this should be mandatory training for all solicitors as it enhances the service we provide and also addresses the pressures faced by us all."
Anonymous
