Creating New Pathways for DV Survivors to Access Legal Help
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Maria Duvuvuei
Communications Strategist
(202) 295-1542
WASHINGTON –Innovative programs that leverage unlicensed practice of law reform to create new pathways to justice for domestic violence (DV) survivors were featured on the latest “Talk Justice” podcast, released today. Host Lee Rawles was joined by Hayley Cousin, Executive Director of Community Justice Advocates of Utah; Gabriela Elizondo-Craig, Community Legal Education Co-Coordinator and Professor of Practice at Innovation for Justice; and Maria Padilla, Case Coordinator at Emerge Center Against Domestic Violence and Arizona Certified Community Legal Advocate.
Community Justice Advocates of Utah manages the Certified Advocate Partner Program, which began at Timpanogos Legal Center in 2021. The program trains Victim Advocates at organizations throughout Utah to provide limited-scope legal help to DV survivors as they pursue civil protective orders or civil stalking injunctions.
Cousin explained that the certified community justice advocates are able to offer legal advice, draft and review documents, help survivors file documents with the court, prepare clients for hearings and sit with them as a trusted supporter throughout.
“We're essentially going where survivors already have touch points of support,” said Cousin. “Our goal is to enable these existing service providers to offer more comprehensive trauma-informed services, which include legal help—so this model brings legal help directly into those trusted community settings where survivors already feel safe.”
As independent legal service providers, the advocates manage their own caseloads, screen clients, assess eligibility and deliver legal services directly, benefitting from the infrastructure and support provided by Cousin’s statewide organization.
In Arizona, Innovation for Justice partners with community-based organizations to train, support and mentor domestic violence legal advocates. Since 2021, the Domestic Violence Legal Advocate Program has trained trauma-informed legal advocates at DV service providers to deliver limited-scope legal help on protective orders and certain family law matters.
Elizondo-Craig explained that the goal of these programs is to enable the legal advocate to support the client throughout the lifecycle of the case. The legal assistance is layered on top of health, human and social services that they are already providing to domestic violence survivors.
“We're not just throwing people at the problem, we're ensuring that they have the resources that they need to succeed, that they're the trusted advocates that people are already interfacing with, and that ultimately we're enhancing the services they can provide and the services that the community is receiving,” said Elizondo-Craig.
People in need of domestic violence services often come to one organization for help and are referred out to another and another, Padilla explained. Training legal advocates who are already serving survivors in other ways means that the chain of referrals can end. It also enables the advocates to provide more comprehensive services to survivors.
“A big part of that is not just being able to talk to them and [help them] understand how the process may work, but also that emotional piece of it that [people] don't always get when working with an attorney or another agency that is just focusing on the legal aspect of the case,” Padilla said.
“A lot of people do feel alone and like nobody is wanting to support them, so I think that's a big part of that difference that it makes—just having someone there and walking them through the process and validating their feelings in that process, too,” she continued.
Full episodes of Talk Justice are available online. Listeners can find the show on Spotify, YouTube and Apple Podcasts. The podcast is sponsored by LSC’s Leaders Council.