What happens when the legal system becomes the next abuser?

In this bold and unflinching memoir, Dovie King—an Ivy League-educated attorney and former law student advisor at Harvard Law—pulls back the curtain on a disturbing reality: sometimes, the people who know the law best are the ones most harmed by it.

Survivor at Law is the story of a woman who wore two titles—lawyer and survivor—and discovered just how incompatible those roles can be in a system that punishes vulnerability and protects power. A proud Latina, daughter of immigrants, and longtime advocate for immigrants, workers, and marginalized communities, King found herself trapped in a psychologically abusive relationship and a post-divorce legal battle that defied logic, ethics, and basic human decency.

The courtroom was supposed to be a place of protection. Instead, it became a battleground—one where trauma was ignored, legal rules were twisted into weapons, and those tasked with delivering justice turned away.

This is not a redemption narrative wrapped in tidy resolutions. It is a detailed, cutting, and at times darkly funny case study of how coercive control hides in plain sight—and how the family court system can become a stage for abuse to play out all over again, this time with official letterhead.

Survivor at Law offers:

• A vivid portrait of complex PTSD, dissociation, and the toll of long-term legal trauma
• A behind-the-scenes view of the legal profession’s blind spots, silences, and complicity
• How professional status and credentials can act as a shield, allowing abusers to manipulate the system and evade accountability while their victims are dismissed or disbelieved
• Insight into how abuse hides within progressive and left-leaning circles, where power dynamics and ideological loyalty often shield perpetrators