SPRING 2017 INSTRUCTORS

Transcription

1 Professor Roza Pati Director, Human Trafficking Academy Executive Director, LL.M./ J.S.D. Program in Intercultural Human Rights St. Thomas University School of Law Member, Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, the Vatican Professor Roza Pati is a tenured Professor of Law at St. Thomas University School of Law. She teaches International Law, Comparative Law, Human Rights & Terrorism and Human Trafficking Law. Formerly a Member of Parliament and a Cabinet Member serving as the Secretary of State for Youth and Women of Albania, Dr. Pati has been involved in anti-trafficking work since the early 90s. She has a rich experience in public service as well as academia and is a prolific scholar. In 2005, she facilitated the preparation of The Miami Declaration of Principles on Human Trafficking, 1 Intercultural Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 11 (2006), a set of law and policy recommendations, and she lectures on human trafficking at academic and governmental institutions around the world. Some of her publications in the field of combating human trafficking include: Human Trafficking as Modern Day Slavery: A Human Rights Approach, in The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery (forthcoming, 2017, SAGE Publications) Trafficking in Persons and Transnational Organized Crime: A Policy-Oriented Perspective, in Handbook on Human Trafficking, Public Health and the Law: A Spring School form the New Haven Perspective (2014, Georg Thieme Verlag). Human Trafficking: An Issue of Human and National Security, 3 National Security and Armed Conflict Law Review 29 (2014). The Categorical Imperative to End Modern-Day Slavery: Subsidiarity, Privatization, and the State s Duty to Protect, in Der Staat im Recht 1219 (2013, Duncker & Humblot). Trading in Humans: A New Haven Perspective, 20 Asia Pacific L. Rev. 135 (2012). Combating Human Trafficking Through Transnational Law Enforcement Cooperation: The Case of South Eastern Europe, in Policing Across Borders: Law Enforcement Networks and The Challenges of Crime Control (2012, Springer). Beyond the Duty to Protect: Expanding Accountability and Responsibilities of the State in Combating Human Trafficking, in The Diversity of International Law 319 (2009, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers). 1

2 Barbara A. Martinez, Esq. Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Chief of the Special Prosecutions Section Miami United States Attorney s Office Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Barbara A. Martinez is the Chief of the Special Prosecutions Section in the Miami United States Attorney s Office. In this capacity, AUSA Martinez supervises federal prosecutors who handle cases involving child exploitation, human trafficking, and violent crime involving death or serious bodily injury, which include serial bank robberies, hostage takings, and gang-related activity. AUSA Martinez is also the Human Trafficking Coordinator and the Project Safe Childhood Coordinator for the Southern District of Florida. As the District s Coordinator for these programs, AUSA Martinez is responsible for coordination between non-governmental entities, federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, and prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida who assist in the investigation and prosecution of child exploitation and human trafficking cases. AUSA Martinez earned her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. She joined the Department of Justice in 1997 as a Trial Attorney through the Attorney General s Honors Program. She worked for the Fraud Section in the Criminal Division from 1997 until 2000, when she joined the United States Attorney s Office in Miami. Some of her notable awards include the 2015 Director s Award for Superior performance as an AUSA for the prosecution of a sex trafficking case; 2013 Women in Federal Law Enforcement s Top Prosecutor Award for her work on human trafficking, the Department of Justice s 2011 Outstanding Overall Partnership Coalition Group Award for her work and contributions on cases involving domestic sex trafficking of minors; 2005 Department of Justice s Director s Award for Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney for the prosecution of a production of child pornography and sex tourism case that involved more than 100 victims; and the 2010 Director s Honor Award from the U.S. Secret Service for work on a multimillion dollar computer intrusion case. 2

3 Dr. Stephen Symes, M.D., FACP Associate Dean, Office of Diversity and Inclusion Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Primary Care Clinician, T.H.R.I.V.E. Clinic Dr. Stephen Symes, M.D., FACP Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, is an Associate Professor of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases with the Miller School of Medicine. He completed his medical education at Howard University in 1989 and Internal Medicine residency at Jackson Memorial Medical Center in Dr. Symes joined the faculty in 1997 as Associate Director, and then Program Director for Internal Medicine, until With his main clinical activities in HIV and AIDS, he developed a pathway to train future physician leaders in global and domestic health program administration and advocacy. With medical students at Miller, and JMH Internal Medicine residents, Dr. Symes started the Human Rights clinic at San Juan Bosco for asylum seekers who are victims of torture and abuse. The clinic has seen over 100 patients. Dr. Symes also serves as primary care clinician in T.H.R.I.V.E. a UM-JMH clinic for victims of Human Trafficking here in South Florida. Dr. Symes background as a medical educator, and work with disadvantaged populations, allows him to mentor young scholars toward health equity and advocacy in medical care and public health. 3

