Rachel Lazarus is a Staff Attorney for Atlanta Legal Aid Society’s Gwinnett County office, where she has practiced since 2007, and directs the Gwinnett Pro Bono Project. As director of the Pro Bono Project, Rachel works with the private bar throughout Gwinnett County to increase pro bono representation and help ensure access to justice.

In 2012, Rachel successfully appealed the court’s long-standing practice of requiring recent violence before granting protective orders. In Lewis v Lewis 2012 Ga. App. LEXIS 481, the Court of Appeals agreed with Rachel’s argument that since the Family Violence Act does not contain time limits, the court abused its discretion by requiring recent violence. This appellate case greatly expands the access of TPOs to long-time victims of domestic violence.

Prior to working with Legal Aid, Rachel assisted in the creation of the San Diego Family Justice Center, the first comprehensive “one-stop shop” for victims of family violence and their children. Rachel obtained her J.D. in 2001 from the University of Southern California School Of Law, where she participated in the school’s first Family Violence Clinic. She is a member in good standing of the State Bars of Georgia and California.

Rachel lives in Dunwoody with her husband and two daughters.