Professional Supervision for Legal Practitioners
Legal supervision is a tailored form of professional supervision developed by InCourage, grounded in Tyson's postgraduate research through the University of Auckland. This research explored how professional supervision could support the wellbeing of lawyers working in criminal, family, and immigration law — three areas where emotional complexity, high stakes, and exposure to trauma are common.
What forms the foundation of legal supervision?
Legal supervision draws from two key frameworks:
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Professional reflective supervision — creating space to reflect on practice, decision-making, and professional identity
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Trauma-informed supervision — offering awareness and support for the impact of indirect trauma and stress
What makes it distinct is its alignment with the realities of legal work in New Zealand:
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The pressures and pace of legal practice
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The ethical complexities lawyers must navigate
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The culture of law and its expectations around performance, stoicism, and identity
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At its heart, legal supervision offers a confidential, non-judgemental space to pause, process, and strengthen your capacity to thrive — not just survive — in your work.
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For Lawyers with a practice mandate from the NZLS to engage in professional supervision, InCourage Supervision meets and exceeds the criteria as a service provider.
Grounded in trauma-informed legal practice
This service is informed by the growing movement around trauma-informed lawyering, which acknowledges the psychological toll that client trauma, vicarious trauma, and systemic pressures can have on practitioners. Legal supervision creates a relational environment of safety, trust, choice, collaboration, and empowerment, with cultural and identity factors always in view.
Professional context
Professional supervision is mandated in family law for lawyers appointed to represent children (Section 15) as well as subject persons (Section 10).
Professional supervision is also recognised as part of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) by the New Zealand Law Society (NZLS).
Benefits of legal supervision
Legal practice demands a high level of performance, resilience, and ethical clarity — often in emotionally charged or high-stakes situations. Legal supervision offers a structured, confidential space to reflect, reset, and strengthen your capacity to do your work well and sustainably.
Here’s how legal supervision can support you:
1. Protect and strengthen your wellbeing
Working with clients in distress or navigating difficult content (e.g., criminal or family law) can lead to indirect trauma, emotional fatigue, or burnout. Supervision helps you process that load and reconnect with your own boundaries and needs.
2. Enhance your decision-making and judgment
Supervision provides a reflective space to unpack complex cases or ethical dilemmas, helping you sharpen your thinking, clarify your values, and build confidence in your professional reasoning.
3. Sustain a healthy professional identity
The culture of law can be isolating or high-pressure. Supervision supports your sense of self as a practitioner, offering space to consider how you want to show up — with integrity, empathy, and sustainability.
4. Stay resilient in demanding environments
When workloads are high or systems feel heavy, supervision can act as a stabilising anchor — a place to reset, gain perspective, and maintain your capacity for grounded, effective practice.
5. Align with best-practice and regulatory support
Supervision is recognised as a valuable tool in maintaining competence and wellbeing. For family lawyers, it is a requirement under Section 13.4 (Lawyers for Child), and it contributes to your CPD under NZLS guidelines.
6. Feel supported, not judged
At its best, supervision is a professional relationship rooted in trust. It’s not about performance management or compliance — it’s about supporting you to think clearly, feel resourced, and grow in your work.
Ready to experience the benefits for yourself?
Get in touch to learn more or book an introductory session.