UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT, DISTRICT OF KANSAS
AND THE
FEDERAL BAR ASSOCIATION – KS AND WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI CHAPTER
Free CLE Event - POWER Act, Protection from Abuse
June 20, 2025
It is important for attorneys to provide much needed legal services to domestic violence survivors. Studies have shown that access to legal assistance and representation can increase the likelihood of obtaining a protective order and reduce the probability of future domestic violence.
The POWER Act is the acronym for "Pro Bono Work to Empower and Represent Act of 2018" (P. L. 115-237) that Congress passed on September 4, 2018. The primary goal of the POWER Act is for the U.S. District Courts to host at least one public event annually to promote free legal services to empower survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and to engage citizens in assisting those survivors.
Program Agenda
12:00 - 12:05 – Welcome and Remarks
- Chief U.S. District Judge Eric F. Melgren
12:05 – 1:00 - Protection Orders 101, Kansas Legal Services
- Alexandra English, Managing Attorney
- Joy Springfield, Director of Pro Bono Services
Approved for 1 hour CLE in Kansas and Missouri
Presenter Biographical Information -
Alexandra English is an attorney at Kansas Legal Services. She has worked there for seventeen years, practicing various areas of law, but primarily family law and elder law. She is the statewide Director of the Kansas Legal Services Elder Rights Project and the Managing Attorney of the Kansas City KLS office. In 2020, Governor Kelly appointed Alex to be a member of the Board of Adult Care Home Administrators.
Alex also regularly handles Protection from Abuse and Protection from Stalking cases, divorces, paternity cases and elder abuse cases. She is licensed to practice law in Kansas and Missouri.
Prior to working at Kansas Legal Services, Alex attended law school at The University of Kansas School of Law. Prior to law school, Alex attended Kansas State University, where she graduated summa cum laude with her B.A. in Psychology and minors in Leadership Studies and Spanish in only three years.
Joy Springfield is the Statewide Director of Pro Bono Services for Kansas Legal Services. Ms. Springfield is licensed to practice law in Kansas and Missouri. Before joining Kansas Legal Services, Joy Springfield worked at a national defense firm representing major consumer, medical device and pharmaceutical companies in both mass and class actions, handling complex product liability, business and pharmaceutical litigation in both federal and state courts. She possesses over 15 years of experience with a focus on resolving complex discovery issues.
In addition to her civil litigation practice, Joy has devoted hundreds of hours providing pro bono representation in multiple areas: adoption, family law, consumer law, expungements, transgender name changes and guardianship issues. Joy has been a Kansas Bar Association Pro Bono Award Recipient. Joy graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law. Joy received her undergrad degree in Finance with a minor in Spanish from the best HBCU – Howard University.