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NLJ this week: Trauma-informed pro bono

07 November 2025
Issue: 8138 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Pro Bono , Charities , Mental health
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In NLJ this week, Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre marks Pro Bono Week by urging lawyers to recognise the emotional toll of pro bono work

Helping clients in crisis—fleeing abuse, fighting eviction, or navigating family courts—can leave lawyers drained. To address this, the Centre’s new Client-Sensitive Pro Bono Practice series with Trauma Informed Law trains practitioners in grounding techniques, boundary-setting and self-regulation.

Rossetto notes that awareness of one’s own stress responses can improve client care and sustainability. The aim is not to make lawyers therapists, she writes, but to ensure they are properly equipped to serve vulnerable people without burning out.

With Pro Bono Week highlighting legal generosity, Rossetto calls for equal focus on wellbeing: ‘giving back’ should not come at personal cost, she argues, but with the right tools can become a powerful, sustaining part of legal life.

Issue: 8138 / Categories: Legal News , Profession , Pro Bono , Charities , Mental health
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