Pro Bono Spotlight on...

In 2019, Travers Smith established our own Domestic Violence Advocacy Unit (DVAU) to work alongside the National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV). The DVAU provides advocacy services for victims of domestic violence referred to us by NCDV.  The team is run out of our Dispute Resolution department and took on its first case, remotely, in May 2020 where it successfully applied for a protective injunction for a woman who had been subject to very serious domestic abuse over a period of 40 years.  That injunction was subsequently defended at the return hearing in June 2020, where the DVAU provided advocacy services, and made final.

The DVAU team have since acted for a constant flow of clients, including a woman who could not remove an abusive ex-boyfriend from her flat. The abuse she suffered included physical violence, financial extortion and controlling behaviour.

More recently, the DVAU has represented a vulnerable client who suffered extensive sexual abuse over a prolonged period. The team successfully obtained a 2-year Non-Molestation Order for that client which has since been served on the perpetrator. The DVAU team are currently working with Corker Binning on the parallel criminal case for this client. This case is a stark example of the impact of representing a victim of domestic abuse and how gaining Court protection can be life changing for our clients. Below are just a few examples of feedback from clients we represented over the last year:

At the start of 2016, we, alongside five US law firms, launched a "family law" advice clinic with University House in Bethnal Green. Since then we have committed to sending a team from Travers Smith to the clinic each week to provide pro bono assistance to those most in need. The clinic was established to provide assistance to the growing number of victims of domestic abuse and, while that remains the key driver for the clinic, we also advise in relation to divorce, property issues and family disputes (all of which are commonly part of a domestic abuse scenario).

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit early last year, we were committed to continuing to support the community and, happily, we have been able to transition to running a virtual clinic via telephone consultations. In the past year, the Firm has advised clients virtually on forced marriage petitions, non-molestation orders and child arrangement orders.

Wendy Smith, PA in Dispute Resolution

Q: Tell us about your role in relation to the Family Law Clinic.

A: I am the main administrator for the Family Law Clinic. This entails me adding new members, organising rotas, making sure that all sessions are covered with attendees and reserves, ensuring a balance of qualifications and liaising with the Clinic on the day of each session to ensure that we know which clients we are seeing. I then follow-up after each session by logging the clients that have been seen and giving a short description of the work we carried out. Rotas are finalised 3 months in advance and for each session we require a qualified lawyer together with a trainee/paralegal (plus 2 reserves). This is a voluntary clinic and all the advisers have put themselves forward. Normally for each round of sessions volunteers are only used once, with maybe a second session as reserve. Due to the fantastic team at the Clinic the sessions normally run like clockwork.

Q: What is your motivation to be involved in this pro bono project?

A: I inherited a previous Law Clinic (Paddington) many years ago when another PA left the firm. Travers was the first law firm I'd worked in that provided Pro Bono work and from the outset I wanted to be as involved as I could, because of it being such a great initiative. We've been helping with the Family Clinic since 2016 and even though I'm a tiny cog in the wheel I feel very privileged in being able to help people who would otherwise have no access to legal advice. Reading the follow-up notes gives me a massive insight into what a fantastic scheme this is and I'm more than happy to be involved in any way I can be.

In October 2020, a Dispute Resolution team took on a victim of extreme controlling and coercive behaviour in what the Family Court Judge described as "one of the worst cases [he] has dealt with since [he] has been on the bench".

In this ongoing case, the client is a survivor of an extremely emotionally abusive and coercive relationship, characterised by financial exploitation. The client is seeking to recover losses she suffered due to this financial exploitation, including money in respect of a loan she took out on her ex-partner's behalf.

Economic abuse (including financial exploitation) is a common form of domestic abuse. It involves an abuser exploiting or restricting a person’s ability to acquire, use or maintain money or other economic resources.

Prior to the Dispute Resolution team becoming involved, the client had been acting as a litigant in person and had missed some procedural deadlines, including for serving her witness statement. The defendant tried to strike out her witness statement and her case. Our team successfully defeated the defendant's application at a hearing in February 2021, and is now preparing for the upcoming trial in October 2021.