Teaching Domestic Violence Legal Issues

Teaching Domestic Violence Legal Issues in the Law Schools Benefits Students and Improves the Practice of Law

The legal profession has a unique role to play in developing and implementing coordinated community responses to domestic violence. To realize this goal, however, law school programs must ensure that law students -- who may become prosecutors, defense attorneys, family law attorneys, general practitioners, business leaders, legislators, lobbyists, policy analysts, or judges -- attain an adequate understanding of domestic violence issues. Continuing legal education or pro bono training programs can train lawyers to handle these cases well, but such programs often come too late in a busy legal professional's career to have a real impact on legal practice. Incorporating domestic violence law into the various curricula used in law schools will provide students with the substantive and lawyering skills necessary to competently represent clients and improve the system's response to domestic violence.

One of the most important services law schools can provide in helping to end domestic violence is to ensure that graduating law students understand what domestic violence is and how many areas of law it affects. It is startling how many lawyers do not know what the legal definition of domestic violence is or what abusive behaviors are covered by the law. Because domestic violence is a pattern of actions, legal professionals must be trained to scrutinize even seemingly benign activities -- like making a telephone call or sending flowers to a former victim.

One of the first lessons law schools can teach students is that domestic violence occurs when one intimate partner uses a pattern of behaviors, including physical violence, coercion, threats, intimidation, rule making, isolation, or emotional, sexual and economic abuse, to maintain power and control over the other intimate partner or spouse. Because a combination of psychological, social and familial factors create the context in which abuse occurs, law students must be trained to recognize abusive behavior meant to manipulate the victimized partner. For example, a perpetrator may use the children to convey "messages" to the victim after the court has forbidden direct contact or may send gifts to the victim after she has left in order to lure her back. Law students must learn that abusers use varied psychological tools, such as minimizing or denying what has happened, or shifting the blame by saying that the victim provoked the abuse.⁽¹⁾ Domestic violence has been defined as a pattern of interaction in which one intimate partner is forced to change his or her behavior in response to the threats or abuse of the other partner.⁽²⁾

Teaching law students about domestic violence issues should be an inherent part of legal education, rather than a specialized track taught only by professors who are experts in domestic violence law. Raising domestic violence issues provides students with an opportunity to engage in profound debate about the law's role in shaping social policy. The diversity of approaches to the criminal, civil, and federal aspects of domestic violence law allows students to consider a range of perspectives across the political spectrum.

Teaching Domestic Violence Law Enhances the Substantive Skills of Law Students

The pervasiveness of domestic violence ensures that lawyers will come in contact with domestic violence issues in a variety of ways. Some lawyers may believe that domestic violence does not affect their practice because only low-income people perpetrate domestic violence, while their clients are from upper-income families. Domestic violence, however, affects individuals regardless of socioeconomic status. Therefore, most lawyers are likely to represent clients who are experiencing or perpetrating violence in their homes. Lawyers may also be approached by colleagues or acquaintances who are victims or perpetrators of family violence. All lawyers must be prepared to screen for domestic abuse and provide appropriate legal advice when domestic violence has been identified as an issue.

Domestic violence has an impact on almost every area of legal practice. If clients have been abused or have perpetrated abuse, their lawyers may need to invoke special statutory provisions or advocate for safeguards in judicial orders. For instance, family lawyers need to know if their state laws prohibit mandatory mediation in domestic violence cases. Further, since all lawyers may have clients who are victims of domestic violence, they should know how to develop safety plans with their clients.

Domestic violence is a primary factor in certain areas of the law, such as family law and criminal law. A survey of family lawyers found that as many as half of family law cases involved spousal abuse.⁽³⁾ Domestic violence also underlies many of the nation's estimated 354,000 annual child abductions.⁽⁴⁾ Similarly, a large proportion of criminal cases involve violence against intimate partners or spouses.⁽⁵⁾ Despite the presence of domestic violence as an overt or underlying factor in criminal and family law, traditional law school courses fail to even mention domestic violence as an issue.

Criminal Law

A major shift in the treatment of domestic violence cases has been taking place across the country. Cases which turned up previously in the family division of the court are now being directed to the prosecutor's office for criminal prosecution. A primary reason for this change was the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 [VAWA]. The VAWA raised the profile of domestic violence cases in the law enforcement community by creating new federal crimes of domestic violence. Additionally, the VAWA funded grant programs to train prosecutors to handle domestic violence cases.

