Victims of domestic violence rarely have money to hire a lawyer, so when the Ontario government cut back on free legal aid in the 1990s, Na'amat Canada launched the Ruth Wolfish Rotman Legal Advisory Clinic in Toronto to help fill the need.

“Some of the women who contacted us had already left an abusive relationship and were staying in battered women's shelters,” says Toronto lawyer Karen D. Lundy, who donates her professional services to the Clinic. Many of the women were new immigrants and isolated from friends and family by their abusive husbands. Frequently, these husbands lie about the legal rules to manipulate their wives; the Advisory Clinic's role is to legally protect the wives and extricate them from these bad relationships.

“More often, I had to advise the woman to press criminal charges to put an end to their husband's atrocious behaviour.” In these cases, Lundy encouraged the women to have no further contact with their abusers and stay the course through separation agreements and court appearances. The Clinic rarely sees cases involving large property claims, but when property is involved it usually ends up divided evenly between the two spouses. “We're not here to give anyone the upper hand,” adds Lundy. “We work to see that justice is done.”