InsaneJournal

Who: Veronica Mars and Svetlana Sergievskaya
What: Consultation
When: 11 September 2015, late morning
Where: Veronica’s Office
Rating/Warnings: Low
Status:Complete

Veronica’s newest client was being charged with prostitution. It was one of her pro-bono cases, which the blonde took a lot of. Upon talking to the girl more Veronica could tell something wasn’t right. This wasn’t just an average prostitution case. Someone was controlling her, and the girl was scared of them. Veronica had a feeling it wasn’t your average pimp either. No, this seemed like something different, human trafficking perhaps? She wasn’t certain and she wasn’t exactly an expert on the case so she called an organization to get their opinion.

Veronica was expecting an employee from the organization to stop by any minute now to discuss things more thoroughly. As if on cue there was a knock on her door. “Come in,” she told the woman standing on the other side. “You must be Svetlana?” She stood from her desk to greet her properly, extended a hand to shake. “Veronica Mars.”

Victims of trafficking being charged with prostitution was not uncommon. They were the ones who suffered while those who had gotten them into the life, who kept them on drugs and terrified, waiting for another beating or an unknown threat to their families, were the ones who got away. The ones with the most to lose and nothing to back them up as their documents were kept from them were the ones who paid. Even with the option of a T Visa if they proved their case, many wouldn’t come forward because they were afraid for their loved ones. Which led to deportation and falling back into the same cycle. It was why Svetlana had mixed feelings on the current battle in regards to decriminalisation. The Nordic Model wasn’t ideal, but it was certainly better than what was in hand.

Needless to say, she never was surprised when she was informed that a lawyer had called, concerned about someone they were defending. Little things that didn’t quite add up. Just one of the reasons as to why the training seminars the organisation did were so important. So those most likely to run into people in such a life were able to pick up the signs and see. And a look at the calendar had it that she would be going to speak with the defence lawyer.

Arriving at her destination, Svetlana was let in nodded in greeting to Veronica as they shook hands.

“Thank you for calling. How can I help?” After all, Svetlana had only been given a brief message and she also preferred speaking directly with the person who had voiced a concern. See what their take on the situation was and what she could offer in terms of helping. It was definitely better that way.

Veronica couldn’t share many details about what was going on. Client privilege and all, but she had a way of going around the rules. She couldn’t show the file, but she could vaguely describe what was going on, give hypotheticals and all that. Then if her client was okay with it set up a meeting with Svetlana.

“Tell me more about human trafficking,” Veronica began, sitting back down behind her desk, she motioned for Svetlana to take the seat on the opposite side. “How can I be sure that’s what is going on? Are there any signs one should look out for?”

Working with lawyers was always a challenge because of client privilege, though Svetlana could respect that. At least there were some in the area who actually cared. Much better than Russia, where her parents remained in jail on ‘suspicion of foreign agent’ nonsense. No one there cared and it was through international means she needed to help them.

So when Veronica asked about signs to look for, Svetlana sat down and answered making sure to stick to what she knew to be the case in the United States. Small tells. Behaviour. Explanations on how traffickers kept their victims under their control. “Obviously each case is different, but those are basics.”

Veronica listened intently to everything Svetlana told her. A lot of the behaviors matched what her client was doing. The lawyer had always been good at reading people. It was what made her such a good lawyer, and her skills had only been improving since she began dreaming. Now with this information and replaying every encounter with her client she was ninety-nine percent certain that human trafficking was in fact at play here.

“Let me talk to my client. See if I can set up a meeting with you,” Veronica would be present of course. She had also left out her client’s name, not breaking privilege there, as well as the details of her case. “If it is trafficking, where would we go from there?”

“Of course.” It was after all only one of the services they provided. Helping those who were in need. Meet with those who needed them. Convincing them was often a challenge because of the threats that were often leveled against their loved ones and fear of immigration. But that was a bridge they would cross once they got there. Because the next steps were always difficult.

“It depends on if they are US citizen or if they were promised work from elsewhere. If they are not from the US, then they will need a T Visa, which is difficult enough.” It was maddening. While there were 5,000 T Visas available per year, only 2,000 had been issued in a span of six years because of the requirements. “It usually requires convincing the person to help prosecution with prosecuting traffickers. Otherwise they are told there is nothing that can be done and will be deported. Which leaves them vulnerable.” And if Veronica had only put together that something seemed off, it was clear her client wasn’t comfortable telling the truth of the matter. That they were afraid for themselves or more likely family back home. “If they are under a certain age, they may be exempt from that.”

It wasn’t an easy process, but it would be something. Even so, Svetlana didn’t have much faith in the process just because of everything that needed to be proven and was often difficult to prove thanks to the breaking down of victims and making them reliant on their abusers that occurred.

Veronica nodded, taking it all in. It didn’t sound promising. She herself often hated how the justice system worked in general. She was all about justice and people, particularly the cops in her life, often wondered why she chose to be a defense lawyer. It wasn’t about letting the criminals get away exactly. They looked at it like she was helping criminals get away, but for Veronica it was more making sure that the punishment actually fit the crime. And that the innocent ones got off or got help. Like her current client.

“Sounds like the system needs to be changed,” it wasn’t the most professional comment but she didn’t care. No wonder her client seemed so scared come forward. “I’ll go talk to her today and call you in a few hours.”

Svetlana had a lot of opinions on the state of affairs when it came to justice and helping those in need. She didn’t voice it often because, well, Russian in America, Russia wasn’t a beacon of moral police and criminal justice system. That didn’t mean that Svetlana wasn’t allowed to have thoughts and opinions on the state of things when it came to justice and helping those in need. She saw so many different strategies utilised based on location, it only made sense that she would be well aware of the failures.

“Most do in these cases.”

And then it was the end of the meeting as there really wasn’t much that Svetlana could say or do that she hadn’t done already, so she nodded as she stood up. “I will await your call and we can go from there. Thank you for calling us.” With a small nod, the Russian woman picked up her bag and then headed to her next appointment. This time meeting one of the girls she advocated for to take to therapy.