Another major influence encouraging the prosecution of domestic violence cases is the growing use of victim advocates in prosecutors' offices and court intake centers across the country. Victim advocates, who are aware of the dynamics of domestic violence and the capabilities of the legal system, can help victims seek the most effective response to end the violence -- which may include criminal prosecution of domestic violence crimes. These new laws and practices make the criminal justice system one of the centerpieces of a successful community response to domestic violence.

As a result, law students who are not exposed to domestic violence legal issues in law school are ill equipped to pursue criminal law careers upon graduation. Without appropriate training, defense attorneys may not be able to effectively represent battered women who kill or assault their abusers in self defense. Other defense lawyers may assist batterers to avoid criminal penalties, rather than recommend that clients seek intervention to end the violence, which may be in their long-term best interest. Similarly, untrained prosecutors may be frustrated by the unwillingness of some victims to testify against their spouses in criminal cases; lawyers who have studied domestic violence law, however, may understand that perpetrators exercise power and control over victims, and that victims face increased danger upon separation from their abusers. This practical knowledge can assist prosecutors to develop alternative ways of prosecuting domestic violence cases.⁽⁶⁾

Family Law

Despite the new trend of aggressive criminal prosecution of domestic violence cases, family law responses remain integrally important in assuring victim safety and independence. Family lawyers should seek the full panoply of remedies available under civil protection order or dissolution statutes, thereby allowing victims to leave an abusive situation. Family lawyers can help victims break free of the economic strangleholds created by abusers. For example, a victim may need spousal support or rehabilitative alimony to pursue further education or job training to support herself and her children. If a victim is employed, the abuser may stalk or harass her at work in order to force her to become financially dependent. A well-trained family lawyer will seek a stay-away provision in a civil protection order if this occurs. Family lawyers can make an enormous contribution by ensuring that victims receive the economic or safety protections they need.

In order to offer this help, however, law students must be informed about the impact of domestic violence on family law. When one party in a dissolution or custody proceeding has abused the other party, a range of legal and safety issues are raised. For instance, lawyers may need to invoke statutory prohibitions against joint custody or mediation when the parties have a history of domestic violence. Additionally, most custody statutes require courts to consider domestic violence as a factor in custody determinations or create a presumption against granting custody to a perpetrator of domestic violence. Students who learn domestic violence law while in law school will be familiar with these legal issues when they become lawyers, rather than learning at the expense of clients or failing to address critical issues as practicing lawyers.

Other Areas of Practice

Law schools can improve their curricula by teaching students about domestic violence legal issues in all areas of practice -- not merely in family and criminal law courses. Tax lawyers who understand that domestic violence perpetrators often exert financial control over their victims can assist innocent spouses to avoid liability for tax fraud committed by their abusers. Immigration lawyers should be aware that abusers often threaten to deport their battered spouses as an additional means of control, and that the Violence Against Women Act provides protection for battered immigrant spouses.⁽⁷⁾ Domestic violence also plays a role in tort law, corporate liability law, poverty law, and trusts and estates law,⁽⁸⁾ raising malpractice questions if lawyers fail to appropriately address the issue.

Domestic Violence Law is an Ideal Topic for Teaching Lawyering Skills

Students can develop their practical lawyering skills, as well as their substantive legal skills, by studying domestic violence law. For instance, students can handle an entire case from beginning to end, and obtain a temporary or long-term civil protection order on behalf of a client, during semester-long courses. Domestic violence issues provide a means to improve practice skills whether taught in clinical programs or presented as hypothetical cases in general lawyering courses.

Even short-term domestic violence cases require students to develop their lawyering skills. Students interview clients and witnesses, and construct a theory of the case. Students then draft petitions requesting relief from the court, which may be accompanied by more detailed motions or legal briefs on matters of first impression. Next, students have the opportunity to negotiate with opposing parties or counsel regarding the entry of consent civil protection orders. Finally, if consent orders are not entered, students represent clients in civil protection order hearings. In some jurisdictions, to litigate civil protection order cases, students must: prepare witnesses for trial; present opening and closing statements; introduce evidence; conduct direct and cross examinations; and make objections. Students working in domestic violence prosecution units or handling contempt trials have the opportunity to acquire lawyering skills in criminal cases. Clinical programs or externships help students develop transferable lawyering skills whether or not they pursue careers in domestic violence law.

