132. Iain Smith - Trauma informed law

Iain Smith is in his 30th year of being a lawyer. Started out in a civil firm where Robert Louis Stephenson trained. Created his own business in 1998 with Jim Keegan, Kings Counsel who was by then an experienced high court solicitor advocate. Iain concentrated on crime but also did children’s referral hearings and acted as a sports lawyer for international rugby stars. 

In 2018 he had an epiphany  in reaction to being educated on the biological impact of trauma on the childhood brain. He suddenly saw his clients properly for the first time. He then realised others didn’t know about childhood trauma and the links to addiction and poor self regulation.  

He co-created Trauma Aware Law in December 2020, with legal colleagues and pals from the Scottish Police Violence Reduction Unit. 

In 2020 won the Scottish Lawyer of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards. 

2021 Herald Scottish Criminal Law Firm of the Year - Keegan Smith

2022 Scottish Legal Awards Criminal Law Firm of the Year - Keegan Smith

2022 Herald Legal Awards Innovation Award - Trauma Aware Law 

Nominated for Pro Bono Award 

https://www.lawscot.org.uk/news-and-events/events/trauma-informed-lawyer-certification-course/

 

https://twitter.com/TraumaAwareLaw

 

The awards opened doors & gave credibility to the campaigning. (I’m not the best lawyer in Scotland !). 

 

His aim is to bring knowledge of trauma into the justice system and then persuade the players in it to change & create more compassionate outcomes for who we perceive as “baddies”. 

 

You can find the transcript of this conversation at:

https://open.substack.com/pub/lockedupliving/p/should-all-lawyers-be-aware-of-the?r=216eb0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web