Rare Recovery From Trafficking Lawsuit

"After four years of grueling work without pay as a nanny in Bethesda, Md., Zipora Mazengo finally obtained a $1 million judgment against her former employer.  The Tanzanian citizen spent five more years attempting to collect.  Her pro bono lawyers at Jenner & Block recognized that the challenge was immense, given that her former employer was Alan Mzengi, an ex-minister at the Embassy of Tanzania in Washington who had since returned to his home country.  Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomats enjoy immunity from lawsuits.  Jenner attorneys took the case to Congress and the U.S. State Department.  And in June, ahead of President Obama's trip to Tanzania, they reached a confidential settlement.  The deal was the first in which a government has paid to settle a human-trafficking case involving one of its diplomats.  "To get past the issues of diplomatic immunity and get a judgment and then collect on it is the holy grail of these cases," said Julie Carpenter, co-leader of the pro bono committee at Jenner & Block and a partner in the Washington office." - Amanda Bronstad, Jan. 6, 2014.