Students also bridge the gap between theory and practice by preparing and litigating domestic violence cases. For instance, the experience of handling domestic violence cases can give life to civil procedure law, as students handle actual service, notice, and jurisdictional issues. Similarly, students litigating protection order trials are required to understand and apply the rules of evidence. Additionally, clinical programs familiarize students with lawyering skills that cannot be taught within the confines of a classroom -- including courtroom behavior, the need to interact appropriately with court personnel and clients in crisis, and strategies used by opposing counsel.

Professional Responsibility and Case Management Skills

Students may confront challenging professional responsibility issues through litigating domestic violence cases. Students who represent batterers in criminal defense cases or victims in civil cases may experience internal conflicts when they attempt to zealously represent clients who pose a danger to other parties, such as their partners, spouses, or children. Students may also face ethical decisions if they are ordered by courts to disclose information, such as a client's new address, when disclosure might endanger the client.

The complexity of domestic violence issues also presents an opportunity for students to practice case management while striving to provide holistic legal services. For instance, one client may require representation in a range of interwoven legal cases including the following:

a civil protection order case for immediate protection
a long-term domestic relations custody or divorce case
a paternity and child support case
a criminal case against the batterer
a contempt case against the batterer for violation of a protection order or a custody order
a landlord-tenant case in which a client is being evicted because of noise resulting from the domestic violence
a public benefits case in which a client's benefits were terminated based on the batterer's misrepresentations to a case manager
an immigration case in which a client's abuser threatened to have the client deported
an insurance case in which a client was denied insurance based on the history of domestic violence
a criminal defense case in which a victim used self defense or was falsely charged
a parental termination or child in need of protection case involving the parties' child
a bankruptcy case resulting from the abuser's control over family finances

Students will learn that when they are unable to satisfy the breadth of their clients' legal needs, they can investigate other services for victims in the community and provide clients with appropriate referrals.

Incorporating Domestic Violence Legal Issues into Law School Curricula May Encourage Lawyers to Advocate for Social Justice

Law schools which offer courses on domestic violence law may improve the practice of law by training future lawyers to serve unrepresented individuals. The ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct recommend that lawyers render at least (50) fifty hours of pro bono legal services per year.⁽⁹⁾ Such pro bono services may include representing persons of limited means, participating in activities for improving the legal system, and providing legal services to community organizations.⁽¹⁰⁾ Law students who represent domestic violence clients, perform legal research for shelters, or participate in community advocacy groups may be more likely to pursue public interest careers or devote time to pro bono cases upon graduation.

Besides training future lawyers to accept pro bono cases, offering domestic violence law courses may inspire students to devote their talents to reforming the legal system so that it better serves victims of domestic violence. The prevalence of family violence in our society ensures that law students who are educated about domestic violence will put their skills to good use -- lawyers who gain a reputation for domestic violence law expertise are frequently approached by persons experiencing domestic violence.⁽¹¹⁾ Informed law students can assist individuals who are victims of family violence, whether or not they are clients.

Domestic Violence Law Can Have a Profound Effect on the Lives of Law Students

Law students, like other members of society, may confront domestic violence issues in their personal as well as professional lives. Law students may be victims or perpetrators of domestic violence,⁽¹²⁾ or they may know friends or family members who are being abused or are perpetrating abuse. Incorporating domestic violence legal issues into law school curricula prepares students for their professional responsibilities, and provides students with the information they need to assist themselves or others to seek legal remedies to end the violence.

Law school programs on domestic violence can inform students who are perpetrating violence against their spouses or intimate partners that domestic violence is a crime and will not be tolerated by the legal profession. The American Bar Association, for instance, recently enacted a policy resolution condemning lawyers or judges who commit or condone domestic violence and urging the profession to take affirmative steps to educate judges and lawyers.⁽¹³⁾

Failure to Teach Domestic Violence Legal Issues in Law Schools Harms Law Students When They Become Lawyers

Lawyers who are unaware of domestic violence dynamics or appropriate legal remedies may endanger their clients. Studies have shown that perpetrators tend to escalate the violence when victims attempt to leave,⁽¹⁴⁾ which often coincides with the commencement of legal proceedings. Lawyers who represent victims must understand the potential lethality of perpetrators and help their clients develop comprehensive safety plans.⁽¹⁵⁾

Without appropriate legal education, lawyers may unwittingly expose their clients to further violence as a result of legal developments in their cases. For instance, if lawyers draft visitation agreements which allow direct contact between the parties, perpetrators are likely to assault or harass victims when the children are transferred. Similarly, if lawyers fail to consult their clients about the timing of legal procedures, such as filing for child support, victims may be assaulted by their abusers when they could have taken precautions to protect themselves.

