Domestic violence remains a reality for one out of four women in our country. Experts agree a key to ending domestic violence is meaningful access to the justice system. Often stopping the violence hinges on a victim’s ability to obtain effective protection orders, initiate separation proceedings or design safe child custody. Yet thousands of victims of domestic violence go without representation every day in this country.

There is a wealth of untapped resources – lawyers who want to volunteer their time to provide legal assistance to victims of domestic violence. The National Domestic Violence Volunteer Attorney Network Act introduced by Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) in May 2007 would harness the skills, enthusiasm and dedication of these lawyers to provide desperately needed legal assistance to domestic violence victims.

The ABA strongly supports this key piece of legislation and encourages others to submit letters of support to your Senators requesting them to cosponsor this important bill.

Full text of S.1515
One-page bill summary
ABA Letter of Support
Others’ Letter of Support
ABA Op-Ed in support of S.1515

There are five components of the bill:

(1) Create a National Domestic Violence Volunteer Attorney Network to be managed by the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence

With $2 million of new federal funding each year for two years and then $3 million for each of the following three years, the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence will create a national network of attorneys, connecting them with local and national training and pro bono programs to ensure that domestic violence victims throughout the country have access to safe, culturally and linguistically appropriate representation in legal matters arising as a consequence of the violence. The ABA will coordinate with state, local and national experts to provide appropriate mentoring, training and technical assistance to volunteer lawyers.

(2) Connect domestic violence victims with legal assistance via the National Domestic Violence Hotline

The bill will authorize $500,000 of new federal spending to the National Domestic Violence Hotline to update their systems to include information about legal resources, and, in coordination with the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence, to train advocates on how to provide legal referrals to callers.

(3) Create a pilot program and national rollout of the National Domestic Violence Volunteer Attorney Network and Referral Project

The bill designs a pilot program to implement the volunteer attorney network in five diverse states, with grants totaling $750,000 each year for two years to fund statewide legal coordinators. These coordinators will connect victims of domestic violence with legal assistance by developing and maintaining a database of programs providing legal assistance to victims of domestic violence through the network created by the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and the volunteer lawyers. In years 2010-2013, the bill will roll out the program nationally with annual appropriations of $8 million each year.

(4) Establish a Domestic Violence Legal Advisory Task Force

The bill creates a National Domestic Violence Legal Advisory Task Force to designate the five states in which to implement the National Domestic Violence Volunteer Attorney Referral Project

(5) Require the Government Accounting Office to study existing legal services available to battered women and report back to Congress within a year.

This study will assess the types of legal assistance being provided to victims of domestic violence, and how these services are being provided so that the National Domestic Violence Volunteer Attorney Network and Referral Project can benefit from promising practices and build upon already existing programs that are effectively connecting pro bono attorneys with victims seeking legal assistance.

An excellent roundtable of groups reviewed and contributed to this legislation, including the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the Legal Resource Center for Violence Against Women, the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the American Bar Association, WomensLaw.org, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the Legal Services Corporation, the American Prosecutors Research Institute, National Legal Aid and Defenders Association, National Center for State Courts, National Association for Attorneys General, Battered Women’s Justice Project, National Association of Women Judges, National Association of Women Lawyers, National Crime Victim Bar Association and National Center for the Victims of Crime.