Kimberly McFarlane '13 Works to Protect New York City’s Most Vulnerable Children

It’s a little less than two miles, crisscrossing 164^th street and Hillside Avenue, from St. John’s Law to Queens County Family Court. When it first opened about 15 years ago, the New York Times heralded the five-story courthouse’s modern, open, and welcoming design: Waiting rooms with enormous bay windows afford views of an adjacent park. Escalators don’t just transport families in crisis; they let them see exactly where they are in the building, countering the common view of the “courthouse as a labyrinth.”

While Kimberly McFarlane spends much of her workday inside this architectural marvel, she doesn’t give it much thought. Moving from courtroom to courtroom, she’s there to do the hard but critical job of representing the Administration for Children's Services (ACS), New York City’s child protection agency.

“As an ACS attorney, I appear in court on behalf of the Commissioner for ACS in proceedings related to child neglect and abuse cases,” McFarlane says. “I do trial work at fact-finding hearings, and I handle emergency hearings, permanency hearings, dispositional hearings, and various conferences. A typical day includes multiple appearances addressing issues like reunification, a respondent parent’s or guardian’s compliance or non-compliances with services, and possible settlement. I also carve out time for unexpected emergencies that require the filing of an order to show cause.”

McFarlane didn’t come to St. John’s intent on a career in this niche. “I grew up watching my father, St. John’s Law alumnus Neville McFarlane '96, practice Family Law and was proud of his work,” she explains. “But I felt it would be too emotionally draining for me. So I set my sights on Entertainment Law.

McFarlane’s career path took a turn, however, when she enrolled in a Family Law course at St. John’s. “The class piqued my interest and seemed to awaken a kind of passion that just wouldn’t go away,” she shares. She decided to “test the waters” by participating in the Law School’s in- house Child Advocacy Clinic. “I realized my calling, first as a student clinician and then as the Clinic’s fellow,” says McFarlane. “I’ve never looked back, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Part of the St. Vincent de Paul Legal Program, Inc., the one-semester Child Advocacy Clinic focuses on litigation and policy reform, offering students a range of opportunities to learn the law hands on. “Our students spend their semester as advocates for children in abuse and neglect cases, immersed in Queens County Family Court and the neighborhoods it serves,” says Professor Jennifer Baum, the Clinic’s longtime director. “Understanding the child’s world is central to effective advocacy. Students take a deep dive into their clients’ lives by conducting home visits, meeting with the children and helping them feel safe and heard, interviewing relatives and teachers, obtaining records and other evidence, negotiating with the other attorneys, and reviewing casework files and other records.”

This experience goes beyond developing a solid advocacy framework for the case, Professor Baum notes, it also allows Clinic students, like McFarlane, to construct a template for successful advocacy throughout their careers, no matter what type of law they ultimately practice. “Kim's Clinic experience at St. John’s Law provided her with solid legal training advocating for children in Family Court. Now, as an ACS attorney, she’s using that same training to protect children in crisis. The lessons she learned in the Clinic weren’t limited to representing children. They apply to perspective taking generally, advocacy generally, and good lawyering practices generally.”

McFarlane is quick to make the same connection. “As an ACS attorney, I believe that securing a child’s welfare takes precedence over everything. As I first learned in the Child Advocacy Clinic, this position often doesn’t align with the child’s wishes, and that can be a tough pill to swallow. But I believe in ACS’s mission. Fighting the good fight for New York City’s abused and neglected children is absolutely a life worth living.”