Marisa (not her real name), is a client of the Justice and Diversity Center (JDC) of the Bar Association of San Francisco. She is a monolingual Spanish-speaker and is undocumented.  Marisa survived physical and verbal abuse from her husband John (not his real name) before and during her pregnancy. During one incident of domestic violence John pushed the very pregnant Marisa with such force that she fell and was hospitalized for two days. The violence did not stop and he pushed her a second time, resulting in a second overnight stay at the hospital.

John’s abusive behaviors escalated. One day, while walking to the bus, Marisa saw her ex-boyfriend. When John learned of this encounter, he drank to excess and hit her again. On this occasion, the police were called and John was arrested. Marisa obtained a police report and a criminal protective order against John.

With the protective order in place, Marisa finally felt secure enough to ask for help. She reached out to JDC to request a civil domestic violence restraining order and a custody order for her baby.

JDC enlisted the help of its sister agency, the Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic (CROC), which is fiscally sponsored by the Bar Association of San Francisco and provides assistance to survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking. With CROC’s help, Marisa obtained a long-term Domestic Violence Restraining Order. JDC’s Family Law Project represented her in the divorce case and obtained a judgment of dissolution awarding sole physical custody of the child to Marisa.

Each year, our staff and 2,000+ volunteers offer legal consultation and representation in nearly every area of civil law to 9,000 clients who are survivors of domestic violence, homeless individuals and families, as well as other low-income under-represented communities. If you need legal expertise and assistance regarding family matters, please contact JDC at (415) 982-1600. For more information on how to support our communities by volunteering, email probono@sfbar.org.