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Pollack Publishes Articles on Litigation Strategies and Dispute Resolution

Daniel PollackDaniel Pollack, professor at Wurzweiler School of Social Work, has published two new articles in Policy & Practice, the journal of the American Public Human Services Association. In “Distant Memories, Fresh Wounds: Litigation Strategies for Sexual Abuse Lawsuits,” Pollack asked six attorneys to “share their insights about handling a sexual abuse case when the alleged abuse happened many years ago.” While all the attorneys noted that bringing sexual abuse cases to trial is difficult where objective evidence may be sketchy or not exist at all and where courtroom dynamics shift to place an enormous importance on whom to believe, there are still ways to litigate these cases successfully if client expectations can be managed and the attorney balances being an objective but committed advocate. And “successfully” does not necessarily equate to “winning” in our traditional legal sense of that word. As one attorney noted, “Win or lose, having their day in court is truly cathartic for many victims. Holding individuals and institutions accountable is perhaps the best definition of justice attorneys and advocates can provide for their clients.” In “Collaborative Law and Public Human Services Agencies,” Pollack and his co-author, Alisa Peskin-Shepherd, a family, divorce, and custody attorney, describe collaborative law, “a nonadversarial alternative for resolving disputes and conflicts that emerge in divorce and other family law matters,” and explain how collaborative law attorneys can interface with public human services agencies in those states that have had enacted the Uniform Collaborative Law Act statute to benefit their mutual clients.