Mitchell Hamline School of Law and Jeff Anderson & Associates are breaking new ground in child abuse prevention and legal education by announcing the Zero Abuse Project (ZAP). A $2 million gift from Jeff Anderson & Associates to Mitchell Hamline will launch a collaboration aimed at training professionals and transforming how institutions play a necessary role in preventing and responding to child abuse nationwide.
The Zero Abuse Project aims to position Mitchell Hamline as a leading U.S. institution to train future attorneys and professionals in the prevention of child abuse through trauma-informed care, education and training. The Zero Abuse Project will educate professionals and help institutions effectively prevent, recognize, and respond to child abuse. The Zero Abuse Project will include a dedicated child advocacy clinic with experienced professionals who will be involved in research, developing and teaching courses, public policy change and impact litigation.
Attorney Jeff Anderson
The Zero Abuse Project will include:
Impact Litigation – The Zero Abuse Project will align with volunteer attorneys, law students and clinic faculty, to transform the legal process and make systematic changes in child abuse protection and prevention.
Training legal professionals in trauma-informed processes – Many legal professionals working with abuse survivors are exposed to client trauma and secondary stress without appropriate knowledge and training. The Zero Abuse Project will promote a more sensitive, trauma-informed legal system.
Nationwide online certificates and training of professionals and advocates in child protection.
Teaching Students – The Zero Abuse Project will educate law students in the field of child protection and abuse, resulting in many more informed advocates to advance its mission.
As recognized leaders in the legal community, Mitchell Hamline and Jeff Anderson & Associates have the knowledge, creativity and experience to shape the future of child abuse prevention and improve the legal system.
“For 35 years we have helped survivors cope with the ravages of child abuse,” said Attorney Jeff Anderson, a 1975 graduate of William Mitchell College of Law, a Mitchell Hamline predecessor school. “We believe child abuse can end and the Zero Abuse Project is pivotal to this mission. Our law firm is making this commitment in the hopes that people don’t need to contact us in the future. This is just the beginning.”
Mitchell Hamline School of Law is a recognized leader in the area of child protection and child advocacy. Led by Associate Professor Joanna Woolman, the school’s Child Protection Program, founded in 2013 by former Minnesota Supreme Court Associate Justice Helen Meyer, offers outstanding parent advocacy and child welfare training for students and professionals.
“Mitchell Hamline School of Law is thrilled and delighted to be able to expand its child protection efforts through this wonderful gift,” said Mark C. Gordon, president and dean at Mitchell Hamline. “We very much appreciate Jeff Anderson & Associates’ generosity and their dedication to Mitchell Hamline and to the prevention of child abuse.”