Pro Bono Work for Victims of Physical Domestic Violence

Farzad & Ochoa Family Law Attorneys, LLP is proud to provide pro bono services for victims of serious abuse in Orange County.

We believe every attorney has an obligation to provide some level of pro bono legal services to victims of crime or violence. Our profession and those within it have great opportunities to help those victims who may otherwise never have the same access to Family Court nor be able to advocate on their behalf at the same level.

Our focus is married or unmarried women or men who have been the victim of serious domestic violence in the County of Orange and need a restraining order against their abuser. The Domestic Violence Prevention Act generally governs domestic violence matters within family law cases. To learn more about the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, please visit our domestic violence restraining order page.

Resources for domestic violence victims

Before we get into our services, here are some helpful resources out there for domestic violence victims.

The following are only a few of them. Please conduct your due diligence and research for others.

Initial criteria for our pro bono domestic violence lawyers to consider your matter

The initial criteria to potentially qualify for our pro bono domestic violence services are:

  1. The victim is of very limited financial means and cannot afford legal representation;
  2. The victim needs a long-term restraining order (3 to 5 years) from his or her abuser because he or she currently does not have one through either the Criminal Court or Family Court, and
  3. The domestic violence is recent and one of serious physical abuse, regardless of whether it was an isolated incident or part of a pattern of abuse.

Priority will be given to domestic violence victims who have children, especially if those children have been witnesses to the domestic violence or also need protection.

We do not handle cases that involve mutual combat. Mutual combat is those cases where both parties have committed abuse.

Limitations in our pro bono representation of domestic violence victims

The following limitations do apply to our representation if we take on the case:

  1. Our services will be on a limited scope and only related to attempting to obtain a family law restraining order against the abuser;
  2. Our services at this time are limited to Orange County matters only, but we look to expand this to our Los Angeles office;
  3. Our services are generally limited to the initial emergency temporary restraining order hearing and the subsequent hearing where the evidence will be presented;
  4. Our representation will not include the handling of any divorce or parentage matter and no legal advice will be given about such issues;
  5. In select cases, we may handle requests for temporary child support and/or spousal support as part of the actual Domestic Violence Prevention Act (DVPA) application (separate from any divorce or parentage matter); and
  6. If the domestic violence perpetrator has what we believe to be an ability to pay, we may seek attorney's fees against him or her as part of the DVPA application.

The nature and scope of our services will be explained to the domestic violence victim in a written retainer agreement. It may vary from case to case.

If you have been a victim of domestic violence and believe you may qualify for our pro bono legal services, please contact us at our Orange County office at (714) 937-1193. Please ask for B. Robert Farzad, and please ensure you state that you saw our "pro bono domestic violence page" on our website so you can speak with B. Robert Farzad directly.