February 10, 2022
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is delighted to announce the launch of the Domestic Abuse Response Alliance (DARA). DARA is an alliance of seven leading law firms, brought together by Travers Smith, who will provide pro bono legal advice and representation to survivors of domestic abuse in need of protective injunctions. The founding member firms are:
Travers Smith Debevoise & Plimpton Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher Hogan Lovells
Latham & Watkins Reed Smith Slaughter and May
In England and Wales, one in four women experience domestic abuse during their lifetime. Every week two women in the UK are killed by a current or former partner and three die by suicide due to domestic abuse.
DARA will represent individuals who are not eligible for legal aid but cannot afford to pay for private representation, providing them with help, support and representation from the outset to the conclusion of the case.
DARA will be one of LawWorks’ secondary specialisation projects and will take referrals from the National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV).
Gibson Dunn has long been an advocate for the rights of domestic abuse survivors, working closely with several highly esteemed organisations.
“At Gibson Dunn we are staunchly committed to providing pro bono legal services to those among us who need it most, which has long included survivors of domestic violence,” said Katherine Marquart, Gibson Dunn’s Pro Bono Chair. “A lack of financial resources and financial independence can be one of many factors that stands in the way of freedom from their abuser and, ultimately, justice for these individuals. We are proud to be teaming up with NCDV, LawWorks, and the other exceptional founding member firms to expand the efforts to help these survivors. We are grateful and humbled to be part of this effort and look forward to working together to provide access to justice to these brave individuals.”
Gibson Dunn’s London office was one of the founding members of the family law pro bono clinic launched in collaboration with the Legal Advice Centre (University House), London in 2016. Since its establishment, the clinic has been providing crucial legal advice and casework assistance to, amongst others, victims of domestic abuse. With Selina Sagayam, a partner in the London office, sitting on the board of trustees of Refuge, the office also has close ties with a leading UK domestic abuse charity which runs the UK’s national domestic abuse helpline.
In addition to its work in London advocating on behalf of survivors of domestic abuse, Gibson Dunn also has a robust pro bono practice in the United States that focuses considerable efforts on providing pro bono counsel to this same community. In our Los Angeles office, we have a longstanding partnership in the community that allows us to advocate directly on behalf of survivors of domestic violence in court to obtain restraining orders against their abusers. And throughout our U.S. offices we work on behalf of immigrant survivors of domestic abuse. We are proud to continue this tradition as one of the founding members of DARA.
For more information: www.daraproject.org