The School of Law is proud to announce that Maya Simek, Director of the CWRU Human Trafficking Law Clinic (HTLC), has been selected to receive the Inspire Change award from the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking. The award was presented at the Collaborative’s Inspire Change benefit on Thursday, Sept. 27, in recognition of Simek’s outstanding work and dedication to advocating for victims of human trafficking and developing an innovative, holistic model for legal and social services. United States Senator Sherrod Brown also received the Inspire Change award. Katherine Chon, Director of the Office on Trafficking in Persons for the United States Department of Health and Human Speakers, was the event’s keynote speaker.
The Human Trafficking Project at the School of Law was spearheaded by former Associate Dean Judith Lipton with the hope of hiring a dually credentialed social work and attorney staff to work on anti-trafficking issues in Northeast Ohio. Since inception, grants from the Victims of Crime Act fund have supported this work.
Simek, who joined the School of Law in May 2017, worked with Associate Dean of Experiential Education Laura McNally to establish the Clinic portion of the Human Trafficking Law Project in its first rendition. Since its opening in the fall of 2018, the HTLC has become a vital resource for survivors of human trafficking in Northeast Ohio. Under Simek’s leadership, the HTLC has served over 1000 individuals, providing crucial civil legal representation on issues such as expungement, social security benefits, and child support modification. Through Simek’s innovation, the HTLC has also established a “Legal Wellness” toolkit, which helps clients to identify and then to work through barriers on their record, such as warrant blocks, child support blocks, and identity theft. On average, clients present with three to five legal issues, though the clinic has handled as many as 43 issues for a single client!
A hallmark of the HTLC is its cross-disciplinary approach, combining the expertise of both law students and social work students from the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. This collaboration allows students to address not only legal issues but also the broader social and emotional needs of the clients, fostering a more holistic approach to care. "The holistic model helps students to look at the whole person rather than an isolated legal issue," Simek explains. This cross-disciplinary framework allows future practitioners to help clients make informed, person-centered decisions while respecting where each individual is in their journey toward stability.
In addition to her leadership at the HTLC, Simek serves as one of the leads on the Legal and Legislative Subcommittee for the Greater Cleveland Coordinated Response to Human Trafficking, furthering advocacy efforts at the local and legislative levels.
One compelling success story from the HTLC involves securing asylum for a labor trafficking survivor from The Gambia. Over the course of six years, the clinic has supported this survivor through her asylum process, and the team is now working on her U.S. citizenship. Another recent victory involved helping a survivor gain access to a sealed name change through supportive statements from her social care providers, demonstrating the clinic’s innovative use of both legal and social resources to empower clients.
Beyond direct legal services, the HTLC is deeply committed to promoting legal wellness, offering preventive legal screenings and connecting clients to social service agencies to address their full range of needs. This comprehensive approach helps stabilize survivors, giving them the resources they need to rebuild their lives.
The Inspire Change award is a fitting recognition of Simek’s unwavering commitment to human trafficking survivors and her leadership in educating future generations of lawyers and social workers. The CWRU School of Law is honored to have her at the helm of the HTLC and congratulates her on this well-deserved achievement.
For more information on the work of the HTLC, please visit Human Trafficking Law Clinic.