On Wednesday, December 9th from 1-2:30 PM, please join the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence for a webinar featuring guest speaker Joan Meier.

Joan Meier, is a Professor of Law and Director of the National Family Violence Law Center at George Washington University Law School. At GW Law, Joan has founded and taught three pioneering and nationally recognized interdisciplinary domestic violence clinical programs. She has published widely and delivered judicial and other trainings on domestic violence, custody, and various Supreme Court decisions.

Last year, Joan published her team’s major empirical study of Child Custody Outcomes in Cases Involving Parental Alienation and Abuse Allegations, which was funded by the National Institute of Justice. Joan will present this research and the study’s findings during this webinar.

In 2003, Joan founded the Domestic Violence Legal Empowerment and Appeals Project (DV LEAP); she stepped down in August 2019. While at DV LEAP, Joan filed 14 briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court and represented abuse survivors in state court of appeals all over the country and in the District of Columbia. DV LEAP and Joan have received several awards, including among others, the American Bar Association's first ever "Sharon Corbitt Award for exceptional service and leadership in improving the legal response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and/or stalking."

Joan regularly provides trainings for judges, psychologists, lawyers, domestic violence coalitions, and others. She graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1980, cum laude from the University of Chicago Law School in 1983, and clerked on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
A Special Introduction by Jacqueline Franchetti

Jacqueline Franchetti is the founder of The Kyra Franchetti Foundation, a 501(c)3 charity raising awareness about the risk of family violence, especially to children, inside and outside the divorce/Family Court system. The organization seeks to change the way issues of violence and abuse are addressed in family courts so that child safety is placed above all other considerations. Jacqueline also leads Kyra’s Champions, a 501(c)4 child advocacy charity.

Both organizations were established in memory of Jacqueline’s beautiful two-year-old daughter Kyra, who was shot to death while sleeping by her father, who then set his house on fire and killed himself during an unsupervised, court-sanctioned visit. Kyra’s murder was 100% preventable and illustrates the desperate need for change in New York’s Family Court system.

Jacqueline will provide a brief introduction into her work with DV survivors, DV advocates, NYSCADV and members of the NYS Legislature to re-imagine New York’s Family Court system, before introducing Ms. Meier.