Bill weighs divorce fee to fund legal clinic.

Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

SALEM - When irreconcilable differences land them in divorce court, couples may have to fork over an extra $10 to go their separate ways under a bill sent Wednesday to the House floor.

But the money will go to what advocates for House Bill 2961 called a good cause: a legal clinic in Eugene - and possibly two others in Salem and Portland - that puts law students to work on behalf of victims of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

The House Revenue Committee signed off on a bill that will provide this funding source to the Domestic Violence Clinic of Lane County Legal Aid & Advocacy Center. The clinic is about to lose its biggest source of operating dollars: a federal grant that's set to expire in 2008.

The anticipated $350,000 from the $10 divorce fee would be divided among the Eugene clinic and two others that officials hope to model on the Eugene program. Those would be affiliated with Willamette University law school in Salem and the Lewis & Clark College law school in Portland.

University of Oregon School of Law professor Merle Weiner helped found the UO clinic in 1999. She said the money would pay for the core operations of the UO clinic, which is a part of the Lane County Legal Aid & Advocacy Center. And while it would provide a steady, reliable stream of revenue, it would not eliminate the need for additional grants and donations to cover all its administrative and court-related costs.

Weiner said the programs prepare her students to serve not just as attorneys-at-law but also as councilors to their clients. The program also instills in these lawyers-in-training a commitment to service through low-cost or uncompensated work on behalf of low-income clients.

Several current and past participants in the clinic said the program helped prepare them for careers in the legal profession and for community service. Brett Landis, a UO law student who plans to graduate this spring, participated in the program. In his written testimony, Landis described how the experience helped him as an advocate and counselor for his clients. Landis recalled a stalking case in which the abusive ex-partner tried to intimidate Landis's client in front of Landis, the clinic's director and a judge.

"Without someone there to object to abusive questions, my client's ability to get the protection she needed would have been greatly diminished," he said. Instead, the client received her stalking order, and the judge ordered a mental health evaluation of the abusive ex-partner.

Cheryl O'Neill, executive director of Womenspace in Eugene, told lawmakers in written testimony that the program also helped the women and families who have been victimized by domestic violence or sexual assault.

She described a daunting gantlet of legal steps a woman must negotiate in order to escape an abusive relationship: from giving an abuse report to police to recording testimony at the district attorney's office to filing child welfare reports to the pursuit of protective and custody orders and testifying in any criminal proceedings.

"Each appearance in court is another time that a survivor must face their abusive partner," O'Neill said. "It is overwhelming and leads many survivors to drop protective orders rather than be faced with confronting their abuser directly."

About 18,500 Oregon couples divorce each year, paying fees and court costs that range from $195 to $371, depending on which county grants the marriage dissolution. About 36 percent of divorcing couples do not pay court costs because they are indigent.

If the bill becomes law, Oregon would join six other states that impose a fee on divorce filings to pay for domestic violence services.