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2025 POWER Act Event

Release Date: 
Tuesday, October 7, 2025

On September 26, 2025, the Eastern District of Louisiana partnered with the New Orleans Chapter of the FBA, Association for Women Attorneys, Louis A. Martinet Society, Louisiana State Bar Association, and the New Orleans Bar Association to host the 2025 Pro Bono Work to Empower and Represent “POWER” Act CLE. A crowded En Banc Courtroom and sizeable Zoom audience learned about the complex legal challenges faced by survivors of domestic and family violence from an all-star panel consisting of Mary Claire Landry, CEO of the New Orleans Family Justice Center and HOPE Community Health Center, Molly MacKenzie, Managing Attorney of Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, Tim McEvoy, Professor and Clinic Director at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, and Allyson Tuttle, Director of Project Save of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans. Moderated by Judge Bernadette D’Souza of Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, the panelists discussed numerous aspects of this complicated and pervasive social problem, as well as the scope of legal remedies available to domestic violence survivors, including protective orders, custody and visitation, housing, immigration relief, and access to public benefits. Volunteers were actively recruited to help address the many needs that exist. The EDLA thanks the panel and the audience for focusing on this important issue.