Blog

We know you have all missed seeing our Client of the Month. We are certainly thrilled to end our two-year hiatus.

Our client of the month for May 2024 is Isa. Isa hired Benach Collopy in a time of significant emotional distress. She had been turned away by numerous other firms, but BC Partner Dree Collopy saw hope where many others did not.

Isa had been trafficked by an obscenely wealthy family, who took advantage of her in so many ways. They manipulated her fears of facing homophobia in her home country. They threatened (among many other things) to use their extensive transnational networks to leave her unemployable if she tried to flee or report them. She persisted. She escaped. She found safety.

Her trauma made it hard for her to remember essential details about her traffickers, and she spent so much time afraid to report them, for fear that she would not be believed. With the help of the BC team, she reported them. BC Partner Sarah Pitney began the process of taking down Isa’s story before passing the reins to Attorney Isis Irizarry, supported by Senior Paralegal Leydin Vasquez. Together, the BC team identified the key parts of Isa’s trafficking, located the most qualified authorities to receive the report, and ultimately filed the report against Isa’s traffickers.

Now, one year later, Isa’s application for a trafficking visa has been approved. That phone call with Isa and her chosen family was tear-filled and joyous. We consider ourselves lucky to have played a part in, as Isa says, returning to her a sense of humanity, a sense of dignity. To her, and to all the survivors we serve, we say: we believe you, we hear you, and we are on your side!

And a fun bonus: it has been such a gift to see all of the beautiful art she has created as part of her healing. See for yourselves!