Law Commons^™

The Future Harm Exception: Coercive Control As Serious Psychological Harm And The Challenge For Lawyers’ Ethics, Deanne Sowter

Dalhousie Law Journal

Can a lawyer use the future harm exception to prevent her client from coercively controlling his former spouse? Lawyers are required to keep their clients’ secrets unless an exception applies. One of those exceptions is where there is a clear and imminent risk of serious bodily harm or death to an identifiable group or person. The exception provides that serious psychological harm constitutes serious bodily harm, but there is very little guidance as to what type of threat might meet the test. Coercive control is a type of family violence whereby an abusive spouse will use a pattern of tactics …

Immigration Law—Creating Consistency In Domestic Violence Asylum Cases, Zoya Miller

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sb320: A Call To Arms For Victims Of Domestic Violence, Golden Gate University School Of Law

GGU Law Review Blog

Under California law, a person restrained by any domestic violence protection order is prohibited from owning, possessing, purchasing, receiving, or attempting to purchase or receive a firearm while the order is in effect. According to the Armed Prohibited Persons System (APPS), over 23,000 restricted people are armed in California. This number reflects only the number of known registered firearms in the state. Of these 23,000 restricted people, special agents recovered 1,243 prohibited firearms last year — 778 of those firearms were identified in APPS; however, 465 were previously unknown.

Senate Bill 320 purports to redress the inadequacy of current practice …

Family Law—The Revictimization Of Survivors Of Domestic Violence And Their Children: The Heartbreaking Unintended Consequence Of Separating Children From Their Abused Parent, Jeanne Kaiser, Caroline M. Foley

Faculty Scholarship

Massachusetts law governing child custody recognizes the damaging effect that witnessing domestic violence can have on a child. Accordingly, the law requires courts to give special attention to the effects of domestic violence on a child when determining custody. An unintended consequence of this scrutiny is that parents who have been the victims of domestic violence can lose custody, or even their parental rights, for failing to protect children from witnessing their abuse. This result can be prevented by requiring courts to apply the same level of attention to the effects of domestic violence when removing a child from an …