Law Commons^™

Denying Choice Of Forum: An Interference By The Massachusetts Trial Court With Domestic Violence Victims’ Rights And Safety, Margaret B. Drew, Marilu E. Gresens

Faculty Publications

On May 4, 2009, the Chief Justice of Administration and Management of the Massachusetts Trial Court launched a pilot program in the Norfolk Division of the Probate and Family Court Department through an Administrative Order entitled, in pertient part, “for the Interdepartmental Transfer of Certain Abuse Prevention Proceedings”. This pilot program authorizes a judge of the Norfolk Division of the Probate and Family Court to initiate interdepartmental transfers of civil protection order petitions pending in other court departments where the parties have related domestic relations matters pending in the Probate and Family Court.

This article discusses how the pilot program …

Do Ask And Do Tell: Rethinking The Lawyer’S Duty To Warn In Domestic Violence Cases, Margaret B. Drew, Sarah Buel

Faculty Publications

Empirical data document that while domestic violence victims face high risk of recurring abuse, batterers’ lawyers may be privy to information that could avert further harm. Attorneys owe a duty of confidentiality to their clients that can be breached only in extraordinary circumstances, such as when counsel learns her client plans to commit a crime. To resolve the tension between client confidentiality and victim safety, this Article argues that, in the context of domestic violence cases, lawyers have an affirmative duty to (1) screen battering clients who have indicated a likelihood of harming others, (2) attempt to dissuade them from …

The "Pitiless Double Abuse" Of Battered Mothers, Justine A. Dunlap

Faculty Publications

Mothers are expected to do and be all for their children, and those who fall short are criticized. Elizabeth Schneider makes this unassailable assertion in her book Battered Women and Feminist Lawmaking. In the chapter entitled Motherhood and Battering, Schneider argues that society reserves its greatest opprobrium for mothers who harm their children or who are perceived to stand idly by while other harm their children. As Schneider demonstrates, women who fail to protect their children, even if they attempt to do so, can be legally liable and soundly condemned. This ill-conceived accountability is most likely to occur …