Law Students Create National Survey of State Law Privileged Communications for Human Trafficking Service Providers

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From left: Alex Millsap and Savannah Luna

U of A School of Law students Savannah Luna and Alex Millsap created a national resource for human trafficking survivors and the professionals who seek to support them. The project was part of the students' work in the Human Trafficking Clinic, one of six clinic opportunities available to law students as part of the School of Law Legal Clinic.

Luna and Millsap's client was Los Angeles-based organization Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. According to the technical assistance team at the coalition, they wanted to create a widely accessible "starting point to help those providing services to trafficked individuals to understand whether their communications with those individuals are likely to be protected and how to best protect them."

Luna and Millsap worked tirelessly to research and review existing resources and communications protected by state law privilege. The result is the National Survey of State Law Privileged Communications for Human Trafficking Service Providers, an extensive online tool accessible to all those who need it.

"The coalition's Training and Technical Assistance Project has greatly appreciated the support of the clinic for researching long-term projects that can be helpful to the community who support survivors of human trafficking," said Erika Gonzalez, training and technical assistance senior attorney for the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking. "This survey was particularly needed to get an updated landscape of privilege laws in the U.S. that can be useful to legal and non-legal providers. With the help of the clinic, we now have a tool that can be easily updated and utilized by the field."

"The project was a great experience," Millsap said. "It was overwhelming when we first sat down and thought about it, but we just set our sights on the end-user and the project slowly took its final shape around that."

"The best part of this Human Trafficking Clinic project was that not only did we get to help our client CAST, but that our research will help people across the U.S. better understand the complex laws concerning privileged communications," Luna said. "It is an amazing experience to know this work will reach many people across the country."

Gonzalez added that Millsap and Luna were thoughtful in their approach and had great vision, which turned the coalition's idea into a practical product. "We were excited to provide the students a project that could look from a bird's-eye view of how we support the advocates who work in this field."

The law school Legal Clinic was first directed by then-professor Hillary Rodham Clinton in 1975 to give students hands-on skills training by representing real clients in real life legal situations, and to provide a much needed service to Northwest Arkansas. Learn more about the training and experience offered to students in the School of Law Legal Clinics and the critical legal services the program provides to the community.

If you or someone you know might be experiencing human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-737-3888 or text 233-733.

About the School of Law: The law school offers a competitive J.D. as well as an advanced LL.M. program, which are taught by nationally recognized faculty. The school offers unique opportunities for students to participate in pro bono work, externships, live client clinics, competitions, and food and agriculture initiatives. The school strives to identify, discuss, and challenge issues of race, color, ethnicity, and the impact(s) they have on students, faculty, and staff members in an effort to achieve a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community. From admitting the Six Pioneers who were the first African American students to attend law school in the South without a court order to graduating governors, judges, prosecutors, and faculty who went on to become President of the United States and Secretary of State, the law school has a rich history and culture. Follows us at @uarklaw.