S. Domestic Violence and the Law

This seminar provides an in-depth examination of the issue of domestic violence, and the movement to advance the rights of survivors, from legal, historical, and multidisciplinary perspectives. It explores a wide range of topics across legal practice areas, including police and prosecutorial response, expert witness testimony, domestic violence survivors as criminal defendants and in prison, legal remedies for victim safety, domestic violence and child custody, civil rights and civil actions, legal remedies for battered immigrants, economic justice for intimate abuse survivors, the intersection of intimate partner and related forms of gender violence, and domestic violence as a human rights concern. Many of the topics are approached using case studies drawn from actual cases handled by Ms. Leidholdt and other attorneys at the Center for Battered Women's Legal Services (“the Center”), where she serves as director.

Special emphasis is placed throughout on the evolving response of systems to intimate partner violence—especially criminal justice, child welfare, immigration, and human resources--as well as parallel developments in jurisprudence and theory. Students will explore and assess the legal and social justice strategies that contributed to these changes, from impact litigation to campaigns for legislative and public policy reform. In lieu of a textbook, students will receive The Lawyer’s Manual on Domestic Violence, 6th Edition, which Ms. Leidholdt edited. Students will also be provided with a weekly packet of readings drawn from case law, state and federal statutes, legal and social science commentary, and redacted litigation materials from actual cases litigated at the Center.