Eight University law students will launch a new term for the Domestic Violence Clinic this week and begin prepping themselves to handle live hearings in the courtroom.
“The clinic allows the students to basically work as legal interns where they are going to be representing … victims of domestic violence who have to go to court to have a restraining order or a stalking order maintained,” said Pat Vallerand, who has been associated with the clinic for seven years and is entering her first term as clinic supervisor.
The clinic, which only third-year students can qualify for, is a part of the Stop Violence Against Women Project, a collaboration between the University’s School of Law, Lane County Legal Services, Womenspace and Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS). It is the largest clinic specifically geared toward domestic violence in the state. The clinic provides legal services free of charge to its clients.
Students starting the clinic this week will spend three weeks learning the practical aspects of court cases that are not taught in other law classes, like office procedures, client interview skills and interviewing witnesses, Vallerand said. They will then start on cases of their own. Vallerand said students usually have three or four cases a term.
“It’s actually quite a bit when looking at the amount of work put in for each one,” she said. “It is a lot of time commitment as well as a lot of emotional commitment on (the student’s) part.”
Laura Rufolo, a 2003 Law School graduate, summed up the clinic as an “amazing experience.”
“It always amazed me the strength and resiliency that these people had,” said Rufolo, who now practices family law with Johnson, Renshaw and Lechman in Portland.
There are a number of challenges for the students, including dealing with clients that are in very emotionally charged situation, Vallerand said.
“These are really dangerous cases,” she said. “When a victim finally makes the move to try to get out of that situation, that is when a perpetrator is likely to pursue heightened levels of violence.”
On top of dealing with court orders, students often also must deal with housing issues, custody issues and health issues relating to the case, Vallerand said.
Rufolo said that the high level of emotion that was connected to the cases motivated her even more.
“It certainly strikes you that this will affect their lives forever,” Rufolo said. “It makes you work harder than you might for a class.”
Right now, the clinic is between funding sources, Vallerand said. The clinic receives funds from a number of places, including state and federal grants, but took a financial hit last year when it did not get funding from the federal Violence Against Women Act, which previously granted the clinic a quarter of a million dollars annually.
“At this point, we’re working with the legal community to come up with other funding to keep it going,” Vallerand said. “Attorneys in town really view this as important and want to
help support it because, number one, they believe that the services provided are important and, number two, they know it’s an incredibly positive way to train up-and-coming attorneys in a field that there needs to be more training.”