Lisa S. Vara has served as the director of the Matrimonial and Economic Justice Project within the Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services at the Sanctuary for Families in New York City since 2018, where she oversees a team of Matrimonial and Housing Lawyers and Public Benefits Advocates.
The largest dedicated legal services program for victims of gender violence in the country, the center provides legal representation in family and matrimonial law, criminal, civil rights, public benefits, housing, trafficking, and immigration cases, and advocates for policy and legislative changes and reforms of the Court system that further the rights of survivors of gender violence. The center has spearheaded state litigation establishing precedent to expand the protections available to domestic violence victims and federal litigation preventing child protective agencies from charging battered mothers with “engaging in domestic violence.”
In her own work, Vara focuses on representing victims of gender violence in complex divorce, post-judgment enforcement, and Family Court proceedings across New York City, and has developed expertise in cases with international components, including international custody cases. In the wake of abuse, many victims of gender violence are left without any financial resources as an abusive partner is often the sole or primary earner in the family. The Matrimonial and Economic Justice Project advocates on their behalf to obtain child and spousal support, public benefits, child custody, and orders of protection, ensuring that they and their children survive in the short-term and receive equitable distribution of assets in the long term, including bringing enforcement actions of financial awards when necessary. Vara has led teams of pro bono attorneys in many such cases leading to successful outcomes for her clients. Vara was recognized for her work by the New York Law Journal as a “Rising Star” in 2017 and received the Pro Bono Excellence Award from the LGBT Bar Association of Greater New York in 2019.
Vara received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she served as an editor for the Michigan Journal of Race and Law and was a member of the Latino Law Students Association, and her B.A. degree in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University.
