This study examined how lay legal advocates meet petitioners’ extralegal and legal needs during the protection order process, using survivor-defined advocacy.
The study conducted interviews with 20 lay legal advocates and identified four ways in which advocates provided services consistent with survivor-defined advocacy, including court accompaniment, safety planning, meeting petitioners’ extralegal needs, and centering the survivor as the decision-maker. Results are discussed in relation to previous research on survivor-defined advocacy, and the implications are considered in the context of current domestic violence law and policy, including the need to enhance lay legal advocates’ ability to provide survivor-defined approaches in their services. (publisher abstract modified)