A lawyer's failure to understand the dynamics of domestic violence can harm third parties as well. Studies show that children are often traumatized by witnessing or experiencing domestic violence.⁽¹⁶⁾ Lawyers who fail to present the courts with information on the effects of violence on children harm children by promoting unsafe custody or visitation arrangements. Similarly, lawyers who fail to take seriously a perpetrator's threats to kill his or her victim may be partially responsible for the perpetrator's violence at the victim's workplace, which results in the victim's death or the deaths of bystanders. Failure to handle domestic violence cases properly can also endanger those in the legal system, such as judges, lawyers, court personnel, and others, if perpetrators become violent in the courthouse.

Lawyers who lack knowledge about domestic violence law contribute to incorrect legal outcomes. Most states, for example, view domestic violence as a factor in custody determinations or create a presumption that perpetrators of domestic violence should not be awarded custody of children.⁽¹⁷⁾ A family law attorney who fails to identify a client as a victim of domestic violence or to review domestic violence laws may not comply with statutory provisions protecting victims. This may result in the perpetrator receiving custody, contrary to the intent of the state legislature.

In addition, if lawyers do not identify domestic violence in their cases, they may utilize practice strategies that are inappropriate in domestic violence cases. For instance, some divorce lawyers may believe that proceeding slowly is in their client's best interest. While this technique may be useful in some divorce cases, it can lead to dangerous outcomes in domestic violence cases, by allowing perpetrators to continue to harass victims throughout extensive legal proceedings.

Understanding domestic violence legal issues is a matter of professional competency. Rule 1.1 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct states the following:

A lawyer shall provide competent representation to a client. Competent representation requires the legal knowledge, skill, thoroughness, and preparation reasonably necessary for the representation.

Historically, domestic violence was perceived as a private family matter. Stereotypes about victims and perpetrators may have prevented lawyers from understanding the complexity of domestic violence legal issues. At present, however, professional competency demands that lawyers comprehend the dynamics of domestic violence, the legal implications (including criminal penalties), and the appropriate responses.

Law schools which fail to teach students about domestic violence legal issues may be exposing future lawyers to malpractice suits, disciplinary complaints, or sanctions for ethical violations. Nearly every law student is educated about tort law, despite the fact that many lawyers never practice tort law or have personal contact with a tort case after their first year of law school. Teaching about domestic violence legal issues, however, can prepare students to handle a legal and sociological problem which will continue to affect them for the rest of their lives, as professionals and as human beings.

Law Schools Can Benefit from Offering Training on Domestic Violence Legal Issues Across the Curriculum

As more law schools around the country incorporate domestic violence legal issues into law school curricula, individual law schools will benefit from offering domestic violence seminars and clinical programs. Law schools with appropriate training will produce future lawyers who are more qualified, thereby enhancing their own reputations. Schools that fail to incorporate domestic violence legal issues into the curricula may lose some of their competitive advantage.

Incorporating Domestic Violence Legal Issues May Attract Law School Applicants and Create a More Diverse Student Body

A growing number of law students are choosing to attend law schools that offer clinical programs in order to represent clients, develop lawyering skills, and enhance employment opportunities.⁽¹⁸⁾ Law schools which offer clinical programs frequently find that these programs are oversubscribed by students. While law students generally favor clinical programs, domestic violence programs may be particularly popular with students.⁽¹⁹⁾ This may in part be due to the fact that family violence clinics provide students with the opportunity to improve their substantive and trial practice skills in one semester. This popularity suggests that law schools which offer domestic violence clinics are likely to attract students.

Every law school can benefit from an increased applicant pool, which is likely to result if a domestic violence clinical program is offered. As law school applications decrease,⁽²⁰⁾ schools are increasingly forced to compete for students. A domestic violence clinical program, with the advocacy experience it offers, can be a real selling point. Providing comprehensive and practical domestic violence programs is likely to increase the diversity of the student body, as well as the number of applicants. Such changes could improve a law school's long-term financial and educational status.

