Legal-aid attorneys and judges say pandemic and disasters worsened domestic-violence access but spurred hotlines, tablets and virtual court innovations

Host Ron Flagg opened the Talk Justice episode by saying equal access to justice is “a core American value” and asked panelists how the pandemic affected shelter and safety for domestic-violence survivors.

Pamela Roychaudhary, managing attorney at Legal Aid of Western Missouri, said intakes initially fell at the start of the pandemic but rose later as isolation, job losses and school closures increased risk. To reach clients, her office created QR-code posters placed in community facilities and a pandemic hotline staffed by attorneys. She described one early-pandemic client whose family crisis, loss of daycare and joblessness led to an emergency-room visit and subsequent reconciliation with an abuser, illustrating how the pandemic delayed many survivors’ paths to safety.

Britney Hightower, a staff attorney with Lone Star Legal Aid, said Texas saw an earlier surge (around June 2020) and an increase in the severity of reported incidents. She and other panelists described reduced shelter capacity, transportation barriers and cases in which survivors lacked phones, tablets or private spaces to participate in virtual court proceedings. Hightower warned that some judges’ practices—in a few instances broadcasting hearings publicly—raised confidentiality and privacy concerns for survivors.

Tiandra Miller, managing attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina, described how legal-aid offices pivoted operationally: producing instructional videos for virtual hearings, lending hardware and setting up a centralized intake and a dedicated domestic-violence line. Miller said her office used a short-term grant from the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission to buy tablets that staff set up so clients could join hearings with a single push of a button, and they established office portals where clients could privately participate without navigating busy courthouses.

Judge Jason Dodson, who serves on a domestic-violence court in St. Louis County, said courts worked to remain open for protection orders despite stay-at-home orders and other delayed proceedings. He described rapidly developing online filing and hybrid-hearing workflows, reallocating dockets across multiple judges, and relying on clerical and IT staff to keep services running. “Technology is not the answer. It’s a tool,” he said, adding that hybrid approaches can increase access while courts must guard that hearings remain meaningful and safe.

From a national perspective, Deborah Vagan, president and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), described two key programmatic responses: a women’s law email hotline (attorney-reviewed email advice) and a public website (womenslaw.org) with English and Spanish resources. Comparing March 2020–September 2021 to the prior 18 months, NNEDV answered about 8,000 attorney-reviewed emails versus about 6,900 previously (roughly a 15% increase) and saw web visitors grow from 2.1 million to 5.3 million and page views rise from 5.9 million to 12.3 million. Vagan emphasized a sobering statistic from NNEDV’s Domestic Violence Counts: on a single day in September 2020, over 76,000 adults and children obtained lifesaving services, while more than 11,000 requests for services went unmet; about 57% of those unmet requests were for emergency shelter and housing.

Panelists described disaster-specific adaptations as well. Lone Star Legal Aid helped build Texas Disaster Legal Help, an online tool with a “hide my visit” button so users can quickly conceal that they were visiting a legal-help site. The Legal Aid Disaster Resource Center (ladrc.org), supported by LSC and partners, was cited as a national repository of disaster-legal information and emergency resources.

Panelists stressed that many measures adopted during the pandemic—remote filing, hybrid hearings, targeted outreach and device lending—should be retained where they increase safety and access. They also cautioned that the digital divide and ongoing housing shortages mean programs must pair technological innovations with continued in-person options and coordinated social-service supports.

Flagg closed the episode by placing these developments in eviction policy context: eviction filings rose 8.7% in September from August 2021, but the September eviction rate remains roughly half the historic pre-pandemic September average, a result he attributed to moratoria, rental-assistance programs and eviction-diversion measures that require professional help and outreach to reach those in need.

The program’s pre-recorded disclaimer reminded listeners that guests’ views are their own and the episode does not constitute legal advice.