Dona Playton (left), director of the Family and Child Legal Advocacy Clinic, meets with law student Baend Buus and other clinic participants. Photo by Trice Megginson
“I’m fortunate that I’ve made a career out of advocating for people who aren’t always the best suited to advocate on their own behalf—primarily women and children,” says Dona Playton, director of the Family and Child Legal Advocacy Clinic, formerly the Domestic Violence Clinic, which she co-founded in 2002. Over the years, the clinic changed names as it expanded the types of cases it takes. “We still prioritize clients who are low income victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, but we also do guardian ad litem work, child welfare cases and private custody cases,” Playton says.
“We can take cases anywhere in the state. However, because of resources and the fact students need to be with a licensed faculty member, we share the state geographically with the Wyoming Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. We primarily take cases in the southeast corner up into the central-eastern part of the state. We try to do new case intakes every semester with inmates at the Wyoming Women’s Center in Lusk, as well.
“We are one of the primary, direct legal service providers for low-income people in the state,” Playton says. “We pride ourselves on providing holistic legal services. A lot of times our clients need assistance in finding housing, getting certain benefits, finding affordable child care and in understanding what condition their credit is in. That’s a very valuable piece of what we do for the state. We try to help people become not only safe but self-sufficient.”
The clinic is also great hands-on training for Wyoming’s next generation of lawyers. “I love working with the students,” Playton says. “They become very invested in their clients’ cases. If we have a trial, it’s all hands on deck. We practice all aspects of the trial or hearing beforehand. It’s a supportive learning environment, and the experiential part of it is great because we’re helping real people with real legal issues.
“We handle about 30 cases at a time,” Playton says, adding that there’s always a great demand for their services.
For Playton, it’s an ongoing labor of love. “I work year-round,” she says. “My cases don’t go away over the summer or Christmas break. I work directing the students in the clinic, and I teach courses each semester. I think it’s a great experience for the students and the clients we help. For a lot of our clients, if we didn’t help them, they would be forced to proceed on their own behalf or not at all. In addition, we have turned out some fantastic lawyers from the clinical programs at the law school.”
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