PRO BONO
Spotlight on service
Joanna Plichta Boisen
MEMBER
FOSTER PEPPER
NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATIONS
SEATTLE
Lisa DuFour
PARTNER
INTEGRATIVE
FAMILY LAW
FAMILY LAW
SEATTLE
Loretta S. Story
PARTNER
STORY LAW / EASTSIDE
COLLABORATIVE LAW
CENTER
FAMILY LAW
BELLEVUE
Even after years of abuse, victims of domestic
violence often find that the toughest decision is
whether to escape.
“The most dangerous situation is when a person tries
to leave the abuser,” explains Lisa DuFour, a partner
at Integrative Family Law in Seattle who has provided
reduced-fee services to victims in severe cases.
Once they’ve made the decision to get out, victims
have to navigate an overwhelming legal system.
Attorneys like DuFour provide free or low-cost legal
assistance to help survivors move on with their lives.
“Domestic-violence survivors need to know that
someone will listen to them, believe them and stand up
with them to say domestic violence will no longer be tol-
erated,” says DuFour. “The legal system has to acknowl-
edge and support the victims so that we can, together,
respond appropriately and change the dynamics of this
pervasive problem. What MADD has done to publicize
and change the societal perceptions of drunk driving,
attorneys need to do for domestic violence.”
DuFour has been assisting victims for more than
two decades. A few years ago, one client was forced
by her husband to work as a prostitute. Influenced
by DuFour’s advocacy, the judge prohibited the man
from any future contact with his children—a highly
unusual move, notes DuFour, a former family-sup-
port prosecutor.
“Everyone deserves access to justice,” says Joanna
Plichta Boisen, pro bono partner at Foster Pepper,
“but in the domestic-violence space, it is even more
crucial because there is a safety component. You are
talking about someone’s life.”
In 2008, Boisen encouraged her firm to make
the Domestic Violence Advocacy Project its flagship
project. The program provides free representation to
victims seeking domestic-violence protection orders
(DVPOs). In 2014, she also helped create the Domes-
tic Violence Impact Project, run as a partnership by
Foster Pepper, Davis Wright Tremaine, and Perkins
Coie. Its volunteer attorneys help survivors draft
statements for their protection orders. Boisen offers
an annual training session for volunteers.
Domestic-violence victims who represent themselves in court face an uphill battle. “A lot of women
have suffered serious trauma, or are not sophisticated in crafting their legal arguments, or there is
a language barrier,” notes Boisen. Meanwhile, the
abuser—who ordinarily controls the purse strings—
often has a lawyer, tilting the playing field.
It is Not ‘OK’
Local attorneys volunteer their time to help domestic-abuse victims
become survivors BY ALLISON PERYEA
Without assistance, many survivors have difficulty
gathering evidence. Boisen recalls a client whose
abuser always struck her where marks would be
hidden by her hair. “This went on for so many years,
she had brain trauma and couldn’t explain herself in
court,” recalls Boisen. Another survivor was afraid to
take legal action because she did not realize a DVPO
would also protect her children, who had not been
abused but had witnessed abuse. “A lot of women
care more about the kids than themselves,” says Boi-
sen, and that often causes them to improperly focus
on parenting issues on their DVPO materials.
Loretta S. Story, a family law attorney with Story
Law/Eastside Collaborative Law Center in Bellevue,
has represented survivors since the mid-’90s. She
says legal support has come a long way. “In those
days, there were not really any nonprofits focusing
on civil legal aid to victims,” she recalls. “There were
shelters, and they protected you for a while, and
that was it.”
Story, who has a background in psychology and
social work, attended law school with the goal of
helping domestic-violence victims. A longtime East-
side Legal Assistance Program (ELAP) volunteer and
former board member, she was instrumental in creat-
ing ELAP’s Domestic Violence Legal Project, now
in its second year of providing legal services to low-
income residents. She serves on the advisory board
for ELAP’s Family Law Fellowship, a program that
trains new attorneys in family law matters including
domestic violence.
“A victim usually thinks nobody will believe him
or her,” says DuFour, who also serves as a pro tem
family law court commissioner. “They have lost so
much self-confidence, and are cut off from family and
support systems. … We can change the societal view-
point of domestic violence and make it a public crime
so that others will also say, ‘That is not OK.’”
A court order is just one step toward a new life.
Survivors also need counseling; and possibly new
housing, confidential addresses, new jobs for them-
selves and schools for their children.
“But the main thing,” DuFour says, “is helping
them realize that they are going to be OK and make
it through.”
