Over the past decades, there have been many cases of domestic violence that have come up as a legal matter. An attorney represents the cases of domestic violence, litigation, immigration and divorce. There are several problems and issues that are relevant to represent the cases in the court of law for the victims facing domestic violence. This article focuses on generating the insight about how to represent the cases of domestic violence.
Practices guide for lawyers representing the victims suffering from domestic violence.
Query 1. To take the case or not
A lawyer should decide upon whether or not he should take the case. If the lawyer decides to take the case for representing the victim of domestic violence, he should have good and competent knowledge about at least four sectors.
- Knowledge of the law
- Knowledge of cultural issues
- Knowledge about domestic violence
- knowledge about litigation
- Knowledge of the law:
All the attorneys should have relevant knowledge about the law in which he will be representing the case. Depending upon the legal issues the lawyer should go through the status and the law so that he can represent the client both ethically and adequately.
- Knowledge about the domestic violence:
While representing the case of domestic violence, the lawyer should be well versed in the laws related to it. The ABA standards tell that the lawyer should know the risks of violence due to the litigation process. The lawyer should be aware of the statistics of the incidents reported against violence.
- Knowledge about cultural issues:
The lawyer representing the case about domestic violence should know the culture the client follows. While the lawyers should stay updated with the different cultures followed by the clients he should not act like a stereotype.
Query 2. Once the lawyer takes the case, how to represent it effectively?
As soon as the lawyer confirms that he is ready to represent himself for the case there are certain things he should keep in mind.
- First, the lawyer should have a one on one communication with the client regarding the legal procedures and have an agreement signed by the client mentioning all the terms and the conditions.
- Second, the lawyer should always keep the safety of the client in his mind. In no case, he should take any steps that may raise a question about the security of his client.
Since the client is always in danger after raising a legal procedure against the abuser, the lawyer should make sure he takes that thing into consideration and then begin the procedure.
He in no case should disclose the details of the client to anybody. It is important that he knows that it is a confidential talk and is not supposed to be spread.
Query 3. Lawyer’s Responsibility after the case gets concluded
A lawyer should clearly let his client know that with the case being closed the client-lawyer relationship has even ended. He should let the client know about all the criminal penalties and let the client know what his rights are, how it can be reheard and then modified.
The lawyer while representing the cases of domestic violence should be aware of all the odd circumstances and the situation that he might encounter during the legal procedure.He should be capable enough to handle this pressure and give the best to his clients.