37 Trial Lawyer • Fall 2022 thorny legal issues like discretionary immunity, it can be easy to lose perspective of for who and for what you’re fighting. Of course, becoming hyper focused on the legal and technical aspects of your case is a necessary part of the job. But, at least for me, I found that the devastating trauma my clients suffered would hit me in waves, and I needed to find healthy ways to channel my empathy for them into my work. Sometimes, that looked like rage-writing the most forceful and compelling legal brief I could possibly write. Other times, it looked like imagining the jurors’ faces when we told them about some of the absurd things the defense witnesses said during their depositions. (A witness’s assertion that parked cars are not sight obstructions because they are “visually permeable” was one of my favorites.) Although our empathy and compassion for our clients is one of our biggest strengths, we should be vigilant about not unnecessarily exposing ourselves or our teams to secondary trauma. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, secondary traumatic stress (also known as “compassion fatigue”) is “a natural but disruptive byproduct of working with traumatized clients.” Administration for Children & Families, U.S. Dep’t of Health &Human Servs., “What is Secondary Traumatic Stress?”, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/traumatoolkit/secondary-traumatic-stress. It can result in physical ailments, sleep disturbances, a sense of confusion and helplessness, and feelings of isolation, even from those who support us. Id. Clearly, our important work will suffer if we are not conscious of these risks. Fortunately, there are many relatively low effort steps we can take to mitigate against secondary trauma: • Minimize exposure to graphic photos or videos. Of course, videos of the crash and photos of resulting injuries must be preserved and collected. But you can store them in a manner that avoids someone accidentally seeing themwhen looking through your case file. If you store your discovery electronically, put photos and videos in subfolders that are clearly labeled as “Video of Crash” or “Photos of Injuries.” If you store your files in paper format, put the photos inside a clearly labeled manila envelope. Sometimes, it is inevitable we will need to review these graphic images. But we can limit the effect of secondary trauma by making the conscious decision to open those folders on an as-needed basis. • Talk about your feelings. As a gritty kid from a small town in the Ozarks, the only lawyers I had ever met seemed to have precisely two emotional ranges: calm and unflappable, on the one hand, or big mad, on the other hand. I was convinced law school was where all my other emotions went to die. As it turns out, I was slightly off the mark. Our team normalized talking about the emotional toll we were experiencing as part of our work. Those conversations gave us crucial information about how to staff certain projects based on who had the emotional bandwidth to take them on. Ultimately, our work was stronger for it. Talking about our feelings can feel uncomfortable, but suffering in silence is far less comfortable. • Plan your workload. When I first starting practicing on my own, I thought I would just say yes to as many good cases as I had time to handle. Of course, we all want cases about which we feel passionate and righteous. Some cases, though, pull harder on our emotions and feel especially mentally taxing. To the extent you can, try to incorporate these kinds of “soft” considerations when deciding to take on new cases. Finally, even in the face of a crushing loss, know that your work still makes a difference. Roadway design defect litigation presents a unique opportunity to make the community safer by shedding light on how the government’s actions or inactions can create dangerous conditions for all road users. Though the courts (so far) have not been the most friendly venue in the fight for daylighted intersections in Portland, the political battle continues. Just last year, City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty made daylighting intersections a priority, and the Portland Bureau of Transportation announced it would begin improving vision clearance at some 350 intersections across the City. “PBOT, Vision Clearance at Intersections: Current Vision Clearance Work” (September 2021–June 2022), https:// www.portland.gov/transportation/trafficoperations/intersection-visibility. Let the daylight in. Rian Peck specializes in civil rights litigation and criminal defense. They are a solo practitioner at their firmVisible Law, 333 SW Taylor St., Ste. 300, Portland, OR 97204. They can be reached at 503-7730103 or rian@visible.law.
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