Family Law Resources

Bar Associations:

American Bar Association

• Section of Family Law.
• Commission on Domestic Violence.
• Center on Children and the Law.

Massachusetts Bar Association

• Family Law Section.
• Juvenile & Child Welfare Section.

Boston Bar Association

• Family Law Section

Student Competitions

Moot Court – Mock Trial

• Domenick L. Gabrielli National Family Law Competition, Albany Law School, Albany, New York.
• National Moot Court Competition in Child Welfare & Adoption Law, Capital University law School, Columbus, Ohio.
• National Juvenile Law Moot Court Competition, Whittier Law School, Costa Mesa, California.

Writing Competitions

• ABA Family Law Section, Howard C. Schwab Memorial Essay Contest.
• Hofstra Law School and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Family Law Writing Competition. 
• ABA Commission on Domestic Violence, Annual Law Student Writing Competition.

Blogs

• Family Law Prof. Blog.
• Massachusetts Divorce Law Monitor, Nancy Van Tine, Burns & Levinson, LLP 

L.L.M.

• Chicago-Kent College of Law.
• Hofstra University School of Law.
• Loyola University-Chicago

Public Service Opportunities

• Community Legal Service and Counseling Center, Cambridge, MA 617-661-1010 Legal service organization providing pro bono legal aid to victims of domestic violence in Probate and Family Court cases regarding divorce, paternity, child support, alimony, & visitation. 

• Transition House: Cambridge, MA   617-868-1650   (Domestic violence residential shelter and service organization providing housing and support to victims of domestic violence and their families.) 

• Volunteer Lawyers Project, (VLP) Boston, MA 617- 423-0648.    Student volunteers are needed at the Suffolk Probate and Family Court Courtroom Lawyer for the Day Project run by VLP and Senior Partners for Justice on Friday mornings. At the Probate and Family Court, law students at the help the attorneys with cases, screen clients for eligibility for legal services, do brief initial client interviews to get basic information about their case, and help clients fill out guardianship petitions. This is also a good volunteer opportunity for law school graduates waiting bar exam results. If you are interested, please contact Attorney Barbara Siegel at bsiegel@vlpnet.org or 617-423-0648 x123. See www.vlpnet.org for a listing of upcoming trainings.
  

• Women’s Bar Foundation, Family Law Project, Boston, MA 617-973-6666, ext 2215, (Students will work with attorney’s doing initial client intakes, assist drafting pleadings, write policy papers regarding domestic violence issues.)

Continuing Legal Education

• Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. Search on Family & Mental Health Law.
• American Law Institute –American Bar Association. Search on Family Law. 

Current Awareness

• BNA Family Law Reporter
• Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services, Children & Family Law Newsletter.
• Massachusetts Family Law Journal.  Butterworths. Print Resource. 

Background Reading

• Phyllis L. Gillis, Days Like This: A Tale of Divorce. (1986).
• Gerald Nissenbaum & John Sedgwick, Sex, Love & Money: Revenge and Ruin in the World of High-Stakes Divorce (2010).
• Nancy Abrams, The Other Mother: A Lesbian’s Fight for Her Daughter (1999).

Film