Abstract
Founded in January 2016, the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic (the CEASE Clinic) represents survivors of child sexual abuse in juvenile court dependency matters and civil litigation and is the first of its kind in the nation. The CEASE Clinic was established through a generous donation by Georgia Law alumnus Marlan Wilbanks (JD ‘84) in response to a new Georgia law known as the Hidden Predator Act (the HPA) that went into effect on July 1, 2015. The HPA extended the statute of limitations for civil claims arising out of acts of child sexual abuse by providing a two-year retroactive window under which survivors who were previously barred from filing lawsuits could bring claims against their abusers.
The CEASE Clinic’s mission is to provide direct legal services to survivors of child sexual abuse in a supportive, professional environment as well as to educate and prepare the next generation of lawyers and social workers to represent survivors. The clinic not only provides direct representation to survivors, but it also serves as a teaching center as part of the University of Georgia School of Law.
Repository Citation
Emma M. Hetherington and Michael Nunnally,
Access to the Civil Court System for Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse in Georgia: Observations and Recommendations from the Clinical Legal Education Experience
, 53 Ga. L. Rev. Online 35
(2019),
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/fac_artchop/1302