b'help asylum applicants as well as immigrant survivors of violenceSoraya Moralez-Nunez. Former Mintz attorney Elizabeth Kelly andhumantraffickingwhoareseekingspecialhumanitarianand Katie Walsh also assisted with these matters. Alec hopes these visas. Since joining the firm a couple of years ago, Melissa hastest cases will provide instruction for other advocates.representedseveralCasaCorneliaclientsinrecentandnewAlec, Lavinia, Elizabeth, and attorney Hannah Chapel continue cases. Attorneys Cesar Dulanto and Gali Steinberg-Tatman, andtocollaboratewithcounselfromnumerousstatestovacate former Mintz attorneyYarazel Mejorado, have also worked onatraffickingsurvivorsconvictionsinthosestates.Alecand these matters. LaviniapreviouslypersuadedMassachusettsauthoritiesto In Massachusetts, the firm is building on its pivotal work to helpdismissanopenwarrantagainstthesurvivorfora secure legislation, which took effect in 2018, to streamline theprostitution-related offense.processofvacatingconvictionsagainsttraffickingsurvivors.AlecandSorayaarealsohelpingatraffickingsurvivorobtain AnumberofattorneysarealsorepresentingsurvivorsinSpecialImmigrantJuvenilestatusandtobecomealawful other jurisdictions.permanentresident.Inanotherongoingmatter,Alec, In the firms Boston office, attorneys and other professionals haveattorney Nicole Henry, and Soraya are working with a survivor been devoting resources to educating the community about theinMassachusettstomaintainarestrainingorderagainst new Massachusetts law and representing survivors to vacate theirher trafficker.convictions. In March, attorneys Alec Zadek and Lavinia Weizel, who were instrumental in securing passage of the law, spoke atINTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION CASEa seminar concerning this new legislation hosted by the Boston Bar Association. Alec, Lavinia, and former Mintz project analystSusan, a mother of six minor children, fled an international Katie Walsh have also reached out to numerous safe houses inextremist religious cult and arrived in New York in desperate need Massachusetts to ensure that they are also aware of the law. of help. At the cults home base outisde of the United States, its Duetothisoutreach,Mintzisrepresentingtwosurvivorsinleaders (which included Susans brother and husband) schemed whatitbelieveswillbethefirstcasestoapplythenewlaw.to marry off Susans 13-year-old daughter. When she refused to Severalattorneysandothersatthefirmareworkingwithconsent to such a marriage, Susan was ostracized, her children Alectovacatethesurvivorsconvictions,includingLavinia,were taken away from her, and she was forced into a subservient attorneysAlyssa Scruggsand David Kete,andprojectanalystrole,cleaningthehomesofothermembersofthecult.She eventually managed to escape with two of her children to the (continued)PERSPECTIVES // Mintz Pro Bono Journal 39'