Students Develop Lawyering Skills While Combatting Human Trafficking

During the spring semester, the University of Arkansas School of Law offered a Human Trafficking Clinic. Under the supervision of professor Annie Smith, law students developed and completed advocacy projects for their clients, Legal Aid of Arkansas and Catholic Charities of Arkansas, non-profit organizations seeking to confront and prevent human trafficking.

In August 2014, the Arkansas Attorney General's Human Trafficking State Task Force for the Prevention of Human Trafficking issued a report that included a series of detailed recommendations regarding how to combat trafficking in Arkansas. Unfortunately, nearly all of the Task Force recommendations require funding. As co-chair of the Task Force, Catholic Charities staff member Reagan Stanford asked the Clinic to perform several of the unfunded recommendations. Clinic students Kylie Bonds ('16) and Kelsey Taylor ('15) drafted licensing requirements for agencies working with trafficking survivors and proposed low-cost strategies for the state to implement the licensing regime; drafted educational materials for Arkansas judges on sex and labor trafficking that will be distributed to every state court judge at the Judicial Council meeting this summer; and drafted an Arkansas-specific template victim's rights flier that will be provided to law enforcement agencies throughout the state.

As a consultant to the law students regarding the judicial educational materials, former judge Jon Comstock remarked, "What Kylie and Kelsey developed was very impressive to me.  I believe Arkansas judges will appreciate the opportunity to learn about human trafficking in a compelling, comprehensive and yet succinct way."

Law students Whitney Doolittle ('15) and Maria Korzendorfer ('16) worked with clinic client Legal Aid of Arkansas to increase that organization's ability to identify and respond to human trafficking. The clinic students created a script for Legal Aid staff to use during intakes to screen for potential trafficking victims; drafted an Arkansas-specific brochure for distribution to Legal Aid clients and community members regarding human trafficking; and developed and presented a training for Legal Aid staff about how to recognize and represent survivors of trafficking.

"By equipping us with screening questions and outreach brochures in several languages, the Human Trafficking Clinic has positioned us to further our mission of providing access to justice," said Legal Aid attorney Mary Goff. "The students' well researched presentation honed in on key points, providing us with a solid base of knowledge. Now that we are aware of the problem in Arkansas, we can grow our capacity to represent individuals who are exploited for profit and not free to leave."

Students enrolled in the Human Trafficking Clinic identified numerous lessons learned from their experiences in the clinic. "The Human Trafficking Clinic gave me an opportunity to practice essential lawyering skills such as conducting client meetings, collaboration, and creating legal documents that are easy to understand," said student Kylie Bonds. She added, "It also provided me with essential knowledge of federal and state laws regarding trafficking, as well as equipped me with knowledge of how to interact with trafficking survivors and other clients whether they be victims of trauma or limited English proficient." The clinic also provided students the opportunity to gain insight into representing organizations and to consider complex policy issues.

Since 1975, the University of Arkansas Law School Legal Clinic has fulfilled the dual mission of providing experiential learning opportunities for students and much-needed free legal services to the Northwest Arkansas community. The Legal Clinic is an umbrella for the Civil Litigation and Advocacy Clinic, Criminal Defense Clinic, Immigration Clinic, Transactional Clinic, and Federal Practice Clinic. This semester, it also hosted the Human Trafficking Clinic. Each clinic offers law students the opportunity to engage in the practice of law under the close supervision of a faculty member.