An End of Year Reflection on the Importance of NVRDC's Work
NVRDC Staff Attorney, Danielle Turner, reflects on her experience representing a client during this year’s pandemic:
My client, “Jean”, had been in a relationship for a few months that had become progressively more violent. One night, the violence escalated to both physical and sexual assault. At first, Jean was very afraid of her assailant and she was not sure if she wanted to report the assault and go to the hospital. Jean later decided to report the crime and to receive a medical forensic exam for the sexual assault. There, she was met by an NVRDC advocate who stayed with her, helped her through the exam process, and then referred her to an NVRDC attorney—me.
The biggest obstacle in representing Jean was practicing law, from home, through a pandemic. It is difficult to be at such a distance from a client when they are going through a traumatic event. Something that used to be fairly straight forward—such as providing comfort during a meeting with a prosecutor—becomes a lot more complicated when you are not sitting next to the client. Helping Jean impacted me because she was one of my first new clients after starting telework and social-distancing due to the pandemic. It was a challenge to figure out how to effectively represent her and help her without ever meeting her in person or physically going to court. In spite of the complexities, Jean did see her petition for a Civil Protection Order (CPO) get granted. I am still litigating the criminal portion of the case and every time I speak to Jean she reminds me of how far she has come through this criminal legal process.
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic made it so much harder for survivors and their families to access essential services. These same complications also made it more difficult for NVRDC staff to continue to provide services to our clients. NVRDC’s legal team gives survivors free legal counsel, in part, because of how daunting navigating the criminal legal system can be under normal circumstances. But never before have NVRDC attorneys had to represent survivors of crime virtually. Danielle says that she wants someone reading Jean’s story to know that, “NVRDC did not shy away from helping those in need during a time when the whole world seemed to be on fire around us.”Learn more
The entire NVRDC staff worked tirelessly to continue to provide DC survivors with free advocacy and legal services. In spite of a global pandemic, NVRDC’s advocacy team continues to rise to the occasion to provide 24/7 in-person hospital advocacy to make sure our clients get the immediate help that they need to function, be healthy, and move forward. Our advocates work hand-in-hand with NVRDC’s team of attorneys to ensure that we are helping clients to identify and realize the survivor-defined justice they are seeking to feel safe, heard, and empowered throughout their recovery.