Ronni K. Burrows This is Me

 Web References

1. 1. Legal Assistant Today - Clients on the Couch - Mar/Apr '00

   www.legalassistanttoday.com/pr - [Cached]

   Published on: 6/6/2002   Last Visited: 6/6/2002

   Ronni K. Burrows, co-founder of the Legal Therapy Institute Inc. at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pa., saw an opportunity in all of this. As an attorney at the Burrows Law Office in Pittsburgh, she had been practicing matrimonial law since 1988 and decided to hire a mental health care practitioner to assist in her practice. As a result, Burrows was able to double her caseload in the first year and do what she does best: practice law.
   
   "Most clients don't even understand that divorce involves a lawsuit. This is an emotional time for the client. One job of a legal therapist counselor is to educate the client about what to expect from the lengthy process," Burrows explained. Legal therapist counselors (LTCs) aren't hired to provide psychotherapy for the client and are prohibited to do so by the Legal Therapist Counselor Code of Ethics. They're hired to allay the emotional problems the client might face by explaining the process of the divorce, being available to answer questions and escorting the client to hearings, depositions and trial. Attorneys and paralegals are often too busy to return frantic telephone calls on a daily basis.
   ...
   Burrows has developed a certification program through the Legal Therapy Institute. To enter the program, you must have a master's degree in a mental health discipline. The certification requires two three-day weekends of coursework and a 40-hour supervised practicum in a law firm. There is a strong ethics component in the training, and the coursework provides the basics of divorce law practice and counseling strategies. Upon successful completion of the requisite coursework and practicum, the individual can claim the title of legal therapist counselor.
   
   How Do Paralegals Fit In?
   ...
   I asked Burrows if she thought they would be good candidates for legal therapy certification and she thought they'd make excellent candidates. She explained that many times LTCs have a hard time understanding their role as advocates for the client. "Counselors typically want to make it better for everybody. They may want to try to save the marriage, and find it uncomfortable to act as an advocate for only one side. The built-in advantage for paralegals is that they may understand this," Burrows said.
   
   After researching this subject, I've concluded that someone who is trained as a paralegal and looking for a career change may be extremely well-equipped to be an LTC. There are many built-in advantages: paralegals have the training and experience in the legal field that mental health care practitioners lack; paralegals have first-hand experience with the nuances of cases, law practice, the players involved and the court system; and much of the education required to help a client deal emotionally with the stress of a difficult battle is obtained through rigorous training and experience.
   ...
   Burrows said that when she designed the curriculum for the Legal Therapy Institute, she borrowed from various paralegal model codes of ethics.
   
   This is a specialty area that could greatly enhance the practice of law and expand the role paralegals play in it. Lawyers have just recently recognized the value of using nurses in their practices. Legal nurses are valuable because of a combination of medical and legal training. Imagine what these talented individuals can offer to any case involving medical issues. The same can be true of paralegals who have a mental health care background. Using legal nurses and LTCs on staff or as consultants frees the lawyer to practice law, and provides the client with expert assistance not previously provided.
   ...
   According to Burrows, there are a number of firms nationwide that currently employ LTCs. The firms range from large practices to solo practitioners. Some of the firms use the services of LTCs on a part-time basis and some use them for consults.
   
   ...
   Burrows used the services of Sharon Saul, a psychologist (and now an LTC) for several years.
   ...
   Burrows said that ordinarily, using an LTC in this manner, a lawyer should expect to pay about $45 to $55 an hour. Some larger firms have hired LTCs to do consults, and have paid up to $125 an hour. Saul no longer works for Burrows because Saul's practice, Associates in Solution Oriented Psychology, has grown substantially and now occupies the majority of her time.
   ...
   After speaking with Burrows, I let my mind wander back to some of my experiences with complex litigation. Some of the most difficult client relationships I dealt with weren't only in divorce cases, but also in wrongful death, medical malpractice and personal injury cases. In these types of cases, clients are traumatized in so many ways, and litigation can often take up to two years or longer. I thought about the many benefits of using an LTC, and the caseload we might have had without all of the time spent dealing with the clients' anxieties and pain. As Burrows said, "In a divorce case, about 18 percent is legal. The rest is a breakdown between financial and emotional issues."
   
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