The Intersection of Family Law, Child Welfare & Criminal Law

 The Intersection of Family Law, Child Welfare and Criminal Law 

Thursday, April 17, 2025, 4:30-6:30

Live in Newburyport & Streaming

Approved for Two CAFL & CPCS credits

Many of our cases walk in the door presenting like an essay question on the bar

exam, spanning disciplines ranging from family law to criminal law to child welfare

and juvenile law. Our expert practitioners will give you an overview of each area and

answer common questions many of us have, and we’ll take an interactive walk

through a hypothetical case involving all of these areas. 

Attend & Learn:

• Who qualifies for legal counsel in CAFL cases, criminal defense cases, and other times a person might be eligible for appointment of counsel by CPCS; 
• At what point in the various legal processes can counsel be appointed.
• How to manage the collaboration between a client's divorce, criminal defense and/or CAFL counsel in terms of aligning case strategy, sharing potentially relevant information/discovery/pleadings. 
• What types of information/documents from separate cases might be relevant to each other (example: mitigation documents / evaluations in criminal cases)
• What rights do incarcerated clients have who are going through a divorce; to participate in custody / parenting time proceedings and what rights do they have to both? Are there priorities we have that might conflict even while representing the same client in different legal settings/proceedings 
• How does a restraining order affect a case; what court(s) can issue them and what court(s) can modify them? 
• The affect of a divorce case… who says what to whom, and how – it matters! 

Faculty

Maureen Booth, TurcoLegal, Newburyport, Chair

Christine G. DeBernardis, Amesbury, MA & Portsmouth, NH

Jacquelyn O’Brien, Managing Director, Children and Family Law Division, Committee for Public Counsel Services

Christine Sunnerberg, Esq., Ramirez & Sunnerberg, LLC, Weymouth