4 Professor Alexandra Levy Professor, Notre Dame Law School Attorney, Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center South Bend, Indiana Ms. Alexandra Levy is an attorney at the Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Center and an adjunct professor at Notre Dame, where she created and teaches the Law School's first Human Trafficking course. Ms. Levy's curriculum and scholarship focus on human trafficking from a Law and Economics perspective. Her empirical work has been cited by the NEW YORK TIMES, and she regularly speaks on issues relating to criminality, victimhood, and the economics of black markets. Ms. Levy contributes to widely-used resources on civil human trafficking litigation, and provides technical assistance to pro bono attorneys handling trafficking matters at law firms nationwide. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Ms. Levy also teaches Introduction to the American Legal System in Notre Dame's LL.M. program for foreign attorneys. She conducts research and writes scholarly articles. She has co-authored with Martina Vandenberg the article on: Human Trafficking and Diplomatic Immunity: Impunity No More?, 7 Intercultural Hum. L. Rev. 77 (2012). 4

5 Michele Gillen Chief Investigative Reporter and Anchor WFOR-TV CBS Ms. Michele Gillen is Chief Investigative Reporter and Anchor of Focus on South Florida, at WFOR-TV, the CBS owned and operated station in. Ms. Gillen has served as an anchor and investigative reporter on network and local television news. She is the recipient of 35 National Academy of Television Arts and Science (NATAS) Regional Emmy awards, the Columbia DuPont Silver Baton, the Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting and three Green Eyeshade Awards. She has been honored by the Foundation of American Women in Radio and Television, including being chosen as the television journalist whose investigations most benefited and helped change the lives of American women. Based in Miami for WFOR-TV, Ms. Gillen has traveled the world to expose and bring unique perspective to critical stories and newsmakers of our time. Michele s work has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The O'Reilly Factor on Fox and The Huffington Post. Her investigation Invisible Chains is an expose into human trafficking and modern day slavery in America and across the globe. It prompted her to organize and produce the first of its kind international conference in South Florida to fight human trafficking and was held at St. Thomas University in Miami. Before joining WFOR-TV in 1997, Ms. Gillen worked as an investigative reporter for KCBS -TV in Los Angeles. She was a featured investigative correspondent on the NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw and news magazines Exposé and Dateline NBC. One of Ms. Gillen s passions is to provide family court judges and first responders with tools to help children victimized by child abuse, human trafficking and trauma. She graduated valedictorian from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, with a Bachelor of Science in Speech. 5

6 Brenda Mezick, Esq. Assistant State Attorney Chief, Program Development & Public Policy for the Human Trafficking Unit Miami-Dade State Attorney s Office Assistant State Attorney Brenda Mezick is a graduate of Georgetown University Law School and is a Human Trafficking Prosecutor for the Office of the State Attorney for Miami-Dade County. Over the course of her twenty years with the office, she has specialized in the prosecution of offenses involving sex trafficking, cyber-crimes, capital sexual battery, and homicides. She has forensic sub-specializations in the areas of digital evidence investigation and DNA. She has taught for the National District Attorneys Association, the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, and the American Prosecutors Research Institute and has participated in the development of training software for prosecutors. She is the recipient of the Cuban American Bar Association Pro Bono Publico Award, SAO Award of Distinction, Dade Chiefs of Police ASA Recognition Award and the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Award of Distinction. Ms. Mezick has co-drafted several successful legislative initiatives, which have helped to strengthen Florida s human trafficking legal infrastructure. She is the Legislative Chair for the Fernandez-Rundle Anti-Human Trafficking Policy Institute. She has assisted in the development of the Miami-Dade SAO Trauma-Informed Human Trafficking Prosecution Model and has helped to develop interagency trainings on the neuroscience of trauma. She has created human trafficking training materials for law enforcement and lectures statewide on the use of digital evidence and Florida s RICO statute to investigate human trafficking. She has presented at numerous human trafficking conferences and community awareness events. As a courtroom prosecutor, Ms. Mezick has prosecuted high profile human trafficking cases involving the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. 6

