One Survivor, One Attorney: VRLC’s Founding Vision 20 Years Later 

One Survivor, One Attorney: VRLC’s Founding Vision 20 Years Later 

By Susan Vickers
VRLC Founder

When I graduated from Harvard Law School in 1997, Victim Rights Law Center’s founding concept was clear: If you provide a rape victim with access to a free lawyer, together, the two could create a powerful alliance for healing.  

During law school, I spent several years working as a rape crisis counselor and as a sexual abuse program intake coordinator. After listening to hundreds of sexual abuse victims, it was painfully clear to me that most victims’ emotional struggles would not resolve until there were tangible changes in their material circumstances. Changes needed to be made to who sat next to them in school (their peer/perpetrator), who graded their thesis (their professor/ perpetrator), who locked their buildings at night (their landlord/perpetrator), and who wrote their paycheck (their supervisor/perpetrator). The perpetrators were often deeply embedded in the victims’ daily lives. There was no “moving on” without tangible, material change to the victim’s ongoing exposure to the perpetrator. 

The legal solution I saw was not a monolithic one: changing one law or altering one rape crisis privilege wouldn’t be enough. Survivors wanted their lives back and their sense of safety restored. A single change in any law would not help stem the tide of harm. 

E. Jean Carrol’s legal efforts epitomize why I started the law center: One survivor, one attorney. E. Jean’s attorney, Robbie Kaplan, helped E. Jean reclaim her story. Donald Trump took something so intangible yet so vital to E. Jean when he assaulted her. Then, he damaged E.Jean’s financial livelihood years later when she spoke up. It didn’t matter that 25 years had passed. Robbie Kaplan helped voice the harm done and fought to correct it. That relationship between attorney and survivor – the power of that relationship, was why I founded the VRLC.  

Victim Rights Law Center was founded with the concept that a rape victim and a free lawyer could create a powerful alliance for healing. Survivors wanted their lives back and their sense of safety restored. Giving a rape survivor a legal voice – an attorney – could carry the barely audible voice inside saying they were worth fighting for. E. Jean Carrol’s legal efforts epitomize why the law center was founded: One survivor, one attorney. 

Susan Vickers founded VRLC over 20 years ago and served as Executive Director from 2002-2007.