A law professor was appointed to a task force examining an increase in domestic violence cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a GW Law release last week.

Joan Meier, a professor of clinical law and the director of the law school’s National Family Violence Law Center, was appointed to the task force alongside about 28 other experts in domestic violence. Members of the group were tasked with finding ways to aid domestic violence survivors and presented policy recommendations to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo by last Thursday, the release states.

“I am honored to join the task force and to advise Gov. Cuomo on the domestic violence crisis during COVID-19,” Meier said in the release. “We need to take aggressive action to assist all domestic violence victims, and what is especially exciting about this task force is the governor’s interest in long-term systems change, not just emergency measures.”

Reports of domestic violence grew by 15 percent in March and 30 percent in April, according to a press release late last month.

“While we have already taken aggressive actions to help some of our most vulnerable New Yorkers get the help they need and get away from their abusers, there is more that we can do to modernize the services we provide as we begin to enter a new normal,” he said in the release.