August 28, 2024 | 12:00PM – 1:00 PM Pacific | Virtual
Trauma-Informed Lawyering and Victims’ Rights
Victims of hate crime and bias needing assistance with victims’ rights enforcement have endured traumatic experiences. These difficult experiences can affect our clients in many ways, including influencing their behavior, recollection, and ability to engage fully in the criminal legal system. This training will provide an overview of trauma and trauma-informed practice in the context of victims’ rights enforcement. Attorneys will understand how trauma caused by hate crime and bias may be affecting their client’s behavior, learn skills that are necessary to effectively work with victims and survivors of crime that will help decrease client re-traumatization, and build more productive working relationships with clients to help you provide the most effective representation possible.
Presented by:
Mariam El-menshawi is a victims’ rights attorney and Professor of Law. She is the former Executive Director of the California Victims Resource Center (CVRC). She led the CVRC for over a decade and helped spearhead many of its cutting-edge projects including launching one of first victim services podcasts and mobile application. Mariam has trained thousands of victim service providers in California.
Mariam received her joint JD – MBA degree from McGeorge School of Law. She was drawn to victims’ rights as a law student, where she worked directly with victims and conducted research on victims’ rights. Mariam has dedicated her career to helping victims of crime understand their rights and assisting them in navigating and enforcing their rights in the criminal justice system. She serves on numerous committees, including the California Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) Victims of Crime Act Steering Committee, CalOES Violence Against Women Act Steering Committee, and the U.S. Attorney’s Hate Crime Task Force. Mariam was honored with the “2016 Legal Advocacy Award” by the National Crime Victim Law Institute, and the 2019 “Local Hero Award” by SafeQuest Solano, and the 2023 “Adjunct Professor of the Year” award.
This project is funded under 15POVC-22-GK-03314-NONF, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this project are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the official policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.
