First Person: Helping victims of domestic violence find a way out of their problems is energizing

By Sarah Austin, Third year law student at Emory University College of Law
*Originally published in the Fulton County Daily Report, May 3, 2012


I attended my first temporary protective order hearings last June with no idea what to expect, or what would soon be expected of me.


As a rising third-year law student interested in family law and public-interest work, I'd taken an internship with Legal Aid of Cobb County for the summer. This branch of Atlanta Legal Aid runs a thriving Family Violence Project through which volunteer and staff attorneys represent clients in the rapid-paced process of obtaining a TPO.


To my delight, I fell in love with the work and remained in Cobb County part-time through the first half of my third year at Emory University School of Law.


For my final semester, I moved to a field placement with the Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation's Domestic Violence Project, which assists victims of intimate partner violence and stalking in Fulton County's TPO Court. As in Cobb County, our clients typically seek an initial ex parte order preventing the respondent from contacting the petitioner for 30 days. We then prepare for a more formal hearing, in which the order may be extended to 12 months and other provisions, such as use of a home or child support, may be granted.


The details of my experiences in Cobb and Fulton counties differ somewhat, but the realities of representing victims of domestic violence are the same. I've counseled men as well as women and victims of violence in gay and lesbian relationships.

The impact of a down economy has been staggering. I've met more than one person who remained in an abusive situation with a platonic roommate because they couldn't afford to move. Luckily, under Georgia law a shared residence establishes a family relationship for TPO purposes. For each such unusual case, there are countless women in violent holding patterns with their partners-women for whom leaving could mean homelessness and the fear of losing their children. In these cases, our counseling goes beyond how to obtain a TPO, into trying to change situations with a thousand moving parts, all broken.


It's tempting to view a complex life from the outside and presume I know how to fix it. Statistics bear out that on average, a woman will attempt to leave an abusive relationship seven times before she cuts it off for good. I've had clients assist me in preparations for their hearing, gathering evidence and witnesses, and then not showing up for court. Many clients have supportive families and friends willing to assist in a crisis; many still do not, and are left with hard choices to make.


My friends and classmates often remark on how depressing my job seems, and truly, it's hard to overstate the gravity of helping someone through the turning point a TPO often represents.


My clients can be inspiring, frustrating and educational, often in the same conversation. But I am energized by the conversations in which I can point someone to the right resources, help her see a way out of what seems an insurmountable problem, and see her believe that she deserves a way out. I didn't know what I was getting into when I began taking TPO cases, but I'm so glad I did.