PROFESSOR JOHNSTON-WALSH AND KAREN GALBRAITH PRESENTED AT THE KIDS AT COURT CONFERENCE
July 2024 — Professor Lucy Johnston-Walsh and Karen Galbraith presented on the topic of Attorneys and Secondary Trauma at the Kids at Court Conference in State College on July 11, 2024.
Professor Johnston-Walsh is the founding director of the Penn State Dickinson Law’s Children’s Advocacy Clinic. Karen Galbraith is the Social Work Supervisor, who supervises graduate-level social work interns at the Children’s Advocacy Clinic. The Clinic receives court appointments to represent youth who are involved in the juvenile court system. Prof. Johnston-Walsh and Karen Galbraith presented on the impact of secondary trauma for attorneys working within the court system. The conference took place in State College at Penn State Law and was organized by the Support Center for Child Advocates, funded by Pennsylvania Commission for Crime and Delinquency. The “Kids at Court Conference: Trauma-Sensitive Strategies for Attorneys” is being held at four locations across the state to provide training for civil and criminal attorneys who work with children who are alleged to have been victims of abuse. The conference infused perspectives of people with lived experience and with a consciousness of the impact of racism and system oppression on the court system.
Lucy Johnston-Walsh is an assistant professor of law and founding director of the Dickinson Law Children’s Advocacy Clinic. Professor Johnston-Walsh’s research, teaching and service focus on juvenile law, specifically legal challenges of youth involved in the foster care system. She supervises law students in the legal representation of youth involved in the dependency system and her scholarship directly relates to systemic issues presented through the clinic cases, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration in the field of child advocacy. Her recent scholarship has been published in both medical journals and law reviews including articles in Family Court Review, Akron Law Review and Seattle Journal for Social Justice.