Hiding in Plain Sight: The Institutional Struggle to Combat Human Sex & Labor Trafficking

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Event Moderator

Hon. Virginia M. Kendall, Chief Judge of the Northern District of Illinois

Chief Judge Virginia Kendall leads the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and has served on the federal bench since January 2006. She lectures widely (both in the U.S. and internationally) on ethics, the rule of law, and human trafficking, and teaches human trafficking at the University of Chicago Law School, Northwestern University School of Law, and Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Judge Kendall is a coauthor of two books on child exploitation and trafficking (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012 and 2016), serves on the United States Judicial Conference, and has held roles on committees addressing judicial conduct and international judicial relations, as well as the United Nations Judicial Integrity Network. Before her judicial appointment, she spent more than a decade as a federal prosecutor and Child Exploitation Coordinator, trying dozens of jury trials, and she has received numerous awards and honorary degrees recognizing her work with victims, anti-trafficking efforts, and pro bono service.

Labor Trafficking Panelist

Katherine Kaufka Walts, Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago

Katherine Kaufka Walts is Clinical Faculty of Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, where she serves as Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children and Co-Director of the Holistic Immigration Hub. Before joining Loyola, she was Executive Director of the International Organization for Adolescents, where she developed U.S. and international initiatives advancing the rights of children and youth, including efforts to strengthen child welfare responses to trafficking and exploitation.

She previously managed the Counter-Human Trafficking project at the National Immigrant Justice Center, collaborating with law enforcement on sex and labor trafficking matters and representing trafficking victims in immigration and criminal justice proceedings. Professor Kaufka Walts also provides training, technical assistance, and consultation on human trafficking to agencies and coalitions in the United States and internationally.

Sex Trafficking Panelists

Christopher Parente, Founding Member, Cheronis & Parente LLC; former Assistant U.S. Attorney; former leader of the Chicago Office's human trafficking and crimes against children programs

Christopher V. Parente is a founding member of Cheronis & Parente LLC and a seasoned trial lawyer whose practice focuses on white collar and federal criminal defense, internal investigations, and complex enforcement matters. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney in both Chicago and Miami, he prosecuted a wide range of cases and later served as a Deputy Chief AUSA in the Northern District of Illinois, overseeing violent crime prosecutions and leading the Chicago Office's human trafficking and crimes against children programs.

Parente has tried 30 federal jury trials and has argued multiple times before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Before entering government service, he practiced complex commercial litigation at Jenner & Block LLP. He brings extensive courtroom experience and a deep understanding of trafficking-related investigations and prosecutions to his work.

Carrie Landau, Retired FBI Special Agent

Carrie Landau is a retired FBI Special Agent with 21 years of service, specializing in investigations involving domestic minor sex trafficking, child abductions, and crimes against children. During her career, she worked in the FBI's Crimes Against Children/Human Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation arena and served as a Team Leader on the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) North Central Team, advising on best practices in urgent abduction cases.

Landau is qualified as an expert witness on sex trafficking in U.S. federal court and has testified in that capacity 17 times, including work as the case agent for the first domestic minor sex trafficking prosecution in the Northern District of Ohio. She has received multiple honors for her investigative and victim-centered work, including awards from the U.S. Attorney's Office (NDIL), the FBI, and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Through Landau & Associates, she now provides expert testimony, training, and consultation on trafficking and child exploitation cases, and she continues to support advocacy efforts as an advisory board member for Reclaim 13.

Elizabeth Payne, Legal Director, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE)

Elizabeth Payne is the Legal Director at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), a nonprofit legal services agency for sexual harm survivors. CAASE's legal services include crime victims' rights representation, criminal records relief, civil lawsuits, employment law, educational advocacy, cyber sexual abuse, and protective orders.

Elizabeth is a Lecturer in Law on gender violence at The University of Chicago Law School and was previously a Senior Assistant District Attorney in the Special Victims Bureau of the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, where she prosecuted sexual assault and the sexual and physical abuse of children.