Canadian Lawyer

26 F e b r u A r y 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m five lawyers from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP frequently found themselves sitting in a Montreal courtroom listening as the horrors of Concordia University stu- dent Lin Jun's murder were recounted in grisly detail. They also watched as those horrors unfolded on screen in a video made by convicted murderer Luka Rocco Magnotta. When not sitting in court as counsel to the Lin family, the BLG team were meeting to review evidence — including the video — and discuss the case in detail. "It was hard to acknowl- edge this was real. We're used to seeing violence on TV, but we know it's fake. You need to reconcile that one human being did this to another," says Amélie Gouin, an associate in BLG's corporate commer- cial litigation group in Montreal. For many lawyers and judges (as well as jurors, courtroom personnel, and others), the violent, disturbing reality they witness inside and outside the courtroom as part of their profession can become debilitat- ing. It can become vicarious trauma. Vicarious trauma, also called compas- sion fatigue, is a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. "You can suffer from PTSD if you experience a life-threatening event or you are exposed to a life-threatening event. You end up with the same symp- toms," says Peter Jaffe, a psychologist and professor in the Faculty of Education at Western University in London, Ont. The seeds of vicarious trauma are sown as legal professionals start to relive the experience of helping clients and the evidence involved in a case or cases. In doing so, they may become over- whelmed, isolated, distant, anxious, and more. "As a helping professional, you become a reservoir of other people's trauma — first-person accounts, crime scenes, autopsies. Pretty soon you start to have the same PTSD your clients have. Feelings get transferred," Jaffe notes. Vicarious trauma can hit after one case or after years of handling or overseeing disturbing cases. Regardless of the time- frame, the process is the same for lawyers and judges. "They have recurring images and second thoughts. . . . The fact that human beings can do some terrible things hits them very hard," explains Dr. Isaiah Zimmerman, a clinical psychologist based in San Francisco and Arlington, Va., who has worked with judges suffering from vicarious trauma. Former Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Patrick LeSage knows this first hand. After presiding over the Paul Bernardo trial, which at the times was the most graphically horrific trial in Canadian history, he suffered the signs of vicarious trauma. "I didn't expect that the visual depiction of crime would be so traumatic," LeSage told The Globe and Mail in 2002. "It was like being hit with a sledge hammer. It was a very traumatic experience to watch a crime being com- mitted, particularly against wonderful, young children." LeSage is not alone in his response to what he witnessed in the courtroom. Donald Murray, a criminal lawyer with Sealy Cornish Coulthard in Dartmouth, N.S., has been writing and presenting about vicarious trauma for more than a decade. His interest was initially sparked when he saw colleagues drift away from their litigation practice. "People affected withdrew or shifted their practice. A lot of fairly senior lawyers were saying, 'I just don't want to go to court anymore.'" Withdrawal is one of the common symptoms of vicarious trauma. Other symptoms include difficulties solving problems, a sense of being disconnected from work and home, and feelings of powerlessness. In response, lawyers and judges may take on greater responsibil- ity, work longer hours, and attempt to exert greater control over others. They may also become more distant and with- drawn, more cynical, and even more acci- dent prone. It is not unusual for victims of vicarious trauma to develop chronic health problems. Sleep is also disturbed, notes Zimmerman, who has conducted interviews with more than 55 Canadian judges on the issue of vicarious trauma. "It impinges upon their consciousness. They can't get rid of it." Vicarious trauma prevents individu- als struggling to move on from regaining their former sense of self. The condi- tion can also affect an individual's ability to effectively practise law or sit on the bench. "You become a perfectionist. You start not meeting your own expectations," notes Murray. "That's part of the retreat. 'If I can't do it perfectly, I won't do it at all, and I resent your asking.'" In some cases, lawyers and judges simply can't go on. LeSage has publicly said he decided to remove himself from further related hearings after Bernardo was convicted of the first-degree murders of two young women. "I concluded that I was not physically and mentally able to conduct the dangerous-offender hearing," he said in a newspaper interview. It isn't just exposure to disturbing issues and images that make judges and lawyers — particularly those practis- ing family and criminal law — develop vicarious trauma. The close relation- ship with clients, the bonds of trust that develop, and the desire to do the best possible job for those clients are all important factors. "[T]he empathy that is so critical to working with trau- matized people also increases the likeli- hood of vicarious traumatisation," Jaffe wrote in an article he co-authored for the Juvenile and Family Court Journal. Ironically, it is the fierce desire to help that can make lawyers helpless. Family lawyers are vulnerable in this regard, notes John Starzynski, a volunteer with the Ontario Lawyers' Assistance Program in Kitchener, Ont. "Family lawyers often pick this area because they want to do good. They really feel for their clients, Over an 11-week period,

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