For those most serious about pursuing their advocacy training, there is the Domestic Violence Clinic, a six-credit, one quarter course for six to eight students, offered three times a year. The clinic is headed by Professor Kanter and supported by Supervising Attorney, Katherine E. Schulte. The clinic is centered in Dorchester Division of the Boston Municipal Court where our advocates seek out their clients, assist them in developing safety plans, work with them to prepare their cases, and help them to obtain court orders authorized by the state's protective order legislation. For one woman, the issue may simply be to keep her violent boyfriend away from her apartment and her place of work. A mother may need to evict her violent husband from the family home and obtain custody of her children. Another mother may be in a shelter, but needs an order telling the man who has been stalking her that he must stay three hundred feet away from her at all times and relinquish his gun. Increasingly, batterers come to court portraying themselves as victims and advocacy on behalf of women includes helping the court to identify the primary perpetrator of violence.
Probate and Family Court cases offer a different set of challenges. For example, a woman who wants to divorce her violent partner, oppose his request for visitation, or resolve more permanently the issues of custody and support, must seek relief in the Probate Court. The Probate Court has no criminal jurisdiction and is less experienced in violence, making its rules and procedures a more treacherous forum for a woman who wishes to separate herself from a violent relationship. At the same time, the Probate Court has traditionally made less use of advocates than District or Municipal Court, failing to draw on the constituency that has the most experience with domestic violence. Until recently, women who could afford to hire a family lawyer had a hard time finding a member of the bar experienced in handling DV cases.
The Northeastern program has been committed to helping women negotiate this difficult terrain. However, the reality is that the structure of our academic program, with relatively few students working for only ten or eleven weeks in any given quarter, is ill-suited for a traditional Probate Court Clinic. These cases tend to stretch out over time and it is unrealistic to ask our clients to establish new relationships with their student legal representatives every three months. Thus, our supervisors find themselves bearing too much of the responsibility for ongoing cases, which is less than ideal for our students. Therefore, we address the education of our NUSL students in family law through co-op placements and more traditional seminars.