Domestic Violence Clinic
The Domestic Violence Clinic affords third-year law students the opportunity to represent
individuals seeking protection from domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking
through emergency civil litigation.
Students in the Domestic Violence Clinic represent people who are seeking emergency
civil legal protection from domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking through
the entry of Orders of Protection in Family Court, Restraining Orders in Magistrates
Court, and Permanent Restraining Orders in the Court of Common Pleas. Students take
a first-chair role in hearings and trials and in preparing all aspects of their cases,
including conducting client and witness interviews, undertaking fact investigation,
and drafting pleadings, motions, witness examinations, and arguments. In some semesters,
students might also have the opportunity to prepare applications for affirmative domestic
violence-related immigration remedies, such as VAWA Self-Petitions, Battered Spouse
Waivers, and U Visas. Finally, to help address the problems our clients experience
on a broader scale, students complete community-based projects, which may include
limited advice and assistance clinics, know-your-rights presentations, legal and policy
research, and the development of written resources for pro se parties.
Megan Raymer, Class of 2018, Assistant Attorney General (SC Attorney General)
During my 3L year at University of South Carolina School of Law I had the opportunity
to take the Domestic Violence Clinic with Professor Lisa Martin. In this course, I
was able to interview clients and represent them in Family Court for Orders of Protection
under the student attorney practice laws of this State. We also partnered with other
organizations in the community and worked with the Chief Magistrate Judge of Richland
County to address some legal barriers survivors of domestic violence were facing.
This course was phenomenal in preparing me to step into not only the practice of law
but also my current position prosecuting domestic violence across the State. I cannot
speak highly enough of the clinical courses offered by University of South Carolina
Law School, especially the Domestic Violence Clinic.