After grieving her father, this estate lawyer went through death doula training to better serve clients

A Minnesota estate lawyer is taking a different approach to her practice, hiring a death doula grief specialist to train her team to be better prepared for having tough conversations.

In law school, Rachel Schroman said she was trained to "get the facts" and "weed out the emotion." But as an attorney, she got new perspective when she became a client.

"That was a huge eye-opener because sitting in that grief, that was really personal to me. I wasn't an estate planning attorney, I was a grieving daughter," she said.

Schroman lost her father in 2019 on his 70th birthday. She described him as a "cowboy boot-wearing Harley rider" who was also "really sensitive" and sentimental. 

With new loss and new perspective, Schroman made a decision that her law firm would not avoid her clients' emotions and instead, they would acknowledge them. 

She hired a death doula grief specialist to make sure her team was educated in sensitivity. She flipped the script on estate planning and loss.

"I think we just take our time a little more with conversations.When I'm meeting with clients, I feel like I'm just more aware emotionally, visually, energetically," she said. "We try to open it with that so they feel comfortable and also feel safe to let emotions and things come up during the meeting naturally and organically. And they feel seen and heard in their pain."

Shrouman Law has also started offering clients sessions with a grief consultant to help them navigate the days aheads.