Tuesday, August 14, 2012

September 14/Houston, TX: Justice for Human Trafficking Survivors: Civil Litigation in U.S. Courts

This is a free CLE for attorneys and service providers, featuring Attorney Martina E. Vandenberg.
Lunch will be provided. For additional details and to RSVP please contact Anne Chandler at Houston@tahirih.org or at (713) 496-0100.
Title:
Justice for Human Trafficking Survivors: Civil Litigation in U.S. Courts
When/Where:
Friday, September 14th, 11:30 AM – 1 PM
Jones Day Law Firm
717 Texas, Ste. 3300
Houston, Texas 77002-2712
RSVP:
Anne Chandler at Houston@tahirih.org or at (713) 496-0100 
By:
Speaker:
Attorney Martina E. Vandenberg: As an Open Society Fellow, Vandenberg is establishing a public law center to serve as a clearing house, bringing together highly qualified pro bono attorneys with human trafficking survivors seeking legal assistance. The organization will advocate to increase the range of legal options offered to trafficking victims in the United States. By advocating with non-governmental organization leaders, training lawyers, and mentoring attorneys handling pro bono trafficking cases, Vandenberg hopes to increase trafficking victims’ access to justice in the United States.
Previously, Vandenberg was a partner in the Litigation Department of the law firm Jenner and Block LLP, where she focused on complex commercial litigation and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act matters.  She served as a senior member of the firm’s Pro Bono Committee. In 2006, Vandenberg received the Albert E. Jenner, Jr. Pro Bono Award for her successful representation of trafficking victims in the United States federal courts and her advocacy before Congress. In 2011, Vandenberg served as pro bono advocacy counsel to the Freedom Network USA.
Vandenberg has spent nearly two decades advocating against human trafficking, forced labor, and violence against women. As the Europe Researcher for Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division (1998–2002), Vandenberg participated in the negotiations for the United Nations Trafficking Protocol in Vienna, Austria.  She also wrote two Human Rights Watch reports, Hopes Betrayed: Trafficking of Women and Girls to Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina for Forced Prostitution and Kosovo: Rape as a Weapon of “Ethnic Cleansing.” She conducted extensive human rights investigations in the Russian Federation, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Uzbekistan, Kosovo, Israel, and Ukraine. In 1997, the Israel Women’s Network published Vandenberg’s report, Trafficking of Women to Israel for Forced Prostitution, the first report documenting human trafficking in Israel. While living in the Russian Federation, Vandenberg co-founded one of Russia’s first rape crisis centers for women.
A Rhodes Scholar and Truman Scholar, Vandenberg also teaches as adjunct faculty at the American University Washington College of Law.
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