Ending Domestic Violence with a Pro Bono Partnership

By: Ravi Ranganath, Associate, San Francisco

Fenwick & West is proud to partner with the Pro Bono Project of Silicon Valley to provide legal services to victims of domestic violence through the Domestic Violence Limited Scope Representation (“DVLSR”) program. Through DVLSR, Fenwick attorneys represent domestic violence victims seeking restraining orders in the Santa Clara County Superior Court’s Family Court division. Attorneys who volunteer in the program get to meet with clients, conduct initial interviews and fact gathering from witnesses, draft and serve subpoenas, develop legal strategy (with the assistance of a mentor attorney who is a veteran of Family Court), draft legal pleadings and motions, negotiate potential settlement, and, if the matter proceeds to a hearing, actually present the case in front of a Superior Court judge.

I have personally participated in the program on three different cases. One case involved allegations of rape, another involved an elaborate cyberbullying effort using a series of fake social networking accounts, and still another involved physical violence by an aspiring law enforcement officer. Though these cases each had very different facts and presented very different challenges, each of them was incredibly rewarding for me, both personally and professionally. On a personal level, I got to bond with and provide emotional support to victims of domestic violence who felt trapped with no one to turn to or trust. In my interactions with clients, I took on the role of both legal and crisis counselor—I learned quickly to come to meetings with a pen and notepad in hand and a box of tissues at my side. On a professional level, I got courtroom experience, including the opportunity to develop and deliver opening and closing statements and take direct and cross-examinations of witnesses at “trial” before family court judges, and was able to work across the table from opposing counsel to negotiate a civil settlement agreement.

My trial experiences through the DVLSR program have been incredibly memorable. In one instance, I once got such damning admissions from an opposing party that his counsel resorted to coaching her witness while he was on the stand, forcing the judge to admonish the lawyer and ask her to sit in the gallery. In another instance, I was able to get an opposing party to admit that he had forged so-called evidence of interactions over a social network between him and my client.

More important than the incredible trial experience and confidence in public speaking I have gained through DVLSR, I know that I have done an important service for my clients, ensuring their safety, security and peace of mind through securing a permanent restraining order. There is perhaps no prouder moment as an attorney than when you receive a note of thanks—or, as in one of my cases, a fruit basket—from a client who, at least in part due to your efforts, can sleep at night knowing she will be safe from her abuser.

Ravi Ranganath is an associate in the Litigation practice group at Fenwick & West LLP. A University of California, Hastings College of the Law alum, Ravi focuses his practice on a broad variety of litigation and patent litigation matters to support clients in the high technology and life science industries. While attending law school, he served as an extern for the Honorable Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and as a legal intern for Cisco Systems. Prior to law school, Ravi was a senior analyst at Cornerstone Research, a litigation consulting firm.