Addressing Domestic Violence Issues May Enhance the Law School's Reputation and Increase the Employment Opportunities for Graduates

A law school's reputation is often enhanced by offering programs that address contemporary substantive issues. Currently, domestic violence issues are in the national spotlight, in part because the Violence Against Women Act has vastly increased the relief available to victims. The prestige of domestic violence practice has been greatly enhanced by the federal focus on domestic violence issues, evidenced by the Department of Justice's high profile programs and Congress' continuing legislative initiatives. As a result, public awareness about the extent of domestic violence and the role of the legal profession in reducing domestic violence is growing. Law schools which address domestic violence law are likely to enhance their reputations, while law schools which fail to provide adequate education may fall behind national standards. Many of the most highly regarded law schools have begun to incorporate domestic violence legal issues into their curricula.⁽²¹⁾

Domestic violence law raises a range of issues suitable for serious legal scholarship. Both professors and students may draft law review articles or amicus briefs on emerging legal issues, helping to shape evolving law in the field.

Law school reputations may improve not only because of the increased quality of education and scholarship, but also because well-trained students are likely to obtain wider employment opportunities upon graduation. Law students who participate in clinical programs representing domestic violence victims can gain valuable experience in family law, criminal law, immigration law, or poverty law. These substantive skills may assist students to obtain employment opportunities in firms practicing family law or criminal defense law, in public defender or prosecutor offices, and in legal services organizations, among others.

Additionally, the transferable lawyering skills that students develop may make graduates more attractive to employers. Reports suggest that law students with clinical experience have greater success in the job market.⁽²²⁾ Since employers recognize the value of clinical training programs, law schools which incorporate domestic violence clinical programs enhance their own reputations while expanding employment opportunities for students.

Teaching Domestic Violence Legal Issues in Law Schools Can Begin to Reduce Domestic Violence in the Law School and Local Community

Law schools which incorporate domestic violence legal issues into their curricula may be contributing to the eradication of domestic violence within the law school community. Law students and law professors are just as likely to be victims or perpetrators of domestic violence as other members of society, so information about the dynamics of domestic violence and the legal remedies available can have an immediate and long-lasting effect on students. Creating an environment that condemns violence against intimate partners or spouses may be particularly important in law schools because victims or perpetrators within the law school may initially hesitate to seek help. For example, a victim may refrain from reporting the violence if the abuser is a fellow law student, for fear of ruining the abuser's career or being judged by an insular law school community.⁽²³⁾ If domestic violence legal issues are part of the curricula, however, the law school will be sending a strong message that domestic violence is a criminal matter which will not be tolerated by the legal profession.

Incorporating domestic violence legal issues into law school curricula can also help respond to the unmet legal needs of the local community. In the District of Columbia, for example, law school clinical programs at four area law schools provide the bulk of representation for victims of domestic violence. Without such programs, many low-income victims in the District of Columbia would have no access to legal representation.⁽²⁴⁾

While domestic violence programs provide desperately needed services to the community, they also accrue benefits to law schools. Maintaining links to the community may have practical or financial consequences for a law school. For example, law schools may need community approval to expand their programs or facilities. Domestic violence programs can also generate well-respected legal scholarship. With federal funding increasing year by year for domestic violence programs, law schools may find that offering domestic violence courses increases their chances of obtaining outside funding.

By including domestic violence issues in their curricula, law schools will be joining a national effort to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence. Law schools can respond to the critical needs of victims, while increasing the public's respect for the legal profession. Moreover, by providing services to crime victims and producing more qualified lawyers, law schools can utilize their prestigious position to contribute to a more just society.

Incorporating Domestic Violence Issues into Law School Curricula May Create Resources to Assist Victims

Victims of domestic violence desperately need legal representation, yet few lawyers have been trained on domestic violence law.⁽²⁵⁾ Abusers frequently attempt to regain control over victims who have separated from them by filing numerous court motions, violating existing court orders, or harassing victims during lengthy court proceedings. This struggle to maintain control can result in protracted custody battles, or false allegations of criminal conduct or child abuse against victims.⁽²⁶⁾ Even when abusers do not use the court system as a new battleground, victims may face complex legal problems resulting from the violence. Victims may require legal representation, for example, in financial matters such as bankruptcy or landlord-tenant cases, as well as in related family, criminal, or civil matters.

