We need to talk about trauma: Integrating trauma‐informed practice into the family law classroom

• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Author: Sarah Katz
• Date: 01 October 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12674

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

We need to talk about trauma: Integrating

trauma-informed practice into the family law

classroom

Sarah Katz

Clinical Professor of Law, Temple University

Beasley School of Law, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania, USA

Correspondence

Sarah Katz, Clinical Professor of Law, Temple

University Beasley School of Law, 1719

N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA.

Email: sarah.katz@temple.edu

Abstract

The reality of law schools being hotbeds of toxic stress is not

new. Most law schools already have instituted student wellness

initiatives focused on supporting students through the rigors of

law school, and spotting outside stressors which impact stu-

dents' legal education and providing support. While these initia-

tives are crucial, lessons about healthy boundaries, combating

toxic stress and the role of trauma, need to be further inte-

grated into law school curricula. The field of trauma-informed

practice presents a rich set of tools from which to accomplish

these goals. While trauma-informed practice has implications

for all of legal education, the focus of this essay is on the teach-

ing of family law. Law school family law courses create an ideal

platform for incorporating a trauma-informed perspective and

introducing law students to trauma- informed skills. While

some law school clinics introduce and implement principles of

trauma-informed practice to law students, it is less common

that trauma-informed practice is introduced through traditional

doctrinal or skills classes. This article will explore how an under-

standing of trauma and trauma-informed practice can inform

how family law courses are taught in United States law schools.

KEYWORDS

child trauma, family law, minority and low income unmarried

families

The author is grateful to University of Richmond School of Law Professor Meredith Harbach and University of District of Columbia Law School Professor

Tianna Gibbs for the extraordinarily helpful feedback in the writing ofthis piece, as well as to the students in my Family Law Litigation Clinic at Temple

Beasley School of Law who inspire me to keep “talking about Bruno”and teaching about trauma-informed practice every day.

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12674

© 2022 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2022;60:757–776. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 757

Key points

•As a profession, we have a tradition of taking pride in

surviving the sometimes toxic levels of stress imposed by

law school and the practice of law. And yet hiding away

our emotional responses comes at a cost.

•Law schools need to tackle the role of trauma in legal

education—both the trauma that students bring with

them to law school, and the ways in which legal educa-

tion can exacerbate and further cause trauma, particu-

larly for Black and brown students, and other vulnerable

students. The field of trauma-informed practice presents

a rich set of tools from which to accomplish these goals.

•Law school family law courses create an ideal platform

for incorporating a trauma-informed perspective and

introducing law students to trauma-informed skills.

•Effective family law attorneys must balance well-honed

interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence, knowledge

of self and others, and the ability to empathetically listen

to painful difficult information, all while spotting and ana-

lyzing legal issues, and maintaining appropriate profes-

sional boundaries and self-care.

•This article explores how an understanding of trauma

and trauma-informed practice can inform how family law

courses are taught in United States law schools.

INTRODUCTION

We don't talk about Bruno,no,no,no! We don't talk about Bruno…but…Hey! Grew to live in fear of

Bruno stuttering or stumbling. I could always hear him sort of muttering and mumbling. I associate

him with the sound of falling sand, ch-ch-chIt's a heavy lift, with a gift so humbling. Always left Abuela

and the family fumbling. Grappling with prophecies they couldn't understand. Do you understand?

1

Encanto is not only the latest and greatest musical Disney movie to enchant young children,

2

it also is an incredible

narrative about intergenerational trauma and what happens when we fail to acknowledge and talk about trauma.

3

In

Encanto, the Madrigal family does not talk about their family member Bruno, literally allowing him to live in a

1

Lin Manuel Miranda, We Do not Talk About Bruno (Walt Disney Music Company 2021).

2

Encanto (Walt Disney Company 2021).

3

Dara Greenwood, Ph.D., Four Powerful Lessons From Disney's Encanto,PSYCHOLOGYTODAY (Feb. 22, 2021), https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/

mirror-mirror/202202/four-powerful-lessons-disneys-encanto.

758 FAMILY COURT REVIEW