Envisioning a justice system that promotes empowered recovery, the Survivor Law Clinic provides civil legal services to survivors of sexual violence and human trafficking with a focus on ensuring their privacy, safety and stability. The clinic provides holistic services, addressing the survivors’ legal needs while offering emotional/trauma support and connections to other community resources.
SLC offers legal advocacy and representation in the following areas of practice:
- Education advocacy (including Title IX actions, ensuring physical safety, supportive measures and privacy)
- Employment advocacy (including FMLA, employer accommodations, unemployment benefits)
- Housing advocacy (including unit transfers, evictions, lease termination, quiet title or partition action)
- Personal Protection Order (including nondomestic sexual assault, domestic, PPO violations)
- Matters related to human trafficking
- Crime Victim Compensation (including assistance with application, hearings and appeal)
- Public benefit cases (including advocacy to ensure privacy during application process)
- Immigration advocacy (including U-Visas, T-Visas, VAWA self-petitions)
- Family law matters (including custody, parenting time, child support, divorce)
- Protection of survivor’s privacy (including identity recovery, name changes, advocacy for removal of posts from social media)
- Consumer law (including credit restoration, defense of garnishment, identity theft)
- Expungement
The clinic gives priority to cases that involve survivors whose perpetrator is not someone with whom they are in a romantic relationship. This includes but is not limited to: friends, co-workers, acquaintances, teachers, coaches, neighbors, landlords. We also prioritize cases involving indigenous survivors and survivors who reside in Detroit.