Georgetown Journal Features Advocacy for Victims of Violence by Legal Momentum and Others

August 24, 2010 -

The GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF GENDER AND THE LAW recently published its 2010 Symposium Issue featuring Legal Momentum's long history of advocacy for women victims of violence and its leadership in passing the landmark Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). VAWA, the first comprehensive federal legislative package designed to end violence against women, was signed into law by President Clinton in 1994. The legislation also created the Office on Violence Against Women, which has awarded nearly $4 billion in VAWA grant funds to state, tribal, and local governments, non-profit organizations, and universities focused on ending violence against women.

In April 2009 Legal Momentum and the JOURNAL presented a symposium at Georgetown Law Center to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of VAWA, legislation that Legal Momentum (then NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund) helped draft and pass with then-Senator, now-Vice President Joe Biden in 1994. The Symposium included presentations by Legal Momentum current and former staff attorneys who advocated, litigated, and helped reauthorize VAWA, and Vice President Joe Biden, who championed VAWA from its inception. Legal Momentum awarded Vice President Biden the Legal Momentum Hero Award for his invaluable work.

The JOURNAL's 2010 Symposium Issue includes an edited transcript of the speakers' remarks and articles by Legal Momentum staff and others exploring current violence against women issues and VAWA.

Download Transcripts from the GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF GENDER AND THE LAW's 2010 Symposium Issue:

Welcoming Remarks and Panel One: Present at the Creation: Drafting and Passing the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

Presentation of the Legal Momentum Hero Award to Vice President Joe Biden for Initiating and Championing VAWA

Panel Two: The VAWA Civil Rights Provision: Shaping It, Saving It, Litigating It, Losing It

Panel Two Commentary: Drafting, Lobbying, and Litigating VAWA: National, Local, and Transnational Interventions on Behalf of Women's Equality

by Professor Judith Resnik, Yale Law School

Panel Three: The Impact of VAWA: Billions (Yes, with a B) for Prevention, Victim Services, Law Enforcement, Underserved Populations and the Courts, and Looking Ahead to VAWA IV

Download Articles from the GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF GENDER AND THE LAW's 2010 Symposium Issue:

The Need for a Uniform Federal Response to the Workplace Impact of Interpersonal Violence

by Lisalyn Jacobs, Legal Momentum Vice President of Government Relations and Maya Raghu, Legal Momentum Senior Staff Attorney

Mandatory U-visa Certification Unnecessarily Undermines the Purpose of the Violence Against Women Act's Immigrant Protections and its "Any Credible Evidence" Rules -- A Call for Consistency

by Leslye E. Orloff, Legal Momentum Vice President and Director of the Immigrant Women Program, Kathryn Isom, and Edmuno Saballos