News & Updates
From Washington, D.C., with love (for pro bono and ensuring access to justice).
That’s the spirit behind Volunteer Lawyers for Justice’s February 2024 Volunteer of the Month, Amara Conteh. An associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Amara’s enthusiastic embrace of volunteering her legal talent not only represents the firm’s dedicated partnership with VLJ, it demonstrates the transformative power one person can have even hundreds of miles away.
The New Jersey Office of the Public Defender today announced that it filed a class action lawsuit against the New Jersey State Police to require it to stop unlawfully disclosing the criminal records of tens of thousands of individuals in violation of their court-ordered expungements. New Jersey has been on the forefront of expanding opportunities for people to expunge their criminal records, and the courts have ordered the records of thousands of New Jerseyans expunged. Once an expungement is granted, the New Jersey State Police is charged with removing such offenses from background checks. But the State Police’s extreme delays in processing expungement orders and sealing individuals’ criminal records is frustrating the law’s goals of allowing reformed and rehabilitated New Jerseyans to be freed from the collateral consequences of their past lives.
On Wednesday, May 17, Volunteer Lawyers for Justice (VLJ) was presented with a NJ Freedom Award for its work ensuring access to justice for survivors of human trafficking in New Jersey. The awards were presented by the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking (NJCAHT) at its annual New Jersey Freedom Gala. At the Gala, which was held at the Bridgewater Manor, NJCAHT awarded several recipients with its NJ Freedom Award, an award that recognizes the compassion, courage, impact and reach of individuals and organizations to prevent human trafficking in New Jersey and help those affected by it.
Volunteers Lawyers for Justice was recently highlighted in a March 29, 2023, article from Psychology Today. The article discussed the criminals records-impact survivors of human trafficking face. Also featured in the article are VLJ volunteer Michelle Stegmann and the New Jersey Coalition Against Human Trafficking.
“Yasmine"* came to the United States from a Caribbean country after being recruited under false promises from a labor broker. The broker promised Yasmine a good wage and decent living conditions if she would move to the U.S. to be a domestic worker for a family. That family secured Yasmine a working visa for her travel here. However, upon arriving in the U.S., Yasmine was not paid the agreed upon wage or given humane living conditions. Quite the opposite: her employers paid her less than half of the promised wage, and Yasmine was given no personal space except a bed in the kitchen.
Eventually, Yasmine made contact with VLJ, and through our Trafficking Program, Yasmine's case was placed with volunteer attorneys at a private law firm; the volunteer attorneys worked with Yasmine over several months in 2021 to prepare a T Visa petition.
Newark, NJ – January 12, 2022 – As New Jersey celebrates National Human Trafficking Prevention and Awareness Month, Governor Murphy signed a new law that expands access to vacatur for survivors of human trafficking. The bill, A5322, will help survivors of human trafficking build new lives by expanding the existing list of crimes that can be cleared from their records beyond just prostitution convictions. This will result in real and immediate relief for survivors of both sex and labor trafficking who have been unfairly stigmatized as a result of their convictions. The bill also streamlines the process for survivors pursuing this relief and ensures enhanced privacy protections of the petitions filed in court.
Managing attorney, Karen Robinson, calls Debra a dream volunteer --- always willing to dive into any practice area, go the extra distance to put a client over the finish line, and is never without a pro bono case on her plate. For being a fearless advocate, a pro bono leader, and a force for good in our state, Volunteer Lawyers for Justice is proud to recognize Debra Levin as our October 2021 Volunteer of the Month!
