American Bar Association
Commission on Domestic Violence
Commission on Immigration and
Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants present

An Application of International Human Rights Principles in U.S. Violence Against Women Litigation

9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Friday, August 8, 2008
at
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
666 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York

International human rights legal principles may be used persuasively in domestic violence cases in U.S. state courts. This panel, moderated by Judge Pamila Brown, Chair of the ABA Commission on Domestic Violence, will provide examples of effective advocacy on behalf of victims of domestic violence and others using international human rights principles in U.S.
courts. Panelists include Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales), a domestic violence survivor from Colorado whose case was brought to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006 which found that she had no federal claim against the police for the death of her three children when local police failed to enforce a restraining order against her estranged husband. Ms. Lenahan's counsel before the Inter-American Human Rights Commission on Human Rights, Caroline Bettinger-Lopez, will discuss the anticipated decision in her case and its application in U.S. courts.
Panelists

Caroline Bettinger-Lopez , Deputy Director, Columbia Law School, Human Rights Institute & Human Rights Clinic, New York, NY. Ms. Bettinger-Lopez is representing Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) in 'Jessica Gonzales v. United States'.

Martha Davis , Professor, Faculty Director, Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA.

Dorchen Leidholdt , Director of the Center for Battered Women's Legal Services, Sanctuary for Families, New York, NY. Former co-Executive director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), which she helped found in 1988.

Jessica Lenahan (formerly Jessica Gonzales), petitioner in Jessica Gonzales v. United States and plaintiff in Castle Rock v. Gonzales .

This program is free. CLE accreditation has been requested for this program.

Please RSVP by contacting Robin Runge at runger@staff.abanet.org.