Supporting Trauma-Informed Legal Services (STILS)

Trauma-informed lawyering in the legal assistance sector  

There is a growing awareness in the legal assistance sector that people’s legal needs often intersect with mental distress and trauma. Practitioners understand through experience that a trauma-informed approach is important because traditional legal practices often fail to address these trauma impacts adequately, which can lead to re-traumatisation, reduced engagement from clients and impacts on staff wellbeing. However, there is a clear lack of empirical evidence on trauma-informed lawyering which impedes the development and standardisation of systemic trauma-informed practices in the sector.

Background to STILS 

This project will be the first empirical research of its kind, promoting translation into practice, literature and legal curricula. It is a critical step towards enhancing our legal practices to better serve clients who have experienced trauma.

STILS is funded by the Australian Research Council in partnership with National Legal Aid, Legal Aid NSW, Victoria Legal Aid, Legal Aid NT and conducted by La Trobe and RMIT Universities. It is the first ARC Linkage grant of its kind received in the legal assistance sector. These partnerships, along with a stepped-wedge multi-site approach allows for implementation and comparison across different locations and times.

The Project will implement With You training and organisational interventions across all research sites.

STILS is significant because:

• It is a world-first empirical study examining the impact of trauma-informed lawyering on people experiencing marginalisation. The project seeks to build a stronger evidence base to inform future legal service delivery and has the potential to generate insights that benefit client experiences, client outcomes and practitioner wellbeing.
• The research represents a large-scale, multi-jurisdictional project across New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory, encompassing criminal, family and civil law practice areas.
• It is built on a strong collaborative partnership model. STILS brings together leading researchers from La Trobe University and RMIT University with National Legal Aid, Legal Aid NSW, Victoria Legal Aid and Legal Aid NT. The project’s implementation is locally led by participating legal aid teams, ensuring the research is grounded in the realities of frontline practice and responsive to the needs of different communities and service contexts.
• Lived experience is embedded throughout the project. A dedicated Lived Experience Advisory Group plays an active role in strengthening the project’s design, ethical conduct, accessibility, data collection and interpretation. By integrating lived experience expertise alongside legal and research expertise, STILS seeks to ensure the research remains connected to the realities of people who access legal assistance services and that their perspectives shape both the research process and its outputs.