CLE Lunch & Learn -- Litigation Abuse: A Mechanism of Post-Separation Coercive Control in Intimate Partner Violence

After separation, domestic abusers often present themselves as concerned, loving parents seeking legal remedies while actually using the court system to continue harassing and controlling their ex-partners. Domestic abuse does not end with separation. It frequently shifts into new forms, including false or exaggerated allegations made to courts, police, and child protective agencies to discredit survivors and create judicial bias.
When such litigation abuse is mislabeled as mere “high conflict,” courts are less likely to impose orders that stop abusive legal tactics.

This training will teach participants to recognize litigation abuse, understand its harms, and distinguish it from genuinely high-conflict cases, and will review practical remedies to prevent the courts from becoming tools of continued domination. The program will also describe the Rockland County Probation Domestic Violence Program for Men, covering its curriculum, history, and outcomes.

Learning objectives:

• Define litigation abuse and identify common patterns and red flags.
• Explain harms litigation abuse causes to survivors, children, and the justice system.
• Differentiate litigation abuse from high-conflict cases to guide appropriate judicial responses.
• Describe remedies and interventions that limit abusive use of courts and protect survivors.
• Summarize the Domestic Violence Program for Men, including curriculum, goals, and benefits.

Training Details

• Duration: 9:30am-1:30pm
• Format: In-person, interactive training with case examples, practical tools, and Q&A.
• Location: Nyack Seaport, 21 Burd St, Nyack, NY 10960
• Presenters: Judges & Rockland County Probation Department.
• Keynote: Dr. Lisa Fontes

Lisa A. Fontes, PhD, is an internationally known expert on coercive control, child abuse, intimate partner abuse, and sexual violence. As a researcher, professor, expert witness, and author, she works to protect vulnerable people from violence. She has appeared on CNN and been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, the Boston Globe, and numerous other outlets.

Dr. Fontes has written many scholarly journal articles and the books:

• Invisible Chains: Overcoming Coercive Control in Your Intimate Relationship,
• Interviewing Clients Across Cultures
• Child Abuse and Culture: Working with Diverse Families

Dr. Fontes is a popular conference speaker and workshop facilitator, and writes for publications including Domesticshelters.org and PsychologyToday.com, where more than two million people have read her columns.

Dr. Fontes has been qualified in more than twenty U.S. States as an expert witness in family, civil, and criminal court on a range of cases concerning trauma, coercive control, best interests of the child, sexual violence, domestic abuse, child abuse, child development, sexual harassment, parental alienation, and more.

Dr. Fontes teaches at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and at Smith College. She has worked as a psychotherapist. She has conducted research around the world and has been a university professor for more than thirty years.