“Civil litigation often has profound psychological consequences for plaintiffs and defendants alike,” wrote Larry Strasburger, M.D., in a psychiatry and law journal.¹ In a litigious society, few areas of the law escape emotional consequences.

Workman’s comp cases deal with injury, malpractice of one’s professional identity, adoption, wills, and trusts about who loves whom. Divorce dissolves a union and, if not careful, leaves emotional carnage for decades.

“The legal process itself is often a trauma,” Strasburger wrote. It’s disruptive, sapping energy and derailing positivity. Symptoms amidst the combat: sleeplessness, anxiety, humiliation, lack of concentration, rage, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Double-Edged Realities

People need attorneys to make matters official and legal and to protect their rights when they are trampled.

However, most individuals have the capacity to work out their affairs to mutual agreement, using a lawyer to advise and seal the deal. This agency fosters self-esteem, closure and less cut-off (important to avoid in family systems).

Sadly, mutual agreement by the parties, allowed to work among themselves, doesn’t happen often enough. Ask any region that has tried to adopt collaborative law only to have lawyers sabotage it. More progressive areas have implemented this modality, yet a cadre of attorneys feel threatened by it.

“Indeed, it may be in a litigator’s self-interest to attract a new client rather than to have a potential client, appropriately informed about expected stress, decide to resolve the problem in some way other than litigation,” Strasburger expressed.

Paths Less Traveled and Those Too Trampled

Therapists routinely see the fallout caused by injury, harassment, divorce, custody, and other civil litigation. In therapy, you learn strategies to remain centered and healthy and move forward when the court process keeps you stalled or backed up, as it did in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Opposing parties passive-aggressively drag out proceedings while lawyers bill for this letter, that hearing, and the overall process that includes emotional and dollar costs.

Like other states, Maryland enacted collaborative law for divorcing couples to craft their own agreements with the aid of lawyers and financial, child, and coaching specialists who work to achieve a win-win. Fewer relationship casualties result.²

A therapy background is necessary for child or coach specialists. I took the training in a class three-quarters full of attorneys, one of whom poignantly told us that he could no longer practice on the battlefield of family law.

Collaborative law may not work in all cases. However, it cannot work if it is not offered.

The lawyer who spoke saw how unhealthy legal maneuvering had become: “Nastygrams” created to harass (and pad the bill) and bullying to break the opposing party. One attorney said she’d never seen perjury brought to light in family cases; thus, false allegations were standard operating procedure. Others said cases dragged out to benefit the firm, not the client’s family.

We were taught that collaborative law had to be presented to all clients in Maryland. East of the Chesapeake Bay, not one attorney attended a 2016 mid-shore meeting with the Maryland Collaborative Project to learn how to implement it. This group seemingly preferred the litigation model, so many of my clients never had a choice other than the litigious model.

Few realize that Maryland is one of the few national jurisdictions that does not require its attorneys to learn anything new in an effort to heal versus divide.

One Immediate Ray of Hope

On March 27, 2024, the Supreme Court of Maryland will hold an online meeting to discuss whether lawyers should be mandated to obtain continuing legal education. It’s a chance for the populace to speak up and be better protected.³

Medical professionals look after your health and accountants your finances. Maryland physicians earn 50 education hours, nurses, speech, and physical therapists 30 hours, and certified public accountants (CPAs) 80 hours, including four ethics hours, every two years.

Mental health professionals earn 40 credit hours every two years. To renew their licensure, all healthcare providers are required to have Implicit Bias Training.

How attorneys escape this, no doubt plays a role in the emotional carnage legal cases leave behind. It inspires readers to look at what’s required where they reside because Maryland is not alone.

Lawyers in Colorado, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington state must earn 45 credits. Indiana requires 36 credits, while Florida, Idaho, Illinois, and Wisconsin demand 30. Hawaii requires three credits per year. Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, and the District of Columbia require zero, per LawLine.com.⁴

How Professional Education Aids Emotional Health

Lawyers are one of the first professionals that people reach in the worst of times. These dis­tressed individuals suffer accidents, bodily injury, emotional trauma, and financial vulnerability.

When medical, mental health, financial, or legal professionals complete official schooling, the field of knowledge continues to evolve—research, new modalities, treatments, pharmaceuticals, products, business practices, and laws that affect the populace.

The mandate to acquire knowledge often includes cultural, socioeconomic, and diversity training. Implicit Bias Training is now mandated for healthcare professionals but not for others. Many states require ethics credits to protect the vulnerable public and guide professional practice.

Douglas Eikermann, JD, LLM, wrote What Your Lawyer Doesn’t Want You to Know, in which he discusses bill padding that has become standard operating practice because the pressure to bill is intense for both partners and associates wishing to advance.⁵

“Padding is the arbitrary addition of time—time that was not spent working,” he reported. Because clients aren’t privy to or able to observe all work done on a case, this practice goes undiscovered.

Bad apples exist where a vast majority of professionals work ethically and honorably.

Lawyers who do not have continuing legal education (CLE) requirements complain that attending courses removes them from the office and courtroom. Yet, continuing education is required for certified public accountants, therapists, and physicians, who similarly take time from their earnings to learn and better serve the public.

In fact, resentment breeds among workers. A CPA in a northern state spent at least $75 an hour on required courses and was floored to learn that the lawyer down the block, who could charge upwards of $450 an hour, had no such obligation.

Legal mandates for continued education in all jurisdictions would prevent harm to people’s health, finances, legal outcomes, emotional well-being, and even the professional landscape.

Check with your state delegate, representative, or senator to see what the requirements are where you live, or conduct an online search with your state name, the profession, and the words continuing education requirements.

Copyright © 2024 by Loriann Oberlin, MS