University of Michigan Law School

The Human Trafficking Lab

The Human Trafficking Lab is a social justice innovation space where multidisciplinary student teams use design thinking to research, incubate, and build replicable, scalable, and disruptive solutions to reduce vulnerability to trafficking. The Lab’s partnership with the Human Trafficking Clinic–which provides direct legal representation to survivors–helps to ensure the work in the Lab is informed by the lived-experience of survivors of trafficking.

Please note that law students who wish to enroll in the Lab need to enroll in Law 951 Human Trafficking Clinic + Lab. This listing is for non law students only.

Class description

We believe the law is an incomplete, imperfect solution to reducing exploitation and that interdisciplinary, cross-industry collaboration is necessary. Thus, the Lab is geared towards creating systems level change at policy, service, and industry levels through collaborative partnerships across the nonprofit, corporate, and governmental sectors. The Lab takes an expansive approach to addressing vulnerability. As such, projects cover a wide range of topics, and they vary each semester. Some examples of topics might be helping job seekers expunge their criminal records when they apply for a job, combating misinformation in anti-trafficking narratives, and addressing forced labor in supply chains.

Meeting Time: Thursday 12:30-3:30 p.m.
Instructors: Bridgette Carr (Law), Danielle Kalil (Law), Chavi Keeney Nana (Law), Courtney Petersen (Law)
Credits: 3

Instructors

Bridgette Carr

Bridgette Carr

Bridgette Carr is a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School. She was a PSI co-instructor for Combatting Human Trafficking within Vulnerable Families in the United States, Economic Integration for Individuals in the Refugee Resettlement Program, Identifying Victims of Human Trafficking within Health Care Systems, and LGBTQ+ Communities and Human Trafficking, and Designing a Rigorous and Joyful Grad School. She co-teaches the Problem Solving bootcamp.

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Danielle Kalil

Danielle Kalil

Professor Danielle N. Kalil’s, ’15, research, teaching, and practice focus on the intersection of human trafficking with immigration and child welfare. She is a clinical teaching fellow in the Human Trafficking Clinic representing domestic and foreign survivors of trafficking in a variety of civil legal areas.

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Chavi Keeney Nana

Chavi Keeney Nana

Chavi Keeney Nana is a professor from practice at the University of Michigan Law School. As a practitioner, she has represented major multinational corporations and financial institutions in civil and criminal investigations before the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Courtney Petersen

Courtney Petersen