YWCA Recognizes Family Violence Litigation Clinic for Transformative Work Within the Community
The Family Violence Litigation Clinic within the Edward P. Swyer Justice Center at Albany Law School has been honored for the transformative work completed by students, faculty, and staff to aid survivors in the Capital Region.
The clinic was recently awarded the Outstanding Community Partner Award for its extraordinary work within the Albany Community, representing adult survivors of intimate violence in the Capital Region. Through communication, counseling, and advocacy, the clinic professors and students help survivor’s voices to be heard and addressed by judges in proceedings involving family offenses, custody and visitation, and child support. While the Clinic was recognized for its inspiring impact on the Albany community, FVLC Staff Attorney Erica Twomey ’18 was individually recognized as an Outstanding Community Partner for her new partnership with YWCA advocates through the FVLC.
“I was honored and humbled that the Family Violence Litigation Clinic was awarded the Outstanding Community Partner Award from the YWCA,” said Twomey, who is also the co-vice president of the YWCA board of directors. “I am so proud that our Clinic is helping to close a gap in representation for survivors of domestic violence and that we are preparing the next generation of lawyers to represent survivors from a trauma-informed perspective. I’m looking forward to the continued partnership between the YWCA and the FVLC, as well as between the FVLC and other community partners, and to assisting survivors throughout the Capital Region.”
Twomey accepted the award alongside the FVLC Director, Professor Dale Cecka, who is grateful for the community support that helps the FVLC create such a lasting impact. The award was presented at the YWCA Northeastern New York’s 136th Annual meeting.
“We were thrilled to receive this award as it confirms that the FVLC has been doing what we set out to do – serve an otherwise unmet legal need for survivors,” Cecka said. “This recognition is an inspiration for continuing our important work, which we could not do without such outstanding community partners like the YWCA.”
Funded by the Department of Education in 1993, the Family Violence Litigation Clinic has played a key role in the community. Thirty years later, the work done within the FVLC is an integral part of the Edward P. Swyer Justice Center at Albany Law School.
