February 01, 2019

Announcing Our 2019 Voices for Justice Keynote

NCVLI is pleased to announce that the Keynote Speaker for the 2019 Voices for Justice reception will be Seattle-based attorney Carol L. Hepburn.

Carol began her law practice in 1978 as a state prosecutor in Seattle, Washington where she prosecuted juvenile sex crimes, fraud, and street crime at trial and on appeal. In private civil practice she handled both family law and personal injury cases focusing on cases involving sexual and racial harassment, maritime injures, and professional negligence cases. She brought the first third-party sexual harassment case in the region before any reported cases established the cause of action. 

Since 2008 Carol has represented victims of child pornography crimes in criminal restitution proceedings and civil actions in the United States and Canada. Currently, she is one of only a handful lawyers who are representing these victims. She is a member of the team whose efforts resulted in the passage of Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Assistance Act of 2018 and which brought the case of Paroline v. United States to the US Supreme Court, resulting in the first case ever in which a crime victim was accorded separate standing as a party before the Supreme Court. 

She is an alum of the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming, an “invitation-only” college which teaches trial techniques and strategies. She has also served as an instructor with Justice Advocacy Africa, a nonprofit organization that promotes the rule of law in Africa by providing education and training in ethics and advocacy to African lawyers. She continues to work with victim advocacy and multi-disciplinary groups in both the U.S. and Canada to bring a voice to the unique issues faced by victims of child sex abuse image exploitation.