Julia graduated from the University of Dayton with a B.A. in Philosophy and holds a J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law. Julia has been an attorney since 2008, and has practiced as a Public Defender for nine years. Before coming to our office, she was the Equal Justice Works AmeriCorps Legal Fellow at Legal Aid of Western Ohio. Julia’s professional affiliations include membership with the National Association for Public Defense, the Ohio State Bar Association, the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and the Dayton Bar Association. In her free time, Julia enjoys Irish dancing and being involved in the community, where she sits on the board of directors for both The House of Bread and Rainbow Elder Care of Greater Dayton.

Kelli graduated from Wright State University with a B.A. in Political Science and holds a J.D. from the University of Dayton School of Law. She has practiced as an assistant public defender for over 20 years and served as the Deputy Director of Montgomery County Public Defender Office for 10 years.

She completed leadership training through the Black Defender Leadership Institute (BDLI) 2.0 and Culture Learning Partners (CLP) Executive Training Program. BDLI is a nine-month program with a focus on professional and personal development that teaches and supports the six core competencies of transformational leadership. The CLP Executive Training Program is a six-month individualized program with a focus on professional skills that are transferable to most executive positions within various fields.

In addition to her career as a Public Defender, Kelli taught for ten years as an adjunct instructor at Sinclair Community College, Central State University, and Union Institute and University. She taught courses on Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Business Law, and American Federal Government.

Her professional affiliations include membership with the National Association of Public Defense, the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, the Black Public Defender Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the Dayton Bar Association. Kelli is licensed to practice in the State of Ohio and in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

Kelli proudly serves on the Advisory Board of Montgomery County Juvenile Court Specialty Docket – Family Treatment Court, Dayton Bar Association Grievance Committee, Dayton Bar Association Bar Exam & Qualifications Committee, and the Project One Hope Community Dinner Committee at St. Peter Catholic Church.

Kelli previously served on Ohio Supreme Court’s Task Force on Technology and the OSBA Indigent Defense Task Force, HB 150 Task Force on Ohio’s Indigent Defense System, the National Association of Public Defense Racial Justice Committee and the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery Associate Board.

JoEllyn L. Jones Esq.is a mother, daughter, sister, friend, and defense attorney. She is a graduate of Rowan University and Widener Law School. She recently received her Master’s in Restorative Justice from Vermont Law and Graduate School. She works for Seton Hall Center for Social Justice where she oversees the Reentry and Criminal Legal Education Project. In addition to running her law firm, The Law Office of JoEllyn L. Jones LLC in her spare time, she sits on a variety of boards, volunteers, vacations and spends time with her loved ones trying to spread love, light and positivity in the world. JoEllyn is a cancer survivor.

Leslie McNair Jackson is a wife, mother and daughter. Criminal trial attorney with 20 years of experience. Proactive litigator with a demonstrated ability to think outside the box and attack issues from angles unanticipated by adversaries. Adept at trial preparation. Develops themes for trial and then uses those themes to structure the story of each trial. Dedicated to aggressive pretrial litigation that results in dismissals or the least severe outcomes for clients. Managing attorney for almost 6 years. Has served as trainer and/or faculty at trial skills programs in many states. Uses lightsabers at trainings…sometimes. Leslie is a cancer survivor.

Quiana Harris is a Supervising Trial Attorney at the D.C. Public Defender Service. Quiana is a native of Rich Square, North Carolina, where her passion for public defense was fostered at a young age. She attended Winston-Salem State University and was taught and mentored by founding members of the Black Panther Party. Quiana has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a concentration in Public Administration, and is a graduate of Howard University School of Law (HUSL). At HUSL, Quiana was a member of Howard Law Journal, where she authored a published “A Plea to Federal Judges: Combatting Prosecutorial Misconduct in the Cliven Bundy Era,” which was awarded the “Law360 Distinguished Legal Writing Award,” at the Burton Awards. As a law student, Quiana clerked at the Federal Public Defenders Office, United States District Court of Maryland, and the Washington Lawyers Committee with the Prisoners’ Rights Team. Following HUSL, Quiana joined the faculty of Georgetown University Law Center as an E. Barret Prettyman Fellow in the Juvenile Justice Clinic where she represented children accused of crimes in the District and supervised third year law students in Georgetown’s Juvenile Justice Clinic.