Representation by counsel can assist victims to obtain the legal relief to which they are entitled. Victims of domestic violence who proceed pro se may be unaware of their legal rights or the rules of litigation, including evidentiary or statutory standards. Legal counsel can improve the outcomes that victims obtain in court,⁽²⁷⁾ in particular, increasing victim safety. Studies show that victims who are represented by counsel obtain civil protection orders that are more effective in curtailing further violence.⁽²⁸⁾ Yet victims are often forced to represent themselves in protection order or custody trials -- against batterers who are determined to punish them for leaving and who have the financial ability to hire well-trained lawyers. In contrast, when perpetrators violate protection orders, they are entitled to representation if they face misdemeanor or criminal contempt charges. The legal profession has a responsibility to address this injustice.

Lawyers should be aware that financial control plays a key role in domestic violence relationships. Perpetrators often use economic coercion as a way to exert power and control over their victims, in conjunction with threats or physical violence. Batterers may forbid victims from working, or force victims to turn over paychecks if they are employed. Often perpetrators keep a tight rein on family finances, providing a meager allowance to victims which barely permits them to buy food for themselves or children. A lack of savings traps many victims in abusive relationships.

Because of this financial deprivation, victims of domestic violence frequently lack the ability to afford legal counsel upon separation from their abusers. Perpetrators may continue to maintain a financial stranglehold over victims by refusing to pay child support or by providing subsistence level support in exchange for the victim's promises not to press criminal charges or seek a divorce. Victims often use all of their financial resources to support themselves and children. As a result, if a local legal services agency has a lengthy waiting list and pro bono services are unavailable, victims may be forced to represent themselves in court.⁽²⁹⁾

Law school clinical programs can provide resources to help level the playing field. Additionally, training students in core curricula courses about domestic violence legal issues will create a cadre of lawyers comfortable with these issues. Ultimately, a larger pool of lawyers available and willing to assist victims will be established.

Law School Programs Can Help Fill the Need for Direct Legal Representation of Victims of Domestic Violence

Law school programs which provide direct representation to victims can help satisfy battered women's desperate need for legal services, since clinical programs generally accept clients free of charge or on a sliding scale basis. In addition, law students in clinical programs may provide particularly effective representation in domestic violence cases. Student attorneys in clinical programs are generally very well supervised, and spend a substantial amount of time on each case.

Representation by well-trained student attorneys can be extremely useful for victims who may have a range of legal needs or require support and understanding simply to pursue legal action. In other fields of law, more experienced attorneys may be able to provide greater assistance to clients; however, few practicing lawyers have received appropriate training on domestic violence issues. Therefore, student attorneys who are supervised by domestic violence law attorneys may be able to provide some of the most effective representation available to victims. Additionally, clinical programs can set the practice standard in the community for these cases, and provide a resource for the bar.

Law School Programs Can Provide Non-Legal Assistance or Refer Victims to Community Organizations

Law school clinical programs may be able to provide effective services to victims of domestic violence for additional reasons. Because law schools are often located in universities which offer other graduate or professional programs, domestic violence clinical programs can be linked easily to other professional services which victims may need, such as social work, medical or mental health services. These services may even be incorporated into the clinical program itself. At the Domestic Violence Advocacy Project at the George Washington University Law School, for instance, Dr. Mary Ann Dutton, a clinical psychologist, co-teaches the domestic violence clinical program with Professor Joan Meier, assisting students with the psychological aspects of domestic violence and representation of abuse victims. Students have also volunteered at the George Washington University Hospital's emergency room, and compiled referral directories of local domestic violence services. Law school programs can use this model to create links with programs at their universities, such as social work, psychology or medical school programs.

Law School Programs Can Fill Other Gaps in Community Services for Victims and Perpetrators

Law school programs may also have the resources to address domestic violence issues which other organizations cannot address. For instance, restrictive regulations or heavy caseloads may prevent legal services organizations from advocating for legal reforms affecting victims in the community or from providing holistic legal services to victims. In contrast, law school programs may have the resources to provide representation to clients in a range of legal cases, and students may be able to participate vigorously in advocacy groups within the community. Such participation can expose students to the workings of multidisciplinary task forces and train them to draft legislation.⁽³⁰⁾

Law school programs can assist victims by conducting workshops in community organizations, such as domestic violence shelters or local high schools, directed at clients, shelter workers, adolescents, or school counselors. Student attorneys can teach classes on the dynamics of domestic violence and the legal remedies available for adult and teen victims. Students can also refer victims to other victim assistance programs, such as state victim compensation programs. By establishing links to community organizations, law schools can provide essential information to victims while seeking eligible clients for clinical programs.

