Justice At Last Inc
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Mission Statement
Justice At Last is the only nonprofit law firm in the San Francisco Bay Area exclusively serving the legal needs of human trafficking survivors regardless of their age, gender identity, nationality or type of trafficking. Our mission is to empower those who have been labor trafficked and commercially sexually exploited by providing access to free comprehensive legal services, advocacy and specialized trainings to help transform survivors’ lives. Our vision is for survivors of human trafficking to have the opportunity to seek justice on their own terms. We envision a world where justice eradicates all forms of slavery - where victims of trafficking are empowered through justice in order to heal and become independent and self-sufficient overcomers who can thrive with dignity.
About This Cause
Justice At Last was founded in 2015 and we are the only nonprofit law firm in Northern California exclusively serving the legal needs of human trafficking survivors regardless of their age, gender identity, nationality or type of trafficking. We provide free legal services and representation to survivors of human trafficking with a holistic approach that emphasizes dignity and is survivor-centered, culturally sensitive, trauma-informed, and rights-based so that they can seek justice on their own terms. By working exclusively with clients who have been trafficked, we use our expertise as effectively and efficiently as possible to provide the best support we can for our clients. Our practice is mobile which means we meet our clients where they receive trusted services such as a safe house or an office of a partnered provider. Our clients reside in or were trafficked in the San Francisco Bay Area, and our legal mobile clinic model allows for us to meet clients where they feel safe and also relieves survivors from the need to provide their own transportation. We specialize in the areas of law that have been identified by our clients and our lived experience Advisors as being the most critical and the least available. These services, which have the potential to change lives for the better, are listed below. Enforcing Crime Victims’ Rights – we represent survivors during all aspects of the criminal prosecution of their traffickers. As crime victims, survivors have enumerated rights (Marsy’s Law), including the right to privacy, the right to be informed, the right to be heard, and to the right to restitution. Our crime victims’ rights representation provides a means for empowerment and healing for survivors by ensuring that their rights are asserted, respected, and enforced. Very few attorneys have experience in enforcing crime victims’ rights, and this is one of the specializations of Justice At Last’s founder and Executive Director Rose Mukhar. Indeed, in June 2018, Rose received The National Crime Victim Law Institute’s Legal Advocacy Award in recognition of her dedication and commitment to representing trafficking victims in the criminal justice system. Clearing Criminal Records– victims of trafficking are often criminalized for actions they were forced to take when they were trafficked. Justice At Last helps survivors clear their records/convictions that were tied to their trafficking. While this process is demanding our holistic approach helps to minimize the impact on our clients. Further, our records clearance program has eliminated barriers that survivors encounter with employment and housing opportunities as well as provided access to social services benefits and a chance for a clean slate. Family Law – Often survivors are forced to marry their trafficker or other persons during their victimhood and need to terminate the marriage right away. Additionally, trafficked persons sometimes have children during their trafficking and the traffickers use the survivors’ children as a means of power and control to prolong the trafficking situation. Justice At Last assists in the dissolution of marriage (divorce) and annulment when the marriage was a result of force or fraud. We also provide expert testimony in family court so judges can better understand the dynamics of trafficking. Immigration Relief – Justice At Last offers a holistic screening of all immigration options, and we specialize in complex immigration cases involving T-Visas, which is a special immigration status for survivors of human trafficking. We also advocate for Continued Presence, a special law enforcement protection provided for foreign national human trafficking victim-witnesses involved in a criminal investigation. Establishing Identity and Identity Theft Recovery – Many trafficked persons continue to suffer the negative impacts of poor credit due to traffickers stealing their identity. Other survivors do not have access to identity documents, which makes them vulnerable to being trafficked and exploited. Justice At Last helps clients to obtain their birth certificates and identity documents, register delayed birth certificates, and assist in removing fraudulent charges that create a negative credit history. This empowers clients to become independent and pursue self-determination while also reducing their vulnerabilities of being re-trafficked. About Our Representation – While we have jurisdictional restrictions as to where we can practice law, we place no limitations on the legal matters the survivors are seeking assistance with. For instance, we have represented a client who was 20 years removed from her trafficking experience. Further, if the legal need is outside of our scope of practice, we provide referrals to trusted partners who will welcome the continuing participation of Justice At Last in a supportive or co-counsel capacity. Lastly, if the trafficking is not relevant to the legal matter they are requesting assistance with, they will not be required to disclose the full details of their trafficking situation. We feel this is key to having a holistic legal practice to ensure that our clients, no matter where they are on their path to healing and what legal needs they might have, are treated with dignity and supported as they seek justice on their own terms. Awareness through Trainings – In addition to legal advocacy and representation, Justice At Last creates and conducts specialized trainings to empower and inform survivors about their legal rights within the justice system and educates service providers and first responders about human trafficking and survivor rights. Justice At Last also advocates in the larger legal community for trauma-informed practices when representing survivors, and for a greater understanding of crime victims’ rights laws for human trafficked survivors. Volunteers – As a nonprofit law firm, we rely on volunteers and legal professionals who work on a pro bono basis to support our clients. We welcome volunteers from a diverse range of professional and educational backgrounds, including legal professionals, law school students and graduates, college and high school students, event planning, finance, human resources, data analysis, marketing and fundraising professionals and others inspired by our mission. Conclusion – Justice At Last is a young and efficient organization. The leadership of the organization is creative and dedicated to seeing that survivors of human trafficking receive all the legal services they need to support their healing and recovery. We believe that our legal services program aligns closely with Benevity Causes as our critical legal services provide strategic interventions that change the trajectory of people’s lives. Our crime victims’ rights representation provides a means for empowerment and healing by ensuring that an individual’s rights are asserted, respected, and enforced. Our records clearance program has allowed survivors increased and appropriate access to employment and housing opportunities and social services benefits. Additionally, our family law, immigration and identity recovery representations helps survivors by ensuring an experienced trauma-informed and survivor-centered attorney is validating their legal interests by advocating for what justice means to them. Thank you for considering standing with us in the work we do so that survivors of trafficking can seek justice in their own terms.