7 Professor Cheryl Shelly Page Professor of Law, Duncan School of Law Knoxville, Tennessee Professor Cheryl Shelly Page is a licensed attorney since 1993 and a law professor for more than 12 years. She worked for seven years at St. Mary s School of Law in San Antonio, Texas and now heads up the Criminal Law Department at the Duncan School of Law. She has been in Knoxville since Prior to teaching, she served as a criminal prosecutor in Austin, Texas and a staff attorney for a state agency (State Board for Educator Certification) also in Austin. Professor Page recently became a tenured member of the Duncan School of Law and is a full professor. As an attorney, Professor Page specializes in Criminal Law, Human Rights, Education Law, Domestic Violence Law and Civil Rights. She has taught International Human Rights: Global Sex Trafficking in Innsbruck, Austria for two semesters and currently researches in the area of Sex Trafficking. Professor Page George speaks internationally at conferences on the topic of sex trafficking. She has spoken in Austria, England, China, Turkey, Czech Republic, Africa and Greece. She was also asked to Chair a Session at the 2012 International Conference on Law & Society. This conference was Co-Sponsored by the Canadian Law and Society Association, the Japanese Association of Sociology of Law and the Socio- Legal Studies Association of the United Kingdom and was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, Professor Page has just finished co-authoring a textbook entitled, Human Trafficking with her co-author, former Dean and Professor Bill Piatt. The book is being published by Carolina Academic Press this Spring and will hopefully help others to understand and recognize human slavery in the 21st century. A conservative estimate tells us that there are 27 million people globally in enslavement. That is double the number of people stolen from the continent of Africa during the trans-atlantic slave trade. Professor Page s passion lie in one day seeing modern-day slavery eradicated, one day seeing those people freed. She wants the world to know that slavery still exists and it is in our backyard. It affects all of us and until we work diligently to end it, it will continue to flourish. She considers herself a modern-day abolitionist and is doing what GOD has called her to do by bringing awareness to this atrocity called human trafficking. She is married to her best friend and laughing buddy, James Page and have three dogs, Bella, Max and Noah. They live happily together and enjoy each day that GOD blesses them with. 7

8 Greg H. Bristol Founder and President The Human Trafficking Investigations & Training Institute (HTITI) Front Royal, Virginia After graduating from Michigan State University with a B.A. in Criminal Justice, Mr. Greg Bristol became a Trooper for the Michigan State Police, and served nine years at their Northville and Detroit Freeway Posts. In 1987, he became a FBI Special Agent and was assigned to the FBI s Washington Field Office. His duties included Foreign Counterintelligence, Public Corruption, Corporate Fraud, and Civil Rights. Mr. Bristol received the Attorney General s Award for Exceptional Service for his contributions to the Enron Task Force, a five-year assignment that brought criminal charges against 36 defendants. In 2006, he was assigned to a Civil Rights squad, where he focused on hate crimes and human trafficking. One of Mr. Bristol s 2009 FBI domestic servitude rescues is featured in the movie Not My Life. After retiring in 2010, Mr. Bristol became a Special Agent with the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, and worked complex contract fraud cases in Kandahar, Afghanistan. In 2012, Mr. Bristol created The Human Trafficking Investigations & Training Institute (HTITI), a company that offers advanced human trafficking investigation courses to law enforcement. His courses have been taught in eight states and in the Caribbean. Mr. Bristol is an instructor with the University of Louisville s Southern Police Institute, where he teaches police command officers why they need to train their officers in advanced human trafficking investigations. He is also a U.S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crimes human trafficking expert consultant. Mr. Bristol narrated a 2014 UNICEF Public Service Announcement on child sex trafficking in the U.S., and is a frequent speaker to community groups interested in learning more about human trafficking. He can be contacted through HTITI s website at 8

