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6 - Dignifying the Experience of Domestic Violence Survivors Seeking Legal Services

from II - What Legal Design Can Do

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 December 2024

By
Morgan A. Wilson
Edited by
Miso Kim ,
Dan Jackson  and
Jules Rochielle Sievert
Miso Kim
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston
Dan Jackson
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston
Jules Rochielle Sievert
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston
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Summary

Using Northeastern University School of Law’s Domestic Violence Institute’s (DVI) virtual clinic as a case study, this chapter contends that service design methods can address systemic and pernicious access to justice issues that have a chilling effect on survivors seeking legal services. It details foundational information about domestic violence survivors and the work of the clinic pre-COVID-19, before detailing the danger, disruption, and delays that the public health measures and Court closures had on survivors’ lives. It then details the process and outcomes of a rapid-response service design intervention that quickly overhauled DVI’s operations and created a survivor-centered framework that remains in place today, tackling systemic and pernicious access to justice issues while simultaneously amplifying the voices, experiences, and needs of survivors.

Keywords

domestic violenceintimate partner violenceservice designdignityCOVID-19
Type
Chapter
Information
Legal Design
Dignifying People in Legal Systems
 , pp. 90 - 103
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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