The lawyer Lena was abused by her client

Threats, violence and harassment against lawyers are increasing. In recent weeks, two verdicts for assault against lawyers have been handed down, one in Umeå at the end of July and one in Norrköping this week.

A survey by the Swedish Bar Association shows that more than one in five lawyers have been subjected to some form of harassment, 16.2 percent for threats and 4.5 percent for physical violence.

Lena was abused by her client: “Threatened that she would die”

In Umeå, the perpetrator was a man in his 30s who murdered a woman in Haga in Umeå last year, for which he received 18 years in prison. He is now also sentenced for assault by his defense lawyer Lena Isaksson.

– She is appointed as public defender for this man and is supposed to defend him and meet him in jail where they are supposed to have a private conversation because there is confidentiality but is assaulted and attacked by her own client, says Mia Edwall Insulander.

She believes that you are very vulnerable as a lawyer when you are alone with your client if he is violent.

– In this case, serious threats were also expressed that she would die. He had asked for a female defender and was suspected of murdering a woman. So it’s an extremely nasty and unpleasant and dangerous situation for lawyers, says Edwall Insulander.

Lawyers in family crime cases particularly vulnerable

Lawyers who work with family crime cases are particularly vulnerable. In Norrköping, a 65-year-old man has now been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for severely assaulting the lawyer Marie-Louise Landberg.

She was severely and grossly assaulted outside her own home by the man standing outside her gate.

– He attacked her because she was a lawyer and estate agent appointed by the court to handle an estate where he was one of the estate owners, says Mia Edwall Insulander.

She herself has worked as a lawyer in family crime cases and suffered threats.

– I was exposed to illegal threats by receiving letters and being at home in the mailbox once a day where it said that I was going to die. I was going to be killed so the blood would drip, it was described quite thoroughly. It is clear to me then that in that situation I experienced enormous fear, says Mia Edwall Insluander.

Brings risks to legal certainty

The Swedish Bar Association believes that threats to legal certainty and a democratic rule of law. Mia Edwall Insulander believes that the development is about a social development where more citizens feel bad.

– Lawyers are very close to the person who is unwell, most of the time, she says.

It is also about an increased number of infected disputes, major criminal cases, with many who are suspects.

– It is a social development that affects our work environment. At the same time, there is a paradigm shift in criminal policy not least, says Mia Edwall Insulander.