9 Ana Isabel Vallejo, Esq. Co-Director/Attorney VIDA Legal Assistance, Inc. Ms. Ana Isabel Vallejo is a co-director of VIDA Legal Assistance, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the rights of immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, trafficking in persons and other violent crimes. From 2011 to 2013 she was the Project Coordinator for the Human Trafficking Academy of the Graduate Program in Intercultural Human Rights at St. Thomas University School of Law. Prior to her joining St. Thomas University and VIDA, she supervised a team of four attorneys and three paralegals while representing lowincome immigrant women and children victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, incest, and other gender related violent crimes. For more than 10 years, Ms. Vallejo has dedicated her practice to representing survivors of human trafficking (modern-day slavery). She has worked tirelessly in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice, Criminal Section Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney s Office, The Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Department of Homeland Security to insure that victims of trafficking have access to justice. In addition to testifying before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on trafficking-in-persons in Florida s agricultural industry, Ms. Vallejo has also participated as faculty in international trainings and conferences geared towards law enforcement and government officials sponsored by the Department of Justice, Criminal Division Office of Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training (OPDAT) in Panama, El Salvador, and Mexico. Additionally, she has presented in international conferences on the topic of access to justice for survivors of trafficking in persons in Thailand, Spain and Puerto Rico. Prior to working with survivors of trafficking in persons, Ms. Vallejo represented hundreds of victims of human rights violations seeking protection in the United States. In the course of her duties, she appeared before the Department of Homeland Security s Bureaus of Citizenship and Immigration Services and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service), the Executive Office for Immigration Review and the Board of Immigration Appeals. Additionally, Ms. Vallejo s experience includes the research and writing of three amicus curiae briefs -- two for the European Court of Human Rights and one for the Inter- American Court of Human Rights. She has researched and written in the area of Women s Human Rights specifically the issues of female genital mutilation, forced prostitution and trafficking of women for commercial sexual exploitation. She received a B. A. in Political Science and a B. A. in International Affairs from Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; a law degree from St. Thomas University School of Law, ; and a Master of Laws degree in Inter-Cultural Human Rights Law from St. Thomas University School of Law,, where she graduated cum laude. 9

10 Barbara Amaya Survivor and Advocate, Award Winning Author Arlington, Virginia Ms. Barbara Amaya is an award winning advocate, speaker, trainer, author and survivor leader in the movement to end modern-day slavery and human trafficking. She has dedicated her life and work to combating human trafficking. Ms. Amaya has a background in education, and holds a credential in early childhood development. She has been actively raising awareness of the sexual exploitation of children and domestic sex trafficking since Ms. Amaya works as an author, human trafficking subject matter expert and consultant, trainer and lecturer. In the area of preventing domestic minor sex trafficking, Ms. Amaya has worked to change the paradigm shift on addressing law enforcement s view of criminal versus victim in her law enforcement training, educational lectures and presentations. Her first published book is an educational graphic novel, The Destiny of Zoe Carpenter, includes a curriculum aimed at educating middle school students and others. Her expert testimony of escaping 'the life' after growing up from the age of 12 in the streets of New York City while a victim of domestic minor sex trafficking, can be read in her award winning memoir, Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Lost Innocence, Modern Day Slavery and Transformation. Ms. Amaya shares her compelling story of overcoming trauma and adversity as a source of inspiration and motivation in her presentations and trainings across the United States. Ms. Amaya has appeared in local and national media, including NPR s StoryCorps, Huffington Post, Washington Times, Herald Standard, Animal New York, Florida Times-Union, among others. She was instrumental in the passage of the Washington D.C. Safe Harbor Bill in January Her legislative work currently includes a vacating convictions bill for victims of human trafficking in Washington D.C., D.C. an end demand bill in Washington D.C. and a federal vacating convictions bill. Ms. Amaya is routinely called upon by lawmakers to give her expert testimony and has testified in the Washington D.C., Virginia General Assembly, the Maryland General Assembly and the Florida Assembly in support of legislation that supports human rights and services for victims and survivors of human trafficking. She has worked with several state legislature and advocacy groups to promote a vision that includes the survivor voice. Ms. Amaya was quoted in the State Department Trafficking in Persons Report stating, I choose to believe I experienced all that I have so that I may do the work I do today helping others. She is a training consultant with the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center and has facilitated human trafficking survivor mental health restoration groups with Polaris and mentors survivors of human trafficking who have recently left "the life" and are seeking to lead productive and healthy lives. She is a member of the NSN (National Survivor Network) the Frederick Douglass Foundation panel, the Virginia Task Force and the State Department Human Trafficking Task Force. Ms. Amaya serves on several nonprofit advisory boards including, ArtWorks For Freedom, IMPACT, HER Resiliency, and the SAFE Coalition board. 10

