A Toolkit for Advancing Data-Driven Unauthorized Practice of Law Reform: Domestic Violence Advocate Case Study
The seven-question framework:
Question Two:
Who in the community is trusted and positioned to meet those needs?
DV advocates are well-positioned to meet survivors’ legal needs because they build and maintain trusted relationships with the survivors they serve and routinely work with survivors experiencing unmet legal needs.
Key findings:
Survivors routinely and consistently ask DV advocates legal questions.
DV advocates think that it would be extremely helpful for survivors to receive legal advice from advocates.
DV advocates see themselves as well-positioned in this time of high need.
DV advocates and their host organizations believe that the advocate’s trusted relationship with the survivor could uniquely position them to deliver meaningful legal help.
DV advocates feel most confident helping survivors with orders of protection and restraining orders because they already have foundational knowledge related to protection and restraining orders.
DV advocates shared frustration with being limited to only providing information and not advice when survivors ask legal questions, especially when advocates are confident in their ability to help.
94.2% of DV advocates believe it would be extremely helpful, very helpful, or helpful for survivors to receive legal advice from advocates.
Of the DV advocates who participated in the nationwide survey, 63.5% of them said that it would be extremely helpful to survivors if someone in the advocate’s position were able to provide them with legal advice. Helpful, very helpful, and extremely helpful accounted for 94.3% of the responses. No advocate surveyed chose “not helpful at all” as their response.
Perspectives from the DV Service Community:
[Survivors ask me for legal advice] “every day. multiple times a day.”
“We're just that main people that really talk to them for everything, work through everything with them and build up that personal relationship.”
“Most of the time, by the time they do report, or by the time there is a court case, or you know, they're asking for help. They've been through so much. They don't trust people.”
“Our advocates are in court so often with survivors that they pick up on trends and subjective preferences or styles of different judges/courts. They could provide some insights to a survivor prior to walking in for a hearing that could help the survivor feel more prepared and less anxious.”
“99% of our clients would want that over nothing, you know, like, it's either like, no help or like us helping.”
“I spend all day helping people who are sobbing, basically saying, I'm their only hope. And so it's easy for attorneys who sit in a back room and don't see that to be like, Why are you like doing this? And you know, it's a lot harder when you're actually the person up front dealing with that all day, every day.”
One advocate commented that, because their advocate training prioritizes survivor choice, they would be uniquely positioned for “the legal advice that I give … is going to help [the survivor] toward [their] goal.”
“[I can’t] speak from my knowledge, and I can’t speak from my confidence” because of UPL restrictions.