Julie Fernandes is Director of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). Convened by Humanity United, ATEST is a diverse alliance of U.S.-based human rights organizations acting in unity to end modern-day slavery and human trafficking, both at home and abroad. Prior to joining Humanity United, Julie was Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. For more than six years, she was the Senior Policy Analyst and Senior Counsel at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 civil and human rights groups. While there, Julie led policy campaigns in a number of areas, including the 2006 reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act. She also served as Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton at the White House Domestic Policy Council where her work focused on the development of policy in the areas of immigration, race relations, and civil rights.   
 
Julie received both her juris doctor and bachelor of arts degrees from the University of Chicago, and clerked for the Honorable Diane P. Wood at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.