Charles Song
Senior Staff Attorney
Charles has advocated for survivors of human trafficking, low-wage workers, and immigrants for over two decades. As a Senior Staff Attorney in the Wage Protection Program, he works in partnership with worker centers and other community-based organizations to empower and provide legal representation to the most marginalized workers in predominately low-wage industries.
Prior to LAAW, Charles worked as, among others, a Senior Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of the Solicitor, the Supervisor for Loyola Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, Pro Bono Counsel at an international law firm, the founding legal director at the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, and a Staff Attorney at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. Since law school, he has successfully represented hundreds of thousands of low-wage immigrants before various tribunals including the United States Federal District Courts, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and the Departments of Justice, Labor, and Homeland Security. Charles has also collected millions of dollars for clients, litigated national class actions, and been named an attorney of the year in California. In addition to legal advocacy, Charles has provided technical assistance and training to nongovernmental organizations and government agencies, lectured at law schools, and testified before the United States Senate, House of Representatives, and the California Legislature.
Charles’ past employers include the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the President’s Interagency Council on Women, the International Human Rights Law Group, and RAND. Prior to his graduate studies, Charles founded and directed a therapeutic athletic program for severely emotionally disturbed students, worked as security guard, and as a Day Custodial Host at Disneyland. He received an A.B. from Occidental College, M.A. from the University of California, San Diego, and his J.D. from the Washington College of Law, American University. He is admitted in California and numerous federal courts.