Fall 2006 - #13. How the Vermont Bar Foundation Grant Supports the Work of Have Justice - Will Travel.

Vermont Bar Journal

2006.

Fall 2006 - #13.

How the Vermont Bar Foundation Grant Supports the Work of Have Justice - Will Travel

THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL FALL 2006

FOCUS ON THE VERMONT BAR FOUNDATION

How the Vermont Bar Foundation Grant Supports the Work of Have Justice - Will Travel

Have Justice--Will Travel has been extremely fortunate to receive grants from the Vermont Bar Foundation since 2002. This year the VBF funds support our Legal Empowerment Assistance Program. HJWT is an innovative, mobile, multi-service, non-profit organization that assists rural victims of domestic violence through free representation for relief from abuse and family matters. HJWT offers Vermont victims of domestic abuse a continuum of legal and social services which allow them to understand the roots of the abuse, leave the abuser, and achieve the economic and emotional self-sufficiency necessary to end the generational cycle of abuse.

The need for legal services for domestic violence victims in Vermont family courts is overwhelming. HJWT receives hundreds of telephone calls each year from women seeking legal assistance that we cannot fully represent because of our already heavy caseload. In an effort to help these women and children (who are referred by other attorneys, family court, victim advocacy groups, guardians ad litem, law enforcement, mental health workers, social workers, educators, doctor, and nurses), HJWT established LEAP to offer long-term support to those pro se litigants who call looking for legal advice and direction throughout the development of their case, but for which HJWT cannot provide a full-time attorney.

The coordinator of LEAP is E. Robin Goodrum, who is reading for the law in Vermont. Robin graduated from Champlain College in 2003 with an associate's degree in paralegal studies and a bachelor's degree in arts and sciences. Previously Robin served parishioners in the First Congregational Church in Burlington, Vermont. The following are two examples of clients Robin has had a positive affect on.

Over the last eight months Robin helped a scared and timid woman learn her legal rights, rediscover self-worth, and develop the strength to leave her abusive marital home. Due to the fear her husband had instilled in her about losing everything and never seeing the children again if she tried to leave, she initially only...