Law Firms Get Targeted by Violence A Lot. Why?

My phone rang just as I was getting into my car. It was one of my attorney clients.

Calls from attorney clients were everyday occurrences.  I had been conducting investigations to help them build their cases for decades. My attorney clients and I didn’t stand on ceremony. So most just picked up the phone and called me whenever they needed to go over something.

But this call wasn’t about a case that needed investigating. It was, though, a call that would take me into a new direction.

Instead of describing the facts of a case, the attorney, described to me how her staff had grown increasingly fearful for their safety, as a family member of one of her clients, had become increasingly aggressive and threatening towards her staff. 

They banned him from the office and tried to set boundaries with him. But he didn’t back off. He confronted her staff as they walked towards the front door of their office. 

My attorney client knew that I worked in some dangerous locations and knew how to keep safe. She also knew that I taught self-defense as well. 

She asked me to do safety training with her staff, and to assess their physical layout, and their office procedures, for ways to maximize their safety.

A short time later, another attorney client asked me to train her staff in workplace safety practices. She specialized in bringing civil lawsuits against the sexual predators who had molested her clients. 

Concerns for her staff’s safety arose when during a deposition, one of these defendants, who had become agitated under her sharp questioning, left the room, unaccompanied by his own counsel, claiming he had to go to the bathroom. He didn’t return to the deposition, but instead walked all around the office still angry and agitated.  

And soon after that, another lawyer client asked me to train her staff. Her firm had received numerous threats of violence from members of the public, who opposed her work on a high profile case.

What these law firms experienced is not unusual. Surveys have found that about 40% of attorneys have been physically attacked or threatened with violence. 

After working with these law firms to keep their staff safer, I was referred to other law firms, and legal professionals, including judges, court administrators, and court staff to do the similar type of trainings.

Law Firms are Frequent Targets for Violence and Threats of Violence

My attorney clients were smart to not dismiss the safety hazards their staff faced. Attorneys and their staff are at a higher risk of being targeted for violence, and threats of violence than are many other professions. 

Stephen Kelson, a lawyer based in Utah, conducted a multi-year, multi-state survey on violence and threats of violence against attorneys, found that “threats and attacks aimed at lawyers are common.”

Law firms work on matters that are rife with emotion. Cases involving family, money, and other similar triggers, can cause a person to lash out. Further, attorneys can be blamed by some clients, including those with unrealistic expectations, when they’re unhappy with the results of a matter.

We typically associate violence against attorneys with those practicing family law and criminal defense. But, any attorney handling litigation matters can be at risk too, since violence can be connected to money too. Even lawyers handling the seemingly innocuous disposition of a client’s estate, can face violence and threats of violence, due to family dynamics, substance abuse issues, and money issues.

The Source for Violence and Threats of Violence against Attorneys 

Just like those impacting my attorney clients’ staff, Kelson’s survey on attorneys targeted by violence and threats of violence, found that opposing parties, the attorney’s own clients, family members and friends of clients and the opposing party, as well as members of the general public, are typical sources for violence and threats of violence against attorneys. 

Keeping Attorneys and Staff Safe From Work Related Violence 

Here are some steps that can help to prevent violence:

•  Conduct assessments for potential threats to safety. Begin by looking at the potential sources for a violent attack, or threat of violent attack. Once you’ve identified the potential sources for violence, you’ll use that information to identify approaches to remedy those safety risks. 
•  Identify access points that can be used by a potential attacker. Attackers look for the easiest way to get to those they target. Locations such as an office parking lot, office waiting room, outside of places of ingress and egress, and parking garages near court houses offer easy access for an attacker. Attackers can approach on foot, but may also lie in wait using visual cover to conceal their location, to make it easier to surprise a target.
•  Recognize violence safety hazards early enough to be able to avoid them. The absolute best approach to safety, is to be able to avoid a safety hazard, before it becomes a threat. And that involves developing the skill of situational awareness. It’s a learned skill that takes time and practice to make automatic.
•  Violence is chaotic and doesn’t follow a set progression. While some situations escalate from words, to shouting, to pushing, and then an attack. In those situations, it may be possible to de-escalate before violence. But, most attacks do not follow that type of progression. Most attackers formulate a plan, even if it’s just seconds before the attack. And that plan involves using the element of surprise. And that typically involves launching an attack immediately, and without warning.
•  Offset an Attacker’s Initial Advantage. Attackers use the element of surprise to maximize their advantage. The only chance you have, once an attack begins, is to take away that initial advantage as quickly as possible. I use the term, changing the dynamics of an attack, for the process of taking away an attacker’s initial advantage. There are different ways to do that, but the goal is to force the attacker to have to recalibrate his attack, and to then use his having to do so, to create opportunities to exit the situation or to defend yourself.

California requires employers to train employees in strategies to avoid physical harm from violence. When it comes to safety, it’s the most important; yet, least understood requirement in the law.

My free training, that you can watch at your own convenience on your own schedule, will help you take the mystery out training employees in strategies to avoid physical harm from workplace violence.