Law School Programs Train Better Lawyers for the Future

Incorporating domestic violence legal issues into law school curricula may help produce future lawyers who have a better understanding of domestic violence and its legal implications. Such training will serve victims well, even if student attorneys ultimately practice law in areas other than domestic violence, since all lawyers will be sensitized to domestic violence issues and prepared to assist victims.

Lawyers who comprehend domestic violence issues will be better able to understand their clients' motivations and goals. For instance, a tax lawyer who has identified a client's history of domestic violence with an ex-spouse may understand why the client chooses to forgo certain financial benefits in the hopes of maintaining her physical safety. The tax lawyer can then discuss safety planning options and financial entitlements with the client. Since trained lawyers are likely to understand their clients' goals more easily than untrained lawyers, they can provide more effective representation.

Additionally, law school programs that train lawyers to provide ethical representation to perpetrators of domestic violence may ultimately reduce recidivism and improve victim safety. Lawyers can inform perpetrators of the legal consequences of their behavior and encourage them to seek help to end the violence. Without appropriate training, however, defense attorneys or family law attorneys who represent batterers may inadvertently encourage batterers to continue to use force and coercion, by enabling them to exert control through the courts.⁽³¹⁾ Colluding with an abuser's tactics is not in an abuser's long-term best interest. Student attorneys who represent batterers in criminal defense clinics should therefore be thoroughly trained on domestic violence legal issues.

Teaching Domestic Violence Issues in Law Schools Benefits the Community

Incorporating domestic violence legal issues into law school curricula provides significant short-term and long-term advantages to the community in which the law school is located. Most immediately, community members, whether they are victims, perpetrators, or related family members, will benefit from representation by lawyers who understand domestic violence issues. Well-trained lawyers can ensure that safety precautions are included in civil or criminal orders. For instance, a criminal stay-away order that forbids a batterer from coming to the victim's workplace, or a custody order that requires the children to be dropped off and picked up at a supervised visitation center, can help prevent future violence -- against the victim, the children, and bystanders.

Communities incur tremendous costs as a result of domestic violence. Domestic violence has been recognized as a criminal justice issue, a public health epidemic, and a drain on workplace productivity. Since its opening in February, 1996, the National Domestic Violence Hotline has provided services to 87,847 callers.⁽³²⁾ Law enforcement and courts report that an increasing number of victims are seeking assistance to end the violence.⁽³³⁾ Recent studies have found that domestic violence costs at least $67 billion dollars a year in medical and mental health care costs, property damage and loss, law enforcement and fire services, victim services, and lost worker productivity.⁽³⁴⁾

Domestic violence not only incurs economic costs on a societal level, but also destroys American families. Children who witness domestic violence often endure physical abuse, or suffer developmental, cognitive, or behavioral impairments as a result of living in violent homes.⁽³⁵⁾ Victims of domestic violence may suffer a wide range of psychological effects, including post-traumatic stress syndrome, or they may continue to live in terror as a result of being stalked or assaulted by their abusers after separation. Domestic violence also has lethal results -- nearly thirty percent of all female homicide victims were known to have been killed by their current or former husband or boyfriends.⁽³⁶⁾ Effective responses by the legal profession, in coordination with responses from other service providers, can help reduce the pervasiveness and lethality of domestic violence.

Legal Training May Increase Public Safety and Reduce Judicial, Health Care and Law Enforcement Costs

Domestic violence takes an enormous toll on public safety. First and foremost, the victim's safety may be endangered by the perpetrator's stalking or increased lethality. Domestic violence also endangers children and extended family members when perpetrators threaten, harass, or attack them to locate victims or to punish victims for leaving. The safety of bystanders is threatened if a perpetrator's actions are not curtailed by the criminal justice system. When perpetrators harass or stalk victims at the workplace, for instance, other employees may be caught in the crossfire. Violence in the courts can erupt if appropriate safety precautions are not taken. Domestic violence not only endangers third parties, such as children, or law enforcement officers responding to a crime scene, but also unrelated bystanders. For example, in 1990, 87 people were killed when an employee's ex-boyfriend set fire to the Happy Land Social Club in New York.

