Julie Matonich is a trial lawyer and the co-founder and Board President of Children of Incarcerated Caregivers (CIC). In her private law practice, she represents children and pregnant women harmed by inadequate medical care. She also has over ten years of experience as a criminal defense attorney, representing several clients who were parents of young children. In 2015, Julie co-founded CIC to advocate for children with parents in the criminal legal system. Working with law students and stakeholders, locally and globally, she uses her combined experience in criminal defense and plaintiff’s medical-legal cases to advocate for child-centered decision-making in criminal cases involving a parent and for improved medical care and conditions for pregnant women and children living with mothers in prisons and detention facilities globally. In 2024 and 2025, she was a co-instructor of the Parental Incarceration and Children’s Human Rights Seminar at the University of Minnesota. She has contributed to the following publications.

• Essential standards for perinatal care of women and children living in prison. Lancet Public Health. 2026 Mar;11(3):e197-e201.
• To Prison, With Mom: International Due Process Issues for Children and Mothers Posed by Prison Nurseries. (2025). Columbia Journal of Gender and Law, 46(1), 15–34.
• Mass Parental Incarceration and Sentencing Reform in Minnesota. (2019). Mitchell Hamline Law Review: Vol. 45, Iss. 4, Article 8.