A Practical Guide to Coercive Control for Legal Practitioners and Victims

A practical guide to coercive control and its relevance to different areas of law with a particular focus on family law, including why the law was necessary, the problems facing victims when utilising legislation, risk assessment of victims, the link between coercive control and stalking, protective orders available for for victims, legal aid, and how coercive control is relevant to family court proceedings.

Whilst coercive control is not a new phenomenon, the law prohibiting it and the use of the phrase is relatively new and it is still very much a developing area of law and an area which is still often overlooked by the criminal and family justice system.

This book will help practitioners get up to date with this area of law and quickly point them to the relevant factors they need to consider when advising clients and will also provide crucial assistance to victims navigating the family courts.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Horman is a Solicitor and Head of the Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Forced Marriage Department at Watson Ramsbottom Ltd. Rachel regularly advises clients on how to increase the chances of obtaining a successful prosecution for stalking and domestic abuse as well as advising in relation to civil options. She was personally involved in the campaign to change the law to create a criminal offence of coercive control or emotional abuse which came into force in December 2015 and continues to be involved in advising the police and government around other problems with the current law in relation to stalking and domestic abuse.

Rachel regularly represents clients with regard to coercive control within the family courts. She has practiced in the area of domestic abuse and stalking for over 20 years and heads a department dealing with these issues. She is the Chair of Paladin - the National Stalking Advocacy Service and is a regular media commentator on coercive control and stalking including BBC Breakfast, BBC News, Sky News and Radio 4 and is considered to be one of the leading subject matter experts in this area.

Rachel advises several prime time TV shows regarding scripts dealing with stalking and coercive control. She has won several awards for her work in these areas including the Jordans Family Law Partner of the Year and Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year as well as being highly commended by the Law Society in the Female Lawyer of the Year Category and shortlisted for the Emma Humphries Memorial Prize for her work in assisting victims of domestic abuse.

Rachel also writes a popular blog at rachelhorman.co.uk where she comments on new developments or gaps in the law around Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour Based Violence.