Vicarious trauma research positions legal organisations as accountable — not just aware

Inside Practice's session brief for its July 2026 webinar (published late May) reports that 11% of lawyers meet criteria for PTSD, 34% show secondary traumatic stress symptoms, and 75% of judicial officers experience vicarious trauma effects. An Australian study found that vulnerability was attributable more to organisational factors — lack of support, lack of caseload control — than to individual personality. The IBA Professional Wellbeing Commission is cited as calling for firms to move from reactive to proactive approaches; the brief frames psychological harm as foreseeable organisational risk rather than individual failing.