Liz Battles

Liz entered law school with a dedicated focus on public interest work and the ways the law can be a vehicle for improving equality. Following her passion, Liz worked at the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence for over a decade. As the Skylark Project Director, she assisted incarcerated survivors of domestic violence to apply for commutation from Iowa’s governor, facilitated Seeking Safety classes about healthy coping for post-traumatic stress and substance abuse, and coordinated community college classes for scholarship recipients. As staff attorney and co-director of the legal clinic, Liz represented survivors in protective order, divorce and custody, eviction, and immigration cases. She provided policy analysis to the coalition and advised local domestic violence programs about victim advocate confidentiality. She served on a judicial branch working group to revise pro se civil protective order court forms. Liz also administered the Alice Barton Scholarship, awarding scholarships to survivors of domestic violence.

Through her position at Drake University Law School, first as the Director of Academic Success and then the Assistant Dean for Student Services, Liz continues her work to improve access to justice for underrepresented groups and to increase equality. By helping law students find success in law school and on the bar exam, Liz seeks to increase the number of competent, compassionate attorneys working to improve the system of justice across the country.