2.3 Domestic Violence

The plague of domestic violence in our society requires that family law practitioners consider domestic violence in all aspects of their representation. An attorney who handles family law cases should know how to identify domestic violence, the special laws that apply to domestic violence cases, and the basic principles of “safe lawyering” in domestic violence cases.1

A complete treatment of Louisiana’s laws surrounding domestic violence is found in the chapter of this manual devoted exclusively to that topic.2 Portions of this law are also discussed in this chapter where relevant.

• 1For an excellent article on how to stay safe while representing a family law case containing domestic violence, see Pamela Cross, How Lawyers Can Stay Safe in Family Violence Cases, Luke’s Place.
• 2See this manual’s chapter on representing survivors of domestic violence.