How did you get into this work? What do you want OVS attorneys and advocates to know about you?
My name is Michelle Cuevas, and I am the newest Crime Victims Legal Network Attorney team member. I work out of the Central Islip office. Before joining the Empire Justice Center, I was the Assistant Legal Director at The Safe Center, LI, where I represented victims of domestic violence in Family Court, Matrimonial, and Immigration matters and supervised the Pro Bono program.
My interest in working with underrepresented clients began in my early twenties after working as a paralegal in the Housing Unit at Legal Services in Brooklyn, New York. Before this, I had no aspirations of becoming an attorney. I was a high school graduate with no real-life examples of what attorneys did on a day-to-day basis. However, being exposed to a neighborhood legal office and seeing the impact an attorney could make in someone’s life led me to go to law school.
I learned two important things at Legal Services that continue to guide my work today. First, helping the underdog, as they say, is important and natural for me. Second, commonality and empathy alone do not make a strong advocate. Client needs may be multifaceted and intersected, and helping a client requires a multilevel holistic approach. For clients who are working with an attorney for the first time, especially if you are the first person who has truly listened, spoken their language, and offered help, it’s important to meet them where they are in terms of sharing their story. It’s also essential to ensure they understand the attorney-client relationship, its boundaries, and to guide them toward realistic outcomes. So, to be a strong advocate requires empathy, knowledge, and, when you do not know the answer, the ability to find resources to help meet the client where they are and provide the help they need.
What I have learned about representing domestic violence victims/crime victims?
Over the course of my career in public interest, I have worked with clients facing housing, immigration, divorce, custody, child support, orders of protection, etc., and the initial lessons I learned early in my career have always helped me in my work. I have been able to build a network of colleagues and information, relate to and help clients, and build confidence in my advocacy skills to reach the resolution clients feel is best on their behalf. In my present role, where I will be working on larger issues affecting crime victims, I believe the lessons I learned in my twenties are still relevant. Finding helpful resources as a crime victim or public interest attorney can be challenging; it certainly was for me. Finding resources like training, networking, and forums to help answer questions and guide work, whether you are a crime victim looking for information, starting as a new attorney going to court for the first time, writing motions, interviewing clients, or tackling a new issue can be daunting. Building a network of resources is essential.
Therefore, having the opportunity to contribute to the information being accessed by crime victims and advocates through the Crime Victim Legal Network and the advocate’s gateway is a valuable tool and another way for me to continue to do public interest work. I am excited, and I look forward to collaborating with you all.