Trauma-informed lawyering in the asylum process: Engagement and practice in immigration law

Objectives: Individuals who have experienced trauma engage more effectively when approached by professionals using a trauma-informed perspective. While trauma-informed (TI) practice has been recognized in legal settings, including immigration law, the nascent concepts are not applied widely or uniformly, and information and training about TI best practices remains minimal. The objectives of this review include the 1) identification of core TI concepts described in the existing legal literature; (2) identification of core TI concepts noted in the literature that are being practiced in legal systems; and 3) presentation of implications and recommendations. Method: A systematic review was conducted across electronic law databases for TI legal practices in immigration and asylum-seeking settings, 389 articles were identified and screened for eligibility resulting in 21 articles being included. Abstracting data from each article, a coding framework was developed that formed into the following five domains: presence of trauma in legal systems; TI lawyering defined; benefits of TI lawyering; TI lawyering skills and techniques, and TI lawyering pedagogy. Results: Despite limited literature, research findings provide 1) justification for the importance and benefits of TI lawyering, and 2) recommendations for the implementation of TI lawyering through all stages of an immigration/asylum lawyer’s training and practice. Conclusions: Drawing from the literature, this study highlights the importance of TI legal practice to support increased trust and safety, better attorney-client relationships, client empowerment, and improved representation in proceedings. A definition of TI lawyering emerged, and a series of specific pedagogical and practice recommendations are posited.