Restoration and Justice Clinic Successfully Defends Restraining Order Case

On October 23, Pepperdine Caruso Law third-year student Hannah Casey and second-year Audrey Walker successfully defended a client wrongly accused of elder abuse. This was the Restoration and Justice Clinic's first case in Van Nuys Superior Court, first time defending a client against a restraining order request, and its first elder abuse case.

Casey and Walker conducted a full evidentiary trial and proved that the other party, the petitioner, did not meet her burden. On cross examination, Casey got the petitioner to admit that she had lied to the police. Through direct examination, Walker introduced multiple reasons why the petitioner's story was not credible through testimony and video evidence. Both Casey and Walker raised multiple relevance, hearsay, and speculation objections, which were all sustained.

At the end of the trial, Walker gave a closing statement, reiterating all of the team’s most important points. At the conclusion of the trial, the hearing commissioner told Casey and Walker that they did an outstanding job. 

"This was an amazing way to gain tangible legal experience and we couldn't have asked for a better outcome for our first court appearance," said Casey of the trial. Walker added that "it was such a rush to present our case to the hearing commissioner, and the best part of the day was seeing the weight lifted off of our client's shoulders as soon as the judgment was delivered."