May 30

Preparation for Margo Lindauer

Background Research

Associate Teaching Professor and Director, Domestic Violence Institute
- Northeastern University School of Law and Bouvé College of Health Sciences
Domestic Violence Institute
- Emphasizes empowerment of both clients and communities to emphasize different legal strategies and resolutions, both for individual cases and in the greater legal system to benefit all victims
- Legal Assistance to Victims (LAV) project: allows first-year law students to work with the DVI
  - Works with Casa Myrna Vazquez (largest domestic violence advocacy organization in Boston), the Brookview House, and the Women’s Safety Network
  - Aims to connect victims with legal services (at first- or second-step programs?)
  - Gets funding from the US Department of Justice’s Office for Violence Against Women
- The institute aims to work with communities to provide advocacy and education with the goal of breaking the domestic violence cycle and increasing victim’s self-determination tendencies
Domestic Violence Clinic
- Students in the DVC represent victims of domestic violence in restraining order cases (209A) and harassment order cases (258E)
  - Each student represents 3-4 clients throughout each term and follows through every step of the legal process
- Students can also earn credit by representing victims in complex family law cases through independent study and placements at legal services offices, legal projects at shelters, and at the offices of private practitioners affiliated with the Institute
- Assists community-based organizations in longer-term projects such as policy, programming, and outreach)
- Available to upper-level students only

Brainstorming Questions

Can you tell us a little bit about your job from your perspective? (A description we wouldn’t be able to find online.)
What made you decide to become a professor and just generally get involved in helping students?
How long have you been in this role? How has your role changed over time?
What do you think your role in preventing or ending domestic abuse and dating violence is?
How successful have the Domestic Violence Institute and D.V. Clinic been? When were they opened? How many cases does the Institute receive each year?
You’ve done a lot of presentations, and back in 2013 you did multiple community outreach presentations in teen dating violence to younger groups like high schools, churches, and youth groups. Did you enjoy these presentations? Do you think early education is important in preventing future abuse?
Considering how you work with students to help spread awareness of domestic violence, what do you think is most important when educating people about domestic violence? When do you think kids should start learning about it?
Can you tell us a bit about the articles you’ve written? Two were posted on the Northeastern website: “‘Please Stop Telling Her to Leave.’ Where is the Money: Reclaiming Economic Power to Address Domestic Violence” and “Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t: Why Multi-Court-Involved Battered Mothers Just Can’t Win.”
How often do you work with people whose primary language isn’t English? How does that affect the cases, if it does?
Do you think the legal system supports victims in Massachusetts? What about compared to other states? What are general improvements you would suggest for the legal system in supporting victims?
Are there any specific cases that you remember? Why do you remember this case?
How often do you have a repeat victim or a repeat abuser?

Selected Articles Authored by Margo Lindauer

SSRN-id2983128.pdf

SSRN-id3019395.pdf

Interview with Margo Lindauer

interview with margo lindauer.mp4

Group Debrief

debrief 5:30.mp4

Individual Reflections

Skylar

I thought that our interview with Margo was a really great way to end our experiential days as she knew so much about everything regarding domestic abuse and was able to cover a lot of our topic into a 100 minute discussion. It was obvious from the beginning of the conversation that she's a brilliant woman, but she wasn't condescending at all and seemed genuinely interested in how we wanted to present a final project to the St. Mark's community. For this, she was even more helpful than most other resources in the sense that she attended a boarding school and was so relatable—she knew a lot about boarding school culture, which I personally think made the discussion flow even better when we started approaching that topic. It was also really helpful because this is her line of work and it's what she's passionate about, and she had a lot to share (and was super excited to share) regarding her beliefs and views, statistics or common cases, what she's seen in courtrooms, who she and the Institute typically represent, etc. Being so well-educated—both academically and in the "real world"—also meant that she had a lot of ideas regarding how to make society and the system more supportive of victims post-survival (shelter and housing, food, resources, etc.—see two of her articles above for more). Overall, I had a really great time listening to everything she had to say and learning more about little intricacies regarding domestic abuse (specific cases, little details, case-styles or laws that hadn't been brought up before, cases with children, etc.).

Lydia

I found today extremely helpful and just a good way to end our experiences. Margo knew so much about so many topics concerning not only domestic abuse but also the relationship culture between many boarding school students. Being able to ask her so many questions about her views, what she saw in courtrooms, who she represented, and statistics about domestic violence was a good way to see what a very smart and educated person about the domestic violence field experienced and how she wanted society to change for the better for victims and abusers.

Catherine

I thought that meeting with Margo was a great way to end our week. She was knowledgeable about many different areas and legal processes relating to domestic abuse, and we were able to speak with her for over two hours. I felt most comfortable speaking with her out of everyone we interviewed this week because she had experience going to school as a boarder. Rather than an interview, it turned into more of a conversation which also helped us to shape some ideas for our final project. She was also able to connect much of what we were talking about to high school relationships as well as tie what we had been learning throughout the week into a more concise and coherent idea.

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