Finding a Way 19 Drawing on the firm’s breadth of knowledge in the areas of privacy and document management, for example, a team of attorneys in Mintz Levin’s Boston office led by Susan Finegan, John Koss, and Jamison Arterton regularly advises rape crisis counseling centers, domestic violence shelters, and legal services providers on document retention and records management policies. Recognizing the delicate balance between the privacy and privilege rights of victims and the need for centers and shelters to maintain documentation, Mintz Levin’s team routinely analyzes the legal requirements of various jurisdictions and advises on best practices relating to document retention and the privileges that may apply to records and documents maintained at each center. In one case, Susan, John, and Jamison, working with Ben Wagner in the San Diego office, analyzed the relationship between various statutory and common law privileges and the records kept by the Center for Community Solutions, a provider of counseling and legal services to survivors of domestic violence in San Diego. After the center’s legal and advocacy services director, Noël Harlow, identified the center’s need for comprehensive records analysis, Mintz Levin’s David Salisbury, who sits on the center’s board of directors, introduced him to our team. “The assistance we received from [Mintz Levin] was pivotal in the creation of a company-wide policy that further protects the privacy rights of victims,”Noël says. “The attorneys’analysis of privacy and privilege overlooked no detail.” Efforts such as these don’t affect a specific survivor directly. And they may not have the same impact as obtaining restraining orders, which afford the protection of law and enable survivors to stand up to their abusers. But sound records management policies—grounded in recognition of each victim’s rights—are necessary to facilitate practically every facet of the legal process behind obtaining a restraining order. By ensuring that counseling centers and shelters are armed with the appropriate policies before one of their clients makes the decision to fight back, Mintz Levin is able to empower victims and advance the fight to end domestic violence in all its forms. The Domestic Violence Project is a wonderful example of seeing an opportunity or a problem that needed to be solved and taking the ball and running with it—and expanding it. ~ Richard Mintz