Milwaukee Harbor at Sunset
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LOTUS takes pride in serving our home community, and all Wisconsin counties and Native American Tribes.
SERVICE
PLATFORMS
For purposes of our services, gender-based violence refers to crimes of sexual exploitation and violence, which includes rape, sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sex trafficking. LOTUS Legal Clinic serves survivors of every sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, race, ability, and socioeconomic status.
LEGAL SERVICES:
LOTUS Legal Clinic provides free legal counsel to survivors of gender-based violence and human trafficking regardless of income.
POLICY INITIATIVES:
The goals of our policy initiatives are to create systemic change in our laws and judicial systems to improve the lives and protect the legal interests of victims of gender-based violence and human trafficking.
EDUCATION:
We are available to provide training for community and legal system stakeholders.
SURVIVOR EMPOWERMENT:
LOTUS believes that survivor empowerment is the core of what makes LOTUS unique as a legal clinic. Programs like Untold Stories help our clients live through the challenges of their cases and come through with hope and purpose. Using art. literature and other humanities gives power to the law and direct access to what survivors teach us and ask us to change about the status quo. LOTUS helps survivors meet their personal goals through scholarships and services to help them become change agents, nonprofit CEO’s, peer mentors, writers and public speakers.
LOTUS
Legal
Clinic
Specializing in Legal Options for Trafficked and Underserved Survivors
Office location:
2515 N. 124th Street, Suite 201, Brookfield, WI 53005.
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LOTUS Legal Clinic empowers survivors of sexual violence and trafficking. We provide direct, comprehensive legal services, advocacy and community education, and we invest in survivors as change agents.
OUR MISSION
OUR VISION
Creating a national model for restoring dignity, rights and survivors’ voices
Founder Rachel Monaco-Wilcox discusses LOTUS's Survivor Scholarship Fund.
OUR TEAM
ATTORNEYS
Erika J. Petty, JD
Director of Legal Services
Erika@LotusLegalClinic.org
Kate Knowlton, JD
Interim Executive Director and Staff Attorney
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Catherine Leonard, JD
Staff Attorney
Catherine@LotusLegalClinic.org
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Sarah Griffiths, JD
Staff Attorney
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Abbehi Medrano
Bilingual Paralegal
STAFF
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Director of Development
Yolanda Toral, B.A.
Bilingual Victim Advocate (English & Spanish)
Austin Mahlon Reece, M.A.
Director of Survivor Emowerment
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Lizette Olivas, B.A.
Director of Operations
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FOUNDER
Rachel Monaco-Wilcox, JD
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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Linda Krieg
LOTUS Board President
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children,
Federal Bureau of Investigation (Retired)
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Barry C. Slagle
LOTUS Board Past President
Legal Consultant
Wisconsin Judicial Court Commissioner (Retired)
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Gregory Schrieber
LOTUS Board Treasurer
Kerkman & Dunn Attorneys at Law
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Dr. Thomas Axel Lifvendahl
LOTUS Board Secretary
Lifvendahl & Associates
Mount Mary University Adjunct Associate Professor
Cardinal Stritch University Adjunct Professor
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Kristen D. Hardy
Briggs & Stratton,
Marquette University Law School Adjunct Professor
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Melissa B. Espin
ManpowerGroup
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Christa Wittenberg
O'Neil, Cannon, Hollman, DeJong & Laing S.C.
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Julie Glynn
WaterStone Bank
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Paula Strelitz
Community Volunteer
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Alyson Lippman
Second Chakra Women's Health Care, LLC
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Adjunct Faculty
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Jasmine Conway
Survivor Advocate and Consultant
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Angela Schultz
Assistant Dean for Public Service,
Marquette University Law School
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Dawn Jones
Dawn Jones Consulting LLC
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Jennifer Williams
Deputy City Attorney
City of Racine
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PAST DIRECTORS
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Dawn Helmrich, MA
LOTUS Board Past President
United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County,
Organizer of Denim Day Milwaukee
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Janine P. Geske
Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court,
Marquette University Law School (Retired)
Steven R. Johnson
Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility
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CONTACT
LOTUS
Legal
Clinic
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INTAKE PROCESS:
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To find out if we can help you with your case, we need to have a short phone interview with you. Call or text us 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week at (414) 885-1469 ; leave a message and you will be contacted within one business day. Please be ready to spend about 10 - 30 minutes talking about your matter, and have information ready with specifics like case numbers.
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Once the intake interview is done, we will review and decide if we are able to take your case. This happens once a week in our staff meetings, so we will get back to you within 5-7 business days.
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This means the sooner you can get in touch about any pending court matters, the better.
For general inquiries about LOTUS, guest speaker availability or interviews, contact or call (414) 885-1469.
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To inquire about volunteering as a pro bono attorney, contact our Director of Legal Serivces, Erika Petty at
Se habla Español.
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IMPORTANT! Getting in touch with us through this page or in the contact form is not meant to be legal advice and communicating with us here does not make us your lawyers.
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