LawCare brings moral injury into the legal profession's vocabulary

LawCare's June 2 session, delivered by Natalie Isaia of Empresa Psychology, distinguished moral injury — the depletion of professional conviction when deeply held values are transgressed through the necessities of work — from burnout and vicarious trauma. The distinction matters for law firms because values-based attrition, disengagement, and poor performance resulting from moral injury respond to different interventions than classic burnout: systemic cultural change and supervisory structures rather than resilience coaching. The session was directed at both junior lawyers building sustainable careers and senior leaders responsible for firm-wide culture.