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ABSTRACT
Lawyers and law school clinics have become myopic in their approach to civil domestic violence lawyering. This article argues that domestic violence lawyering should expand beyond its current focus on family law to move domestic violence law and practice forward. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from criminal law and feminist legal theory, this article proposes a lawyering model that expands individual representation across a wide spectrum of case types while also challenging systems that enable battering or do not support victims in their efforts to secure safety. Holistic representation in family law, public benefits, immigration, housing, mortgage foreclosure, tort, and financial matters, among other substantive areas, better serves domestic violence victims and reveals systemic problems facing victims. By taking a dual approach-broad holistic representation of individual victims combined with law reform efforts directed at systemic issues revealed through broad direct representation-lawyers and law school clinics can move domestic violence advocacy forward.
INTRODUCTION
We have become myopic in our approach to domestic violence, and it is time to move civil domestic violence lawyering forward. Currently, most domestic violence lawyering focuses on family law matters. While family law representation meets an important need for victims, ' it is only one set of the multitude of potential needs for victims of domestic violence. Our focus on family law has routinized domestic violence advocacy and stymied understanding of its broader effects and possibilities. To move domestic violence law and advocacy forward, we need to more actively engage in dialogue about priorities for civil domestic violence advocacy and take braver and broader steps on behalf of victims.
I propose a model of civil domestic violence lawyering that seeks to better serve individual clients while also challenging structural barriers that impede our efforts to reduce domestic violence. Under this model, we broaden the scope of civil assistance to domestic violence victims toward the margins of possible advocacy and combine this "holistic" advocacy with reform efforts. Domestic violence practitioners should move away from overly-specialized family law practices, and individual assistance should include advocacy on behalf of victims in a breadth of cases, including but not limited to public benefits, immigration, housing, mortgage foreclosure, tort, and financial matters. This holistic approach includes representation in a wide variety of legal matters and...