| Married women on their way out of an abusive | | | | situations engages and participates in the same |
| relationship are frequently found navigating the | | | | victimized way. |
| system en route to safety. But is their path safe? | | | | Some campaign for justice for themselves and their |
| Not necessarily so. We frequently see women | | | | children and then discover, as they approach the |
| struggling in relation to their legal counsel just as they | | | | finish line, that counsel has nothing to say. Or their |
| struggled in their battering relationship. And they feel | | | | trial date is delayed indefinitely. |
| worn down, confused, taken advantage of... | | | | In most of these cases, these women have engaged |
| What often happens is these women engage in their | | | | in exhaustive disclosure, spending more on their |
| relationship with their legal representation just as they | | | | production than they actually produce in pay (are |
| engaged in relation to the "white knight" from whom | | | | awarded as compensation). All awhile, they wonder |
| they are seeking refuge. | | | | how and why their partners have managed to go |
| They look to this person as their savior, leaping in | | | | month to month, year to year without providing full, |
| with blind faith. When told exactly what they want to | | | | legitimate, or in some cases, any financial production. |
| hear, they saddle up and go for the ride. Sadly for | | | | And it doesn't even occur to them that this is merely |
| some, years go by, and hundreds of thousands of | | | | a strategy that keeps them engaged in the process |
| dollars later, they ask, WHY? | | | | of their proceedings just as they where engaged |
| Family Violence and Legal Domestic Abuse | | | | with their abusive partner. If you are in a legal |
| My sense is the dynamics are exactly the same. | | | | proceeding and recognize that your voice is muffled |
| Domestic abuse is about control and so is the legal | | | | or muted or misrepresented, seek to understand the |
| abuse syndrome. And the survivor in both of these | | | | dynamics of legal domestic abuse. |