The Domestic Violence Clinic is the product of a partnership
between St. John's University School of Law and the New
York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG). The Clinic, taught by
Adjunct Professors Kim Susser and Lisa Rivera, provides students
with an exciting, well-supervised, hands-on clinical
experience. Clinic students, working in pairs, represent
clients in family offense and visitation matters in the Queens and
Manhattan family courts. Students have the opportunity to handle
cases from inception to final disposition, including conducting
client interviews, seeking orders of protection, negotiating
settlements, making all court appearances, and, where indicated,
taking the case to trial. Clinic students enroll in
the domestic violence clinic placement and in a
two-credit seminar component which meets at the law school. The
seminar provides clinic students with substantive
knowledge in aspects of family, matrimonial, immigration, and
criminal law relevant to the practice portion of the course. In
addition, students will be introduced to the integration of law and
psychology specific to intimate violence and participate
in skills classes in interviewing, safety planning, case
preparation, evidence gathering, legal writing, trial advocacy and
negotiation skills. This two-semester course maximizes each
student's opportunity to fully service each client while
maintaining continuous client representation on sensitive legal
matters.