Julie Dahlstrom Recognized By US Attorney’s Office for Work in Support of Crime Victims’ Rights

The head of the Human Trafficking Clinic was honored in a recent ceremony.

Julie Dahlstrom, clinical legal fellow and supervisor of BU Law’s Human Trafficking Clinic, was recently honored in the United State’s Attorney’s Office 2015 Crime Victims’ Rights Recognition Ceremony. The ceremony acknowledged agencies and individuals that have been instrumental in working with victims of crime. Dahlstrom was honored for her outstanding work on United States v. Smalanskas, et al.

In the case, which garnered national and international media attention, Dahlstrom and her students represented an immigrant woman who had been treated as a house slave by a couple in Harvard, MA, for more than 13 years. In a significant victory for the survivor and the Clinic, the couple that had brought the client to the US illegally and abused her for over a decade was ordered to pay her $150,000 in restitution.

Dahlstrom’s interest in working with survivors of human trafficking began early in her career and, as she puts it, by accident. While working was an immigration attorney for Lutheran Social Services, an English ESOL program referred a woman who was malnourished and had no access to her documents. As she worked with the woman, Dahlstrom realized that trafficking was at play.

“My assumption had been that since trafficking victims are a very compelling population, there must be a lot of funding and personnel devoted to the issue. But the more I delved into it, the more I found the opposite to be true,” she recalls.

In 2012, Dahlstrom approached BU Law with the idea of starting a clinic, in part because of the unmet legal need she had discovered, and in part because of legislation that had recently gone into effect. The legislation, championed by former Attorney General Martha Coakley (’79), outlines clear criminal penalties for traffickers and provides new legal protections, including a safe harbor provision, for survivors.

Only two years after its launch, the Human Trafficking Clinic was named one of the top 25 most innovative clinics by preLaw magazine in 2014. Dahlstrom focuses the Clinic on holistic, multi-disciplinary lawyering and building sustainable law enforcement partnerships. It is co-located at the Family Justice Center, which includes the Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Units of the Boston Police Department as well as a variety of victim services agencies.

In addition to leading the Clinic, Dahlstrom is managing attorney of the Immigration Legal Assistance Program at Ascentria Care Alliance. She has represented numerous clients applying for T-visas as trafficking survivors, U-visas as survivors of violent crime, asylum, and relief under the Violence Against Women Act. She is the co-chair of the U- and T-visa Working Group at Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, and co-chair of the Public Service Subcommittee of the Immigration Committee of the Boston Bar Association. She is also a member of the Human Trafficking Subcommittee of the Delivery of Legal Services Committee.

In 2012, Governor Deval Patrick appointed Ms. Dahlstrom to the Massachusetts Human Trafficking Task Force, chaired by the Attorney General. She has served as the co-chair of the Victim Services Subcommittee and a member of the Labor Trafficking Subcommittee.

“There are tremendous legal barriers that survivors face when exiting exploitation,” Dahlstrom says, “and access to legal representation is essential. Lawyers and law students have the opportunity to make an enormous difference.”