“While studying the law and social and psychological contributors to domestic violence, our students learn a lot about client counseling, about understanding people’s choices, and about working with people who are making these choices,” says Ruth Anne Robbins, a clinical professor of law and director of lawyering programs at Rutgers–Camden. “We’re teaching students legal skills using the platform of domestic violence.”
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, one in four women will be the victim of domestic violence at some point in her lifetime, and 15 percent of domestic violence victims are men. In New Jersey in 2010, there were 42,043 domestic violence complaint filings, according to the Report on the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act prepared by the New Jersey Courts’ Family Practice Division.
Domestic violence practice remains a challenging area of law. While many domestic violence restraining order cases culminate in a bench trial before a Superior Court judge, the victim and abuser may be involved in a custody dispute, a criminal trial, a child protective order proceeding, or all of them at once.
“Ending the violence or escaping an abusive relationship may take a victim many years of effort and require a wide array of social supports as well as legal assistance,” says Ann Freedman, an associate professor of law at Rutgers–Camden who teaches a course on domestic violence law and social change. “Our students learn to think about clients’ lives and not just their immediate legal problems.”
The Rutgers School of Law–Camden brings together classroom and courtroom experiences to develop lawyering skills and serve the needs of domestic violence victims.
“Domestic violence is relevant to many types of legal practice, ranging from criminal law to family law, personal injury, and immigration law,” says Sally Goldfarb, a professor of law at Rutgers–Camden. “Many of our faculty members work to raise students’ awareness of domestic violence in classes throughout the curriculum so that students see the impact of domestic violence in a wide variety of legal contexts. An attorney who is trained to recognize and deal with domestic violence is going to be able to provide better representation of clients in a host of legal matters.”
Rutgers–Camden offers a range of courses that specifically focus on domestic violence, but it doesn’t stop there.
First-, second-, and third-year law students offer legal information to about 800 people per year at the Camden County Courthouse, in police stations, and in other settings.
The pro bono work includes providing legal information about domestic violence to the community three days a week or whenever domestic violence cases are being heard in the Camden County Courthouse.
In Rutgers–Camden’s Domestic Violence Clinic, third-year law students provide legal representation to domestic violence victims from South Jersey, most of them from Camden County. The clinic has also handled a few appeals and other matters in addition to restraining orders.
Rutgers–Camden law students assist more than 600 people per year on average through the combined services of the Domestic Violence Project and Clinic.
Victoria Chase, a clinical associate professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden, teaches the Domestic Violence Clinic each semester.
“The Domestic Violence Clinic is not only a needed resource for families experiencing domestic violence, but it is also a superior educational opportunity for law students,” Chase says. “Students working on domestic violence restraining order cases are able to gain practical experience in a range of lawyering skills including interviewing and counseling, trial advocacy, and legal research and writing all within a relatively condensed period of time.”
Before joining the Rutgers–Camden faculty, Chase, a Rutgers School of Law–Camden graduate, was executive director of the Legal Clinic for the Disabled, a public interest nonprofit law firm providing legal services to people with disabilities. She is experienced in disability law, transportation law, environmental law and toxic torts, family law and protection from abuse, public benefits, special education, and consumer protection.
Robbins founded the Domestic Violence Clinic at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden in 2002 and Chase joined the faculty in 2004. The Domestic Violence Project has been in existence since 1995.
Robbins co-authors and updates a New Jersey practice treatise on domestic violence law. She is a past president of the Legal Writing Institute, an international organization whose 2,100 members include professors, judges, and practitioners.
Anne Mallgrave, an adjunct clinical professor at the Rutgers School of Law–Camden, is also a graduate of the Rutgers–Camden Law School. After a judicial clerkship for the New jersey Superior Court Appellate Division and law firm practice, Mallgrave returned to the Law School and now teaches and supervises case work in Rutgers–Camden’s Civil Practice Clinic. She is the supervising attorney for Rutgers–Camden's Domestic Violence Project.
Goldfarb has advised the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women on legal remedies for violence against women. She has participated in numerous academic symposia on the Violence Against Women Act, women's legal rights, same-sex marriage, and the impact of disasters on women and families. Goldfarb has served on a number of boards and commissions, including the New Jersey Supreme Court Committee on Women in the Courts.
Freedman consults with the Women’s Law Project in Philadelphia, which plays an active role in advocating for victims of domestic violence. She was a co-founder of the project in 1974, and later served as a staff attorney and board member. She has written about the challenges of fact-finding in domestic violence cases.
Media Contact: Ed Moorhouse
(856) 225-6759
E-mail: ejmoor@camden.rutgers.edu