[Used in CUNY Law School’s Domestic Violence Clinic]
Battered Women's Rights Clinic
Educational Goals and Evaluation Criteria
Grades will be given after careful consideration of the student’s level of
competency in each of the listed competency areas. All work done by a student
throughout the semester is evaluated for grading purposes. This includes work done to
prepare for class, class participation, work submitted for simulations and work done on
cases.
Professional Responsibility & Professional Relationships
Works in a way that ensures high quality representation:
 Seeks supervision when appropriate
 Follows procedures which are necessary for high quality representation.
(E.g., thorough record keeping and use of Amicus case-management
system);
 Produces work on time for court, supervisors and as agreed to with
clients or seeks postponements;
 Attends class, follows intake and interview procedures; and,
 Produces professional looking work product e.g. uses proper grammar,
correct spelling, and proper form without typos;
Participates in running an office which promotes the public as well as the private
good:
 Recognizes the choices involved in intake and other office practices
and how those choices impact clients;
 Thinks of/works on projects which effect the public good; and,
 Recognizes a lawyer's professional responsibility to insure access to
legal services.
Operates in a way that provides expertise without domination of clients:
 Recognizes how choices about the organization of the office influence
relationships with clients;
 Understands and accepts counseling role;
 Sees connections between the way clients are interviewed and
counseled and the impact on relationships between clients and lawyers
and makes conscious choices about the relationship and the client
interactions; and,
 Develops enhanced understanding of clients, their differences from the
lawyer and how these differences may impact representation.
Recognizes the professional responsibility issues raised by zealous representation of
clients:
 Maintains clients’ confidences;


Researches, develops theories and investigates facts in a conscientious
manner; and,
Interacts with Court, opposing counsel and court personnel
appropriately.
Works well with colleagues for the benefit of clients and the office:
 Produces work in a timely fashion so that others can give feedback on
and contribute to joint work product;
 Shares individual work product and research with colleagues when
appropriate;
 Contributes to the educational environment by sharing information and
providing feedback to colleagues;
 Works collaboratively with other professionals to identify appropriate
roles and tasks for lawyers and social workers; and,
 Contributes to the overall service goals of the office by helping others
with intake, client cases.
Clinical Judgment
Generates a variety of options for solving clients' problems:
 Identifies client's concerns in ways that see their complexity;
 Identifies legal and non-legal alternatives for addressing client's
problems; and,
 Identifies strengths and weaknesses of various options to solve client’s
problems.
Develops effective strategies for litigating and negotiating:
 Identifies known facts, investigates and discovers unknown facts;
 Generates multiple theories of the case and evaluates them;
 Generates tasks to be completed to prepare for litigation and creates
appropriate strategies for completing tasks; and
 Identifies possible solutions to the litigation.
Anticipates potential problems and raises them with the client.
Learns from experience
 Uses feedback from teachers and colleagues to improve performance;
 Reflects on experiences and develops tentative ideas about new
approaches to try; and,
 Uses lawyering theory from seminar and simulation and explores the
appropriateness of the planned approach.
Understands the role that others in helping professions can play and refers appropriate
cases to other professionals.
 Demonstrates knowledge of social work and the role that social
workers can play in litigation and non-legal solutions to the client’s
problems.
Legal Reasoning
Develops a working knowledge of the Family Court Act, the Domestic Relations Law,
and the Immigration Law affecting battered women and can apply the law to client’s
cases.
Frames issues for research.
Understands and applies legal research to client's problems.
Develops theories of the case consistent with the applicable law and client's goals.
Uses the law creatively to accomplish client's goals.
Identifies the limits of the law and the needed for law reform efforts to promote client
well-being.
Theoretical Perspective
Understands the value and limitations of developing a definition of the role of the
lawyer.
 Understands the choices in defining the lawyer's role in relationship
with clients, courts and adversaries and the implicit assumptions in the
various choices.
Develops a critique on how law enforces family norms.
Develops critical perspectives on how law is practiced.
Recognizes that individual case analysis occurs within a context:
 Understands battered women's syndrome and other theories about
battering;
 Applies other theoretical frameworks for analyzing a client's situation
including sexism, racism, poverty, and heterosexism; and,
 Integrates an understanding of family violence in designing theories of
the case and solutions for clients cases.
Develops strategies for working on clients' problems that go beyond individual
casework.
Communication
Drafting:

Drafts pleadings and motions that are clear, carefully written and
persuasive that take into account the client’s narrative and legal
requirements;
Interviewing and counseling:
 Demonstrates capacity to build rapport with clients and others;
 Uses questions in a manner to elicit information;
 Listens effectively in a manner that promotes rapport and information
exchange;
 Recognizes personal biases that effect listening and communicating;
and,
 Communicates information appropriately to clients.
Other professional communications:
 Writes letters that are clear and carefully written with suitable tone and
language;
 Presents educational programs that are appropriate to the audience and
accomplish the goals of the presentation; and,
 Appropriate communication with colleagues, courts, community
advocates and adversaries that consider the audience and purpose of the
communication.
Courtroom advocacy:
 Designs and communicates a persuasive theory of the case that
integrates narrative and legal theory;
 Plans for and questions effectively to obtain and/or challenge relevant
information and listens to responses;
 Identifies and presents documentary and other evidence; and,
 Presents arguments in clear effective manner;
Management of Effort
Works cooperatively with colleagues.
Seeks appropriate supervision in the development of case work.
Attends all classes, training sessions and clinic office meetings.
Plans work effectively to meet demands of studying, exams, free time, and court/clinic work.
Meet deadlines imposed/agreed to by courts, clients, colleagues, supervisors, and opponents.
Keeps time records and inputs time information close to contemporaneously as possible.
Maintains files in a manner that promotes efficiency.