Training law students on domestic violence issues can increase public safety, and help remove the burden that recurring domestic violence cases impose on the legal system. The legal profession will be better equipped to handle domestic violence cases if lawyers are educated about domestic violence issues prior to becoming prosecutors, defense attorneys, and members of the private bar and judiciary. For instance, prosecutors may be more likely to pursue criminal cases against batterers without victim testimony if they comprehend that a victim's safety could be endangered by testifying against a perpetrator. Judges may be more likely to issue tightly crafted custody and visitation orders if they understand the perpetrator's obsession with exercising control over the victim. Incorporating domestic violence issues into legal education will teach lawyers these skills at an early stage, resulting in a justice system that is safer and more effective for victims.

In addition, other systems which are flooded with domestic violence cases, such as the law enforcement, corrections, and health care professions, might experience a decreased caseload if lawyers were well-trained on domestic violence issues. For example, many batterers use visitation to further harass and assault their victims, unless visitation orders preclude direct contact.⁽³⁷⁾ Victims are then forced to return repeatedly to court to modify visitation orders or file criminal charges. Skilled lawyers, however, could ensure that visitation orders prohibit direct contact between perpetrators and victims, reducing the need for victims to return repeatedly to court.

The legal system's failure to respond effectively to domestic violence has a corresponding effect on the health care and law enforcement systems, when victims are forced to call the police or seek medical treatment repeatedly for ongoing violence. If attorneys were taught to advocate on behalf of victims, and judges were trained to adjudicate domestic violence cases in ways that reduced the violence, related systems should experience a decreased caseload and lower costs. For instance, if the police no longer had to return repeatedly to the same homes because of family violence, they could save funds. An investment in domestic violence legal education should increase victim safety and reduce the community costs of recurring cases in the health care, legal and corrections systems.

The following hypothetical may best illustrate the drain on resources caused by unchecked domestic violence:

Jane Doe calls the police because her husband beat her with an iron poker. The police are unsympathetic, having come to the house for the fifth time, and tell her to go to court. She is afraid to go to court because of her husband's threats to kill her if she does. The next time her husband beats her, she calls a domestic violence hotline, but they tell her there is an eight-month waiting list to get a pro bono lawyer. The next time her husband assaults her, she has to go to the emergency room at the local hospital because her arm is broken. The medical costs are passed on to the community because her husband takes her paycheck and won't pay for health insurance. Her doctor does not ask how her arm was broken. The next time her husband threatens to kill her, she goes to court alone and gets a protection order. The order contains no safety precautions and fails to address custody or visitation. Her husband, enraged by her attempts to seek legal help, assaults her again when he ostensibly comes to see the children.

This typical scenario raises many points of intervention (police, crisis hotline, emergency room, court) in which a law student or lawyer could have broken the pattern, protected the victim and children, and saved the community time and money.

Communities Would Also Benefit From Increased Access to Legal Assistance

Significant societal advantages could accrue if law schools included domestic violence issues in their curricula, particularly because these issues arise in so many areas of the law -- from health law to personal injury law. While some individuals might claim that American society is too litigious, few would claim that there is a surplus of lawyers trained to effectively represent victims of domestic violence.

Low-income clients face increased difficulties in obtaining counsel because of reductions in funding for the Legal Services Corporation. Since perpetrators often deprive victims of financial resources, victims desperately need free or low-cost legal assistance. Law school clinical programs can help fill the gaps created by reduced funding for legal services organizations. Clinical programs can provide vital representation to victims in criminal defense, prosecution, protection order, or family law cases.

Law schools can also provide legal services to communities that would otherwise be deprived of access to legal assistance.⁽³⁸⁾ For example, domestic violence shelters or victims in rural areas may be cut off from services available in more populated areas. Law school programs may have the resources to supply rural shelters or clients with representation or, at the minimum, to draft legal research memoranda on issues of critical importance to victims in rural communities.

Systemic Reforms May Result From Incorporating Domestic Violence Issues into Legal Education

The current legal system fails to effectively protect victims of domestic violence or to hold perpetrators accountable for criminal acts. Recent reports confirm that perpetrators commit further acts of violence even after they are arrested or have protection orders entered against them.⁽³⁹⁾ Experts in domestic violence law concur that coordinated community responses, including prevention efforts with children and intervention efforts with adults trapped in violent homes, are needed to eliminate domestic violence.

Well-trained legal professionals are critical to the development and implementation of systemic reforms. Law school programs can train future leaders to revamp the legal system so that it prioritizes victim safety and offender accountability. While in law school, students can participate in efforts to reform the system. For instance, students can contribute to coordinated community task forces or draft legislation in conjunction with community groups to improve local or state-wide services.

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This document was last updated on April 19, 2001