Byron L. Conway Jr. is the Executive Director for the Federal Defenders program for the Middle District of Georgia. Prior to his current position, he was the Director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for the Office of Respondent Parent Counsel in Denver, CO and was also a trial attorney with the Federal Defender Program, Inc. in Atlanta, GA.

Byron started his legal career as a staff attorney in the trial division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where he tried complex felonies before the D.C. Superior Court. Byron is a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, and Boston University School of Law.

Olinda Moyd is a Distinguished Professor in Residence and Director of the Re-Entry Clinic. She was previously an Adjunct Professor and Supervising Attorney for the Re-Entry Clinic at the Howard University, School of Law. Prior to joining the Howard Law faculty, Professor Moyd was Chief Attorney of the Parole Division at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, where she was employed for three decades.

During her tenure, Professor Moyd provided direct representation to numerous individuals, both at administrative hearings and at proceedings in D.C. Superior Court and the United States District Court. As Division Chief, she supervised staff, including a team of attorneys, legal assistants, investigators and numerous law clerks. In addition, she oversaw the summer law clerk program and conducted skills training seminars for the CJA Bar, the DC Bar Association, the judiciary and local law firms.

Professor Moyd has a passion for expanding legal education through clinical pedagogy, especially focused on prisoner’s rights, parole and reentry challenges. For many years she trained and supervised clinical students enrolled in the Georgetown University Law Center, Criminal Justice Clinic as they represented parole clients and as they taught men and women serving life sentences through the Legal Research and Writing class in Jessup. Professor Moyd also coordinated PDS Parole Division’s partnership with Howard University Law School, Criminal Justice Clinic and she was a Visiting Clinic Professor at the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law teaching the Prisoner’s Rights and Advocacy Clinic.

Professor Moyd serves on the Law Clinic Kuje Prison Advisory Committee with several other law school clinicians. This professional clinical advisory team provides mentorship and guidance to the Law Clinic Partnership. Through service on this committee, she has trained law students and clinicians at three law schools in Abuja, Nigeria as they provide legal aid services to detainees awaiting trial at Kuje Prison. In October 2019, she conducted a two-day training titled, Investigation 101 for over one hundred Nigerian law students from the Baze, Nile and University of Abuja law schools. She continues to serve on this advisory committee mentoring Nigerian legal fellows, facilitating the Student Peer Exchange Project and coordinating other exchange opportunities.

She currently serves on several boards including the D.C. Council for Court Excellence, The Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform and Panacea Media Humanized, a media format to build spaces for constructive dialogue to showcase humane solutions. Her most recent publication can be found in the

Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, 68 Wash.U.J.L. & Pol’Y (2022) Klein | Teaching about Justice by Teaching with Justice: Global Perspectives on Clinical Legal Education and Rebellious Lawyering, | Washington University Journal of Law and Policy (wustl.edu) and The American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Magazine, Spring 2021.https://www.americanbar.org/groups/criminal_justice/publications/criminal-justice-magazine/2021/spring/racial-disparities-inherent-americas-fragmented-parole-system/.

Erin Pinder is the Executive Director of The Second Look Project. She has dedicated her career to advocating for indigent clients, believing that everyone should be shown mercy and is worth a second chance. Prior to joining The Second Look Project, she was a Senior Attorney Advisor for the Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney.  Before joining the Office of the Pardon Attorney, she spent many years as a public defender. She served as an Assistant Federal Defender in the Middle District of Georgia and as a Visiting Attorney Advisor with the Defender Services Office (DSO) in the Program Operation Division for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. At DSO she focused on program oversight and compliance and supporting the community defender organizations.  She also previously served as an Assistant Public Defender with Georgia Public Defense Council’s Appellate Division.  Her legal career began in New Jersey where she practiced criminal defense and represented parents in child neglect and abuse cases.  