11 Maria Jose Fletcher, Esq. Co-Director/Founder/Attorney VIDA Legal Assistance, Inc. Ms. Maria Jose T. Fletcher is an attorney co-director and founder of VIDA Legal Assistance, Inc., a nonprofit organization formed to advance the rights of immigrant survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking in persons and other violent crimes. Ms. Fletcher is actively involved in local, state and national domestic violence and victim s rights organizations. She prepares and conducts educational presentations and trainings in the areas of immigration, domestic violence, and trafficking in persons. She has been invited to present at conferences, seminars and workshops by the US Department of State, the US Department of Justice, including the Office on Violence Against Women, and by national and international non-governmental organizations to address the needs of immigrant survivors. Among the countries and territories visited by Ms. Fletcher are: Austria, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Filipinas, Guatemala, Honduras, Northern Mariana Islands, Morocco, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Peru and Uruguay. Since 2001, Ms. Fletcher has been working in collaboration with numerous governmental agencies and non-profit organizations to ensure that survivors of human trafficking have access to protections and justice, by providing free legal assistance and coordination of other necessary services. Through VIDA, Ms. Fletcher participates in educational projects dedicated to prevent trafficking in persons, labor exploitation and sexual violence in the work place. Among other functions, Ms. Fletcher completed a two-year commitment ( ) as one of fifteen members of the National Advisory Committee on Violence Against Women, chartered by the US Attorney General. The role of the committee was to provide recommendations on the prevention of domestic violence to the US Department of Justice and the US Department of Health and Human Services. The Committee s report was issued on November 30, Since 2003, Ms. Fletcher has been a regional and national coordinator of the Freedom Network Training Institute (FNTI), created to provide training and technical assistance to multidisciplinary audiences on the subject of trafficking in persons a national project of the Freedom Network USA and since 2011 is a Board member of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV). Previously, and for over 10 years, Ms. Fletcher has been an advisory board member of the National Network to End Violence Against Immigrant Women and a founding member and past co-chair of the Freedom Network to Empower Trafficked and Enslaved Persons (USA). In 2005, on the International Women s Day, Global Rights named Ms. Fletcher a Human Rights Defender for her work on behalf of victims of trafficking. Ms. Fletcher received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida and a J.D. from Nova Southeastern University, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. 11

12 Victoria Mesa-Estrada, Esq. Staff Attorney, Florida Legal Services Ms. Victoria Mesa-Estrada is an attorney with the Migrant Farmworker Justice Project of Florida Legal Services. She has successfully handed over four (4) major class actions on behalf of over 1,000 migrant and domestic workers for violations of the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the Migrant and Seasonal Worker Protection Act, and the U.S. Department of Labor regulations under H-2A Agricultural guest worker program. She also provided legal representation to temporary foreign workers in matters involving labor trafficking, employment discrimination, worker s compensation and Occupational safety and health (OSHA). A native of Colombia, Ms. Mesa-Estrada immigrated to the U.S. in She graduated from St. Thomas University School of Law in 2008, and also holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) in Intercultural Human Rights, cum laude. In 2002, she earned her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and International Relations from Florida International University, and received an Undergraduate Certificate in Latin American and Caribbean Studies with concentrations in South American and Caribbean Studies. Throughout her years of work, Ms. Mesa-Estrada has been a zealous advocate for workers, immigrants and women. She spent over 10 years in the not-for-profit sector working for human rights, international development and civil rights organizations including Colombian American Service Association, People for the American Way Foundation, and Oxfam America. Her advocacy and policy work extended nation-wide and overseas. To this day, she remains actively involved in many of these campaigns advocating for workers rights, immigrant rights, and corporate social responsibility. She currently serves as volunteer attorney for the Coalition of Florida Farmworker Associations in Miami-Dade County, and the Guatemalan Maya Center in Palm Beach County and is an active board member of the Palm Beach County Hispanic Bar Association. Ms. Mesa-Estrada is admitted to practice law in the state of Florida, the Federal Southern, Northern, and Middle Districts of Florida and the Federal Western and Eastern Districts of Arkansas. 12

13 Sean Sellers, M.A. Co-Founder and Senior Investigator/Monitor Fair Food Standards Council Sarasota, Florida Mr. Sean Sellers is a Co-Founder and Senior Investigator/Monitor at the Fair Food Standards Council (FFSC). The mission of the Fair Food Standards Council is to monitor the development of a sustainable Florida tomato industry that advances both the human rights of farm workers and the long-term interests of growers through implementation of the Fair Food Program. Mr. Sellers has been involved with efforts to improve labor conditions in U.S. agriculture for ten years. From 2008 to 2010, he was a W.K. Kellogg Foundation Food and Community Fellow. He also served as National Coordinator, Student/Farmworker Alliance, Immokalee, FL. Mr. Sellers has an M.A. from the Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received outstanding thesis honors for his writing on the CIW. His writing on the Fair Food Program has been published in The Nation, Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts (Ohio State University), and The University of Pennsylvania Journal of Law and Social Change. Mr. Seller has harvested watermelons in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Missouri. He has been a lecturer and panelist in numerous events related to prevention of slavery practices in the US agriculture industry. 13

