Justia Connect Webinars PTSD 101: Recognizing PTSD & Related Disorders in Legal Clients

CLE

Jennifer Sweeton Sweeton Injury Law, LLC

PTSD 101 Recognizing PTSD & Related Disorders in Legal Clients

Recording Available Soon

PTSD 101: Recognizing PTSD & Related Disorders in Legal Clients change test

This CLE introduces attorneys to PTSD and related trauma- and stressor-related disorders, with particular focus on how trauma affects memory, behavior, and decision-making in legal clients. Participants will learn how common trauma responses can be mistaken for inconsistency, evasion, or instability, and how to recognize the diagnostic features of PTSD and adjacent conditions in clients. The presentation closes with practical, trauma-informed strategies attorneys can apply in client interviews, credibility assessments, and courtroom advocacy.

Topics covered include:

Law Practice Criminal Law Family Law Law Firm Management Legal Ethics Legal Writing Personal Injury Substance Use Trial Skills

Agenda:

Introduction and Learning Objectives

Defining PTSD and related disorders
How trauma affects memory, behavior, and decision-making
The impact of PTSD on legal proceedings

DSM-5 Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders Overview

Tour of the DSM-5 category, including Reactive Attachment Disorder, Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, PTSD, Adjustment Disorders, and Other Specified/Unspecified Trauma-and Stressor-Related Disorders

PTSD Diagnostic Criteria in the DSM-5

Detailed review of Criteria A through E, the key changes from DSM-IV, duration and impairment requirements, and why PTSD is now harder to diagnose under DSM-5

Related Disorders

Acute Stress Disorder, Adjustment Disorders, and Other Specified Presentations
Diagnostic criteria, duration windows, specifiers
Legal relevance of presentations that fall short of full PTSD criteria

“Large-T” vs. “Small-T” Trauma

Distinguishing single-incident, life-threatening trauma from cumulative, stressor-driven trauma
Why both matter in legal contexts

How Trauma Affects Memory, Behavior, and Decision-Making

Trauma's impact on the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex
Fragmented memory, delayed recall, fight/flight/freeze/fawn responses, emotional dysregulation, and impaired risk assessment
Legal implications of effects on memory, behavior, and decision-making

Impact of PTSD on Legal Proceedings: Credibility, Communication, and Accommodations

Application to credibility assessments, trauma-informed interviewing, communication barriers, courtroom anxiety, dissociation, and reasonable accommodations such as remote testimony and structured breaks

Q&A (As Time Permits)

Duration of this webinar: 64 minutes

Originally broadcast: July 21, 2026 10:00 AM PT

Recording Available Soon

Speaker

Jennifer Sweeton Attorney & Psychologist
Sweeton Injury Law, LLC

Dr. Jennifer Sweeton, Psy.D., JDMS, MA, is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist and an attorney admitted in Missouri. She is Managing Member of Sweeton Injury Law, LLC and owner of Mind Works Consulting and Psychological Services, LLC, both based in Kansas City. Dr. Sweeton specializes in the assessment and treatment of trauma- and stressor-related disorders, with particular emphasis on PTSD in legal and forensic contexts, and regularly serves as a testifying expert in personal injury, criminal, and family matters. She is an Amazon #1 best-selling author in Clinical Psychology and a frequent CLE and CE presenter for attorneys and clinicians on trauma-informed practice, PTSD, and the neuroscience of trauma. Read More ›

Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Credits

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Alabama CLE

Status: Approved

Format: On-Demand

Credits: 1.00 General

Alaska CLE

Status: Approved

Format: Live (Virtual), On-Demand

Credits: 1.00 General

Hawaii CLE

Status: Approved

Format: Live (Virtual), On-Demand

Credits: 1.00 General

Illinois CLE

Status: Approved

Format: On-Demand

Credits: 1.00 General

New Jersey CLE

Status: Approved

Format: Live (Virtual), On-Demand

Credits: 1.20 General

North Carolina CLE

Status: Approved

Format: On-Demand

Credits: 1.00 General

Ohio CLE

Status: Approved

Format: On-Demand

Credits: 1.00 General

Pennsylvania CLE

Status: Approved

Format: On-Demand

Credits: 1.00 Substantive Law, Practice, and Procedure

Texas CLE

Status: Pending

Format: On-Demand

Credits: TBD

Vermont CLE

Status: Approved

Format: Live (Virtual), On-Demand

Credits: 1.00 General

This presentation is approved for one hour of General CLE credit in Alabama, one hour of General CLE credit in Alaska, one hour of General CLE credit in California, one hour of General CLE credit in Hawaii, one hour of General CLE credit in Illinois, one hour of General CLE credit in North Carolina, one hour of General CLE credit in Ohio, one hour of Substantive Law, Practice, and Procedure CLE credit in Pennsylvania, and one hour of General CLE credit in Vermont. This program has been approved by the Board on Continuing Legal Education of the Supreme Court of New Jersey for 1.20 hours of total CLE credit. An application for accreditation of this activity has been submitted to the MCLE Committee of the State Bar of Texas and is pending.

Justia only reports attendance in jurisdictions in which a particular Justia CLE Webinar is officially accredited. Lawyers may need to self-submit their certificates for CLE credit in jurisdictions not listed above.

Note that CLE credit, including partial credit, cannot be earned outside of the relevant accreditation period. To earn credit for a course, a lawyer must watch the entire course within the relevant accreditation period. Lawyers who have viewed a presentation multiple times may not be able to claim credit in their jurisdiction more than once. Justia reserves the right, at its discretion, to grant an attendee partial or no credit, in accordance with viewing duration and other methods of verifying course completion.

At this time, Justia only offers CLE courses officially accredited in certain states. Lawyers may generate a generic attendance certificate to self-submit credit in their own jurisdiction, but Justia does not guarantee that lawyers will receive their desired CLE credit through the self-submission or reciprocity process.

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