Combatting Human Trafficking

Start Anew

As a Firm, we wanted to support trafficking survivors in rebuilding their lives. We wanted to equip them with the tools necessary to achieve financial and job stability—factors that play a major role in preventing revictimization and allowing victims not only to survive, but to thrive. This led us in Fall 2024 to launch Start Anew, a first-of-its-kind project hosting one-day clinics in cities across the United States for trafficking survivors. In partnership with several Firm clients and numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), we planned the clinics, built a website, and spread the word for survivors to register and attend.

The first five Start Anew clinics took place in Chicago, Washington, New York, Columbus, and Boston from September to November 2024. More than 300 volunteers participated in the clinics, serving a total of 136 survivors. Many of the clinics featured expungement services, helping survivors expunge criminal convictions that had resulted from their being trafficked and had prevented them from seeking gainful employment. The clinics also offered a wide array of holistic services aimed at promoting financial and job stability, such as financial literacy presentations, job and interview skills workshops, and free professional clothing.

Human resources professionals from various corporate entities attended the clinics and provided survivors with information and resources regarding job openings and applications, resulting in numerous survivors obtaining job interviews. Each survivor who attended a clinic was also gifted a "hope bag" filled with items generously donated by Firm clients.

The clinics received overwhelmingly positive reviews. It was amazing to hear the survivors express their gratitude for being seen and cared for. That is why we are committed to the project. We want every person who has endured abuse and mistreatment to know that they deserve to be treated with care and respect.

This year, Start Anew significantly expanded its footprint to host clinics in twelve cities across the United States from September to October 2025: Chicago, Columbus, Houston, Minneapolis, Detroit, Tampa, Southern California, Boston, Washington, New York, Dallas, and Pittsburgh.  This is more than double the cities that participated last year.  In total, over 900 volunteers participated in the clinics, assisting 457 survivors, reflecting both the scale and depth of engagement by our attorneys, staff, clients, and community partners. 

Global Compendium

After our survey of governments, NGOs, and other organizations indicated the need for a standardized global resource for the trafficking laws of each country, we collaborated with NGOs, clients, academics, and other lawyers across the globe to produce exactly that. The result was the Global Compendium—Human Trafficking Laws. Available to the public for free, this reference can be found on the Rotary Action Group Against Slavery website. Policymakers, legislators, trafficking survivor advocates, businesses, NGOs, and others now have this additional tool in their anti-trafficking arsenal, continually updated to reflect the status of laws around the world.

Health Care

Finally, in collaboration with the American Hospital Association (AHA) and leading NGOs, Jones Day health care lawyers have issued the first nationwide diagnostic codes for trafficking, and we are currently training hospital systems across the country in the implementation of these codes.

As part of its Hospitals Against Violence initiative, the AHA came together with Jones Day and HEAL Trafficking to provide resources to health care providers throughout the nation that are fighting the global scourge of human trafficking. In support of that initiative, Jones Day has prepared the attached tool to help providers navigate the complex roadmap of their reporting and education obligations. With the increased role of telehealth and multistate practitioners, the need for this type of resource is continually growing.