Best Practices: Trauma Informed Lawyering and Advocacy

Sarah Katz joined the Temple Law faculty in July 2012. She directs and teaches the Family Law Litigation Clinic, where her students handle custody, child and spousal support, adoption, and other family law matters in Philadelphia Family Court. She researches and writes about trauma-informed legal practice, the child welfare system, child custody, intimate partner violence, and other family law topics. Katz also frequently speaks on these topics at scholarly conferences and trainings for attorneys.

Prior to her arrival at Temple, Katz was a supervising attorney in the Family Advocacy Unit at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia, Pa. There, she was responsible for direct representation of parents in civil child abuse and neglect cases; management and training of new attorneys, paralegals and certified law students; policy and advocacy work at the city and state levels; and community and continuing legal education. She also served as an adjunct professor at Temple Law and a Lecturer in Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, teaching “Parent, Child, and the State.” Katz began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honorable Norma L. Shapiro, Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Katz is active in the Nicholas A. Cipriani Family Law Inn of Court and the Family Law Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association. She is a member of Philadelphia’s Child Fatality Review Commission.

Katz earned her J.D. at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2003 and her B.A. at Columbia University in 1997.

Deeya Haldar, Associate Professor of Law, is the Director of the Civil Justice Clinic (“CJC”). The CJC works with low-income clients needing legal assistance in the areas of family, housing, consumer and employment law.

Professor Haldar previously served as an adjunct professor for the Drexel Civil Litigation Field Clinic at Philadelphia Legal Assistance, working with law students to represent domestic violence survivors in Philadelphia’s Family Court.

Professor Haldar also served as a supervisor of the Family Law Unit at Philadelphia Legal Assistance. Before Philadelphia Legal Assistance, Professor Haldar worked as a law guardian at The Legal Aid Society of New York and clerked for Justice Carolyn Berger of the Delaware Supreme Court.

Professor Haldar also performed pro bono service as a volunteer attorney with the Support Center for Child Advocates and Philadelphia VIP. She earned her BS in Human Development and Family Studies from Cornell University and her JD from New York University School of Law.