04/08/2022
Celebrating our Third Year in Business!!!! [April 8, 2019 -- April 8, 2022]
Martin Powers & Counsel, PLLC was born out of a desire to provide practical, strategic counsel for the business community and to empower women.
What started as four lawyers in sublet space is now a team of six lawyers and two dynamite paralegals. Over the past 12 months, we’ve had the privilege of serving more than 80 different clients ranging from small businesses and entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 companies. We’ve added attorneys Katherine McGinnis Anand, Meredith 'Dibert' Lindaman, and Dilcia Jones to our team along with Joanne Dixon, a senior trial paralegal. And next week, we are excited to announce another new arrival.
But the thing founder Meagan Martin Powers is most proud of over the past year has been opportunities to give back to our community. MP&C’s mission is to empower women and we do that beyond our workplace and client service. We devote time and a portion of profits to support causes empowering women and girls. This year—among our causes—one project left us feeling vulnerable but blessed to give, connect and hopefully grow something amazing. And we want to use this anniversary post to tell you that story. Forgive us, but its not a short, easy story.
The statistics are that between 1 in 3 and 1 in 6 women are victims of sexual assault over their lifetime in this country. Its hard to be certain because less than 20% of sexual assaults are ever reported to law enforcement. It is estimated that 91% of sexual assault victims are women. This law firm doesn't practice criminal law nor do we represent victims of sexual assault. But this law firm employs 9 women. . . statistically speaking, you do the math.
Last fall founder Meagan Martin Powers read a Dallas Morning News article about a non-profit called Project Beloved: The Molly Jane Mission. [Article linked in comments below] Did you know that interviews for human trafficking, sexual assault and r**e victims are often conducted in the same rooms that are used to interrogate suspects in police departments? Think Law & Order metal chairs and tables, cold, uninviting, scary. Not at all conducive to sharing the worst details about what was likely the worst experience of your life.
Project Beloved’s mission is for survivors to be in a comforting space after undergoing such unimaginable trauma, to empower them as they start their next chapter. Project Beloved—among other things—partners with police departments to install soft interview rooms to provide victims (and oftentimes their children with them) with a safe space in which to tell their stories. Project Beloved believes that when victims feel safe, they will talk and that will result in more successful criminal prosecutions. That belief has been backed up with data and reports from police departments that have received soft interview room installations.
So back to the Dallas News article. . . it explained that while there is high demand for soft interview rooms, there is a backlog to fulfill those requests. Meagan immediately called Project Beloved and found herself on the phone with Project Beloved’s founder—Tracy Matheson (and Molly Jane’s mom)—talking about the backlog and how we could help. Neither Molly Jane nor Megan Getrum would ever have the benefit of telling their story in a soft interview room (or any room). They were r**ed and murdered five days apart by the same perpetrator in 2017. Turning unimaginable pain into action, Tracy started Project Beloved. You can read more about Project Beloved here: https://www.projectbeloved.org/
During the call, Tracy explained that like many nonprofits, the bottleneck was mostly related to funding but also furniture procurement. She also shared that our Dallas Police Department’s human trafficking squad was on that waiting list. Immediately, Meagan committed the firm to fully funding the Dallas soft interview room and committed to helping further by connecting Project Beloved with our amazing clients in the interior design industry.
And this is where the magic really started. . .
The Dove Agency—one of MP&C’s first clients—is a women-owned organization providing procurement, marketing and accounting support services to many of the best interior design firms in Texas and beyond. The Dove Agency was founded by can-do women Beth Bender and Kenda Lister. If anyone can bust a procurement bottleneck, we knew these women would. Meagan explained that we were donating the funds for the Dallas PD soft interview room in honor of The Dove Agency and asked them to get involved so our joint impact could go beyond simply the Dallas PD soft interview room.
Of course, The Dove Agency jumped at the opportunity to help. The Dove Agency has shared Project Beloved’s needs with the ID industry and the response has been AHHMAZING. And beyond that, the Doves (as their employees are known) have worked on Beloved Bundles for hospitals to give sexual assault victims replacement clothes and hygiene kits since their clothes are taken as evidence.
The Dallas PD installation took place the first week of December and we got to help assemble furniture and learned about each element that goes into a successful soft interview space. After we finished, there was a short presentation/gathering of the officers in the division and DPD leadership but it was cut short because word came that officers were bringing in a victim and would need the space. It was simultaneously heartbreaking to know that space was being used but hopeful that the words said in that room would get a predator off our streets.
Meagan asked Tracy if room installations made her sad and she said no. That installing rooms was a blessing to honor her daughter and to support survivors. She also explained that the photos that adorn the walls of soft interview rooms were taken by Megan Getrum. Tracy’s strength amazes us. May we all turn heartbreak into action like Tracy.
Molly and Megan's ra**st was FINALLY convicted this March. . . almost FOUR years later. And while the timeline is appalling, it is also a "good" outcome as law enforcement estimates that only 4.6 ra**sts out of 1,000 are ever convicted for their crimes.
So while we could have limited this to a traditional "happy third anniversary" to our firm and team we wanted to share an example of the kinds of projects that our firm is committed too. We are excited about the opportunities that await us this year to serve clients, continue to do challenging work, try cases as our courtrooms have opened back up, and--most importantly--be a business that supports and empowers women--and not just as lawyers.
Photos: Our MP&C team during our leadership retreat in St. George, Utah. The plaque hanging in the Dallas PD soft interview room. And photos of the Dallas PD soft interview room.
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