Free to Thrive started with a question: what more can be done to help human trafficking victims in San Diego? When attorney Jamie Beck would ask that question to individuals working to support victims, she repeatedly heard the same answer: We need lawyers.
“We all have a role to play in the fight against human trafficking,” Jamie says, and she knew hers. Jamie began her anti-trafficking efforts a
s an active member of the Lawyers Club of San Diego—eventually serving as its president—by spearheading the creation of a Human Trafficking Collaborative (HTC) focused on three discrete needs: legal and community education, policy advocacy, and survivor support. HTC has grown to over 250 members and now produces regular trainings for attorneys and community members and an annual Legislative Roundtable. Through its advocacy efforts, HTC spearheaded the passage and signing of a California vacatur law (Penal Code 236.14) that provides restorative justice to human trafficking victims by removing any trace of related criminal charges from their record. Jamie also began taking on pro bono cases while working full-time at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, the largest San Diego-based law firm. Through her volunteer and pro bono work, Jamie came to realize that she needed to do more. Thus Free to Thrive was born, working to bring San Diego’s lawyers, law firms and law schools together to help address this serious need. Free to Thrive works hand in hand with community organizations, law enforcement, government agencies, and law firms to ensure human trafficking survivors can live the lives they always dreamed of living. It’s a fulfillment of what inspired Jamie to become a lawyer.
“My whole purpose in going to law school was that I wanted to help people,” she says. With Free to Thrive, she’s inspiring a movement of like-minded attorneys to do likewise.
