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new fellowship BRIDGES T HE WORLDS OF PRIVATE LAW FIRM LITIGATION AND PUBLIC INTEREST LAW Last fall, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, one of our long-standing Corporate Partners, established a new litigation fellowship at inMotion. On a yearly rotation, the firm lends a highly committed associate to work full-time at inMotion under the supervision of our experienced legal staff. We were thrilled to welcome Rachel Braunstein, the first Fried Frank Fellow, to our Bronx office in September. For the past seven months Rachel has litigated some of our most urgent and complex matrimonial and family law cases. Her forceful representation is bringing new hope and security to 17 clients and their families. Rachel shares the story of how one client, a victim of extreme abuse, found the inner strength to save herself and her children. Nakita* grew up in New York City. She and her husband married in 1993 and had three children who are now eight, 13 and 15 years old. Throughout the marriage her husband was physically and verbally violent toward her. Many nights he stood over and watched Nakita as she slept, exerting constant control over her. After enduring six years of severe physical abuse and emotional degradation in her marriage, Nakita was forced to make a choice: either stay with her husband and risk being killed, or leave him in order to save her and her children’s lives. Against significant odds, she found the courage to leave her husband. One day in the fall of 1999, Nakita calmly collected her children and safely deposited them at her mother’s home. On that day, Nakita started a journey that would change her life. She drove non-stop from New York to a friend’s home in Atlanta. A trip that many would find exhausting was invigorating for Nakita. She described it as a beautiful experience, giving her the time finally "to be alone and at peace." A visit to Atlanta’s Martin Luther King memorial made Nakita feel even more empowered and reinforced her decision to escape her dangerous marriage. A day later, she returned to New York, picked up her children and went home. Her husband left the next day and never returned. Nakita’s journey was only just beginning. Now a single mother, she struggled to provide financially for her three children and to pursue an education. In 2001, Nakita went to Bronx County Family Court and, representing herself, petitioned for and was granted custody and child support. The Family Court also awarded Nakita’s husband visitation with the children. The next step was filing for divorce. With the help of inMotion, in July 2004, Nakita commenced a divorce action against her husband in Bronx Supreme Court. The Supreme Court referee presiding over the case ordered a hearing on the child support, custody and visitation arrangements because it had been several years since the Family Court had decided those issues. After several months of preparation, the case was delayed by two adjournments to provide Nakita’s husband, who now lives in California, with the opportunity to gather money to travel to New York. Despite these delays, Nakita was unfailingly patient and fair. Finally, on January 25, 2006, without her husband present, Nakita testified with courage and poise, in particular regarding her desire for sole custody of her children. She described her efforts to provide a decent life for her children. Nakita illustrated her husband’s failure to support the children—whom he had not seen in two years—and described his abuse of her as one of the reasons why joint custody would be harmful. After listening to Nakita’s testimony, the referee granted her a divorce, child support and sole custody of her children. We were victorious! It is inspiring to me that Nakita and many other inMotion clients possess the will to leave abusive marriages and that despite ominous obstacles they achieve safety and freedom. I believe this same energy and determination drives my clients to seek inMotion’s assistance in rejecting their husbands’ unfair terms for divorce or initiating divorce actions themselves. I strive to honor my clients’ commitment by approaching my legal representation as a cooperative endeavor. In the truest sense of the word, Nakita and I collaborated in litigating this case by discussing ideas and making decisions together. Working as a team toward positive change is not only extremely rewarding for me, but ensures greater success in the litigation. I admire my clients for being creative, focused and optimistic during their legal cases despite the harm they have suffered and I applaud them for having the courage to change their lives. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in this process. *Client’s name has been changed to protect her identity. LASTING LEGAL SOLUTIONS FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN DOMESTIC CRISIS Since 1993, inMotion has confronted the challenging needs of families in crisis by providing free legal services to low-income women and children. We have helped thousands of women free themselves from abusive relationships, stay in their homes and win the financial support to which they—and their children—are legally entitled. Our mission is to make a real and lasting difference in the lives of women—low-income, underserved, abused—by offering them legal and social services designed to foster equal access to justice and an empowered approach to life. We fulfill our mission by providing free legal services, primarily in the areas of matrimonial, family and immigration law, and intensive social work support in a way that acknowledges mutual respect, encourages personal growth, and nurtures individual and collective strength. Informed by this work, inMotion promotes policies that make our society more responsive to the legal issues 4 confronting the women we serve.
