Two survivors share their positive and negative experiences dealing with the justice system — as criminal defendants, crime victims/witnesses, and as plaintiffs holding businesses accountable for profiting from sex trafficking. This panel discussion will trace the arc that many survivors traverse from accused criminal defendants, to unwilling witnesses, and sometimes to empowered participants holding accountable their traffickers and those who profited from their exploitation. The panel will discuss the survivors’ experiences as victims of crime testifying in grand jury and criminal trials, being taken into custody and facing criminal charges, dealing with numerous other legal proceedings such drug treatment programs, restraining orders, and bankruptcy court. This workshop will also focus on civil cases brought by these survivors against business — a strip club and a hotel — that knew they were victims of trafficking but continued to facilitate their exploitation in order to make money. The legal system often fails trafficking victims and it can also deliver justice. But the cost of that journey is punishing and deters many from pursuing cases to their conclusion. We hope that sharing these lessons learned will both inspire other survivors to seek justice and empower everyone to educate lawyers, law enforcement, and judges about sex trafficking and the need to reform our court system to be more victim-centered and to implement trauma-informed practices.