ACLU ATTORNEY JOINS USC LAW SCHOOL AS DIRECTOR OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CLINIC

Martha Matthews, who for the last four years served as the inaugural Bohnett Staff Attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, will assume the role of director at the USC Law Domestic Violence Clinic beginning July 6.

Matthews joins the University of Southern California after 14 years of public interest work on behalf of youth and low-income families. As clinical professor and directing attorney of the university's Domestic Violence Clinic (DVC), she will oversee law students in providing legal services to survivors of domestic violence. She also will develop and implement educational programs for students, as well as training programs for child protective services workers, attorneys, and other professionals in family and dependency court.

"We are thrilled to have such an accomplished and talented attorney joining USC's faculty," said Scott Altman, associate dean of academic administration at USC Law. "Martha's experience and expertise will be a great benefit to our students and the many clients who rely upon the clinic for help in terminating abusive relationships."

DVC is the only clinical legal program in Los Angeles County offering students the experience and training necessary to serve survivors of domestic violence. It also is one of the few pro bono legal services providers in the county that offers full legal representation in restraining order cases and long-term contested child custody cases. The clinic works with the USC School of Social Work, the Keck School of Medicine at USC, and social services agencies to provide a range of support services to domestic violence survivors and their families.

"For many years I've remained interested in the intersection between domestic violence and child welfare, and DVC focuses on how to assist clients when the cases involve children," Matthews said. "The clinic is unique in that it's designed to be interdisciplinary, so I'll be working with both law and social work students. This truly is a rare opportunity, and I am both happy and excited because I strongly endorse the clinic's mission, and because I really like being a lawyer, and I also really like teaching."

At the ACLU, Matthews engaged in litigation, administrative advocacy and public education on civil rights and discrimination issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons. As much as possible, Matthews said, she focused her work on issues affecting youth, such as safety and fairness in public schools.

Her first teaching opportunity came in 1995 at UCLA, where she was a visiting professor at the school of law. A year later, as d irector of the Family Advocacy Program at Stanford Law School, Matthews designed and supervised a clinic in which law students represented low-income clients in domestic violence and family matters. In addition, she taught a policy seminar on welfare reform issues and supervised student research on state and local implementation of welfare reform.

"I enjoy working with students, and I hope that part of what I will do at USC will help in the development of a new generation of lawyers who are committed to doing public interest work either as a job or through pro bono efforts," Matthews said. "In public interest work, you get to be around so many advocates who are dedicated, inspiring and energetic. And sometimes, you get the chance to know your individual clients really well - and their lives are changed for the better because of some piece of advocacy you provided."

Matthews also has served as staff attorney at Legal Services for Children and at the National Center for Youth Law, where she engaged in impact litigation and legislative advocacy to improve the foster care system and the delivery of services to adolescents. She received her J.D. in 1987 from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley and earned a B.A. in philosophy in 1984 from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.