summer associate program LAW STUDENTS LEARN THE ROPES DOING PRO BONO Summer is a time for recruiting. We at inMotion recognize this tremendous opportunity to involve the next crop of new lawyers in our work. Each year we and our partnering corporate law firms give summer associates a unique opportunity to represent inMotion clients in Family and Supreme Courts under the supervision of a mentoring attorney at their firm. InMotion’s Summer Associate Program offers law students a hands-on introduction not only to the practice of family, matrimonial and immigration law—but to the nit and grit of litigating a case in the City’s courts. Law students participating in the program learn everything from to how to draft a discovery request to how to argue a motion in front of a judge. We spoke recently with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP summer associates, Alan Kluegel, Georgetown University Law Center, and Payal K. Shah, Columbia University School of Law, about their experiences helping an Iranian mother secure a permanent order of protection and temporary child support for her three children. Haadiya* and her husband married over 20 years ago in Iran. They have three children who are now 15, 17 and 18 years old. Haadiya’s husband came to the United States eight years ago, leaving her alone to raise their children in Iran. When she and her children recently moved to the U.S. to join their father, they discovered that he had started a second family with another woman. Once in New York, Haadiya and her children were forced to share a small one-bedroom apartment with his new family. A few months after their arrival, Haadiya’s husband abandoned them and moved with his girlfriend and her children to Long Island. Explaining further details about the case, Alan Kluegel shares, “Haadiya was in a hard situation, and her status as a non-English speaking immigrant made it even harder. Haadiya was particularly vulnerable, as she relied on her husband to keep her in the country and was unable to provide for herself or her children. When he became emotionally abusive and stopped supporting her and her children, she had very few options.” With the help of her 18-year-old daughter, Haadiya filed a pro se petition for child support. Afterwards, her husband began stalking and threatening her. Her daughter helped Haadiya obtain a temporary order of protection and reached out to inMotion on her mother’s behalf for help to make the temporary order permanent. Payal states, “Our supervising attorneys, Matthew Funk and Lauri Sawyer, were tremendously helpful and allowed us to do most of the legwork on the case.” Alan adds, “We drafted the complaint, subpoenas and motion for temporary child support and made sure all of the paperwork got where it needed to go. We were responsible for keeping the client informed throughout the case. We appeared in Family Court twice. In our first hearing, we negotiated a two-year extension of the order of protection with opposing counsel and won temporary child support at our second hearing.” “I learned a lot about the basics of simple litigation—and learned about nearly every support function available to members of our firm. When you handle one of these cases, you are responsible for making sure everything gets done— you have to learn where the managing clerk’s office is, how to find local rules of procedures, who to call to get something delivered. I not only learned how litigation works, I learned how the firm works.” “This outcome was exactly what Haadiya and her daughter were seeking to alleviate their fears for their physical safety and the tremendous financial stress of running a four-person household on a teenager’s income,” says Payal. “It is also important to note the impact this legal ruling will have for Haadiya in Iran where she faces severe criticism from her family members and community—the court ruling helps to legitimize her separation from her husband.” A few months after Payal and Alan returned to school, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett associates Lauri Sawyer, Jennifer Barall and Amanda Motsinger negotiated a final settlement with opposing counsel and secured additional child support for Haadiya and her family. Speaking about their summer experience at the firm, Payal and Alan share, “The opportunity to work on Haadiya’s case allowed us to see the more human side of the firm, the passion in our colleagues that only comes out when you are jointly sympathetic and concerned about the client you are representing.” Alan adds, “It was impressive how many lawyers at Simpson Thacher had extensive experience working on inMotion matters. I liked that the firm treated Haadiya’s case as though it was just as important as the multi-million dollar matters I was also working on.” “I learned a lot about the basics of simple litigation. And,” Alan states, “I learned about nearly every support function available to members of our firm. When you handle one of these cases, you are responsible for making sure everything gets done—you have to learn where the managing clerk’s office is, how to find local rules of procedures, who to call to get something delivered. I not only learned how litigation works, I learned how the firm works.” “This experience was a great way to learn trial practice while making a genuine impact on the lives of others,” Payal continues. “Many of us enter law firms saying that we are committed to public interest; this program is a good way to make sure that we start our legal careers off on the right foot.” *Client’s name and country of origin have been changed to protect her identity. SIDLEY AUSTIN HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR SPREADS CHEER AND GOODWILL On December 14, the New York office of Sidley Austin LLP held its first Holiday Craft Fair and raised over $900 for inMotion. Sidley administrative staff set up their wares in the firm’s cafeteria and showcased their creative talents. Holiday shoppers looking for something extra special for the people on their holiday gift-giving lists were able to choose from homemade chocolates and toffee, handcrafted scarves and gloves, stuffed animals, knitted apparel, drawings and paintings, jewelry and many other crafts. Dolci Sepe, one of the fair organizers, stands behind her table of cinnamon stick centerpieces, Christmas ornaments and crocheted scarves. In addition to the funds raised, several fair vendors donated left-over craft items to be used as gifts for inMotion clients. Our special thanks to event organizers Dolores Gilliard, Ann Molen, Janie Schafer and Dolci Sepe and the many vendors who donated proceeds or handmade items to inMotion. 7
Page 1 and 2: SPRING 2006 one by one MAKING WOMEN
Page 3 and 4: a visionary partner In 1993, with $
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Page 9 and 10: volunteer profile VLADIMIR AND LARI

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