14 Regina Bernadin, M.A. Program Manager International Rescue Committee Ms. Regina Bernadin is a Program Manager at the International Rescue Committee in Miami, where she supervises the anti-trafficking program and a project to assist unaccompanied migrant children in South Florida. Previously, she served as the Statewide Human Trafficking Coordinator with the Florida Department of Children and Families. She is a consultant for the Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime, Training and Technical Assistance Center, on human rights issues. Ms. Bernadin also conducts presentations and trainings nationally, in English and Spanish, on victim identification, service provision and collaboration. Internationally, she has trained on the topic of conflict analysis and resolution and the implementation of anti-trafficking initiatives. Her interest in the development of human rights abroad has taken her to several countries, including Haiti, Colombia, Ecuador, Suriname and Tanzania. She holds a B.A. in International Studies and Criminology from the University of Miami and an M.A in International Administration and Certificate in Non-profit Management from that same institution. Ms. Bernadin, a published author and blogger, is currently working on her Ph.D. in Conflict Resolution Studies at Nova Southeastern University. She is the recipient of the 2016 Sarlo Distinguished Humanitarian Award and the 2016 Janita Lee Award for Victim Advocate Professional of the Year. 14

15 Jason Petcovic, Esq. Attorney Mr. Jason W. Petcovic is a 2012 graduate of St. Thomas University Law School s J.D. and LL.M. in Intercultural Human Rights programs. He is also a certificate graduate of the 2014 Human Trafficking Academy. As an attorney, Mr. Petcovic became one of three attorneys responsible for making legal sufficiency determinations for open child welfare investigations in the Department of Children and Families in Miami- Dade County. He drafted over 400 legal petitions for cases involving the abuse, neglect or abandonment of children and became sole attorney responsible for determining best course of action for all open investigations in Miami-Dade County with allegations of human trafficking. Mr. Petcovic prosecuted approximately 80 court caseload through dependency proceedings before a circuit court judge and conducted training for child protective investigators on presenting investigations before the court. As a graduate fellow of The Human Trafficking Academy at St. Thomas University, Mr. Petcovic performed legal research and drafted memoranda regarding laws, judicial decisions and other precedents bearing on legal issues involving human trafficking, and assisted in the creation of a human trafficking legal reference card for utilization by first responders. 15

16 S. Peppy Bennett, LL.M., MHS.CPS Child Advocate Coordinator Human Trafficking Supervisor Guardian Ad Litem Program 17th Judicial Circuit Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Ms. Shannon Peppy Bennett is a Child Advocate Coordinator and the Human Trafficking Supervisor for the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program, Seventeenth Circuit in Broward County. She is a human rights advocate and a 2012 graduate of the Saint Thomas University Law School s LL.M. Program in Intercultural Human Rights. She is also a certificate graduate of the 2012 Human Trafficking Academy. Ms. Bennett works very closely with community based service providers like the Department of Children and Families, the Department of Juvenile Justice, The Broward Sheriff s Office and other local law enforcement as well as the Attorney General and Special and Public Defenders offices representing children in the Florida child welfare system who are abandoned, abused and neglected and are victims of domestic minor sex trafficking. Ms. Bennett presents extensively on issues related to children in custody of the state, including on issues related specifically to domestic minor sex trafficking victims and challenges for their protection and rehabilitation. 16

17 Jerry Schreiber, Esq. Consultant with the Human Trafficking Academy Mr. Jerry Schreiber is a retired attorney with more than 30 years of trial and appellate experience. He presently consults with attorneys in areas of trial planning and strategy, in addition to assisting them in their research and writing of trial papers and appellate briefs. He has taught criminal justice related courses at various colleges and has served as a consultant with the Human Trafficking Academy of the LL.M/J.S.D. Program in Intercultural Human Rights at St. Thomas University School of Law beginning in Since then he has volunteered his time with numerous activities of the human rights program. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He received his MBA degree from the University of Pittsburgh and his J.D. degree from the University of Miami. With his trial and appellate practice, he specialized in both civil and criminal defense. One unique qualification is his experience and expertise in collecting judgments. His published work entitled, For the Trafficking Victim, Winning is Collecting, can be found in Vol. 11, St. Thomas University School of Law s, Intercultural Human Rights Law Review. This work discusses the preparation and effective collection of restitution orders granted to the human trafficking victim by the criminal trial court. 17