Erin received her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from Florida A&M University and her Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University of Law. In addition to advocacy, Erin believes proximity and exposure is an effective way to impact and help struggling communities break through systemic strongholds. Therefore, she serves her community through various organizations in her free time.

Lori earned her master’s Degree in clinical social work (University of Maryland SSW) and her B.A. in Social Work from Morgan State University. Lori has over 25 years of clinical, training, and organizational development experience, which includes program development, program management, collegiate instruction, as well as, leadership and management training. Lori has served as faculty for several universities, and as a member of national and regional leadership, development, communication, and team-building trainings. Lori is also President of Expand-Now, LLC, through this entity she can fulfill her lifelong passion of adding value to others through teaching and learning. She is a part-time Clinical Professor in the Family Studies and Community Development Department at Towson University. Prior to joining the Towson University family, she served as Director of Leadership and Program Development at Maryland Office of Public Defender which has more than 800 employees across the state of Maryland. While in this position, she demonstrated her ability to help others grow in the areas of teamwork, leadership and management. She also led the agency’s social work staff, consultants, and interns. In 2015, The Daily Record Newspaper named her as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women. In addition to working as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she is also an author, and John Maxwell Certified Coach, Facilitator, Teacher, Trainer, and Speaker.

Born, raised and still residing in the Bronx, Porsha-Shaf’on received her J.D. from California Western School of Law and her MSW from New York University School of Social Work. She initially worked at Bronx Defenders as a Forensic Social Worker. During Law school, she then returned to Bronx Defenders as a Law Clerk and after law school, she was a Staff Attorney in the criminal defense practice, the Adolescent Defense Project and a Team Leader. In 2017, she joined the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem as a Staff Attorney. In October 2017, she returned to the Bronx Defenders for the fourth time in her career. She is currently a Supervising Attorney.

Porsha-Shaf’on has facilitated many conversations and conducted trainings on showing up as your Blackest self in the courtroom, cross examination, jury selection and jury nullification at public defense agencies across the country like the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Black Public Defenders Association, the National Association of Public Defenders, and the National Council (FREEHER). While few people get excited about jury duty, Porsha-Shaf’on believes community members are missing an opportunity: jury duty is not only a unique and give civic right, it’s a quiet but important lever for change in our legal system. More than training on the importance of sitting on a jury, Porsha-Shaf’on is obsessed with making jury nullification the next big thing–a power that all jurors have and should be encouraged to use.

Christian Snow is a long-time resident of Chicago's west side. Snow obtained her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. Snow most recently worked at the Illinois Justice Project (“ILJP”) as a program director. There, Snow focused on organizing policy advocates, state leaders, community-based organizations and grassroots organizers to develop and implement a shared state-wide policy agenda and strategic plan to end criminalization and incarceration and to support safe and thriving communities. Prior to ILJP, Snow worked as an Associate Attorney at the People’s Law Office. Snow's work there focused on assisting with civil rights cases involving police brutality and misconduct. Additionally, Snow was first an adult member, and then the Executive Director of Assata's Daughters, a Chicago grassroots abolitionist organization.

Nikkita Oliver, Esq., M. Ed. (they/them) is currently the Research, Education, and Training (RET) Director at Law for Black Lives, where they lead the RET Department in developing rigorous and innovative research and curriculum for the L4BL and their partners. 

They joined the faculty of Seattle University Law School as an adjunct professor in 2021, teaching a course on the historical and legal underpinnings of abolition and restorative justice. In the spring of 2025, they joined the Seattle University Law School Faculty as a visiting professor to launch the law school's new "Transforming Public Safety" Clinic.

They are also the former executive director and co-founder of Creative Justice, an arts-based healing engaged space for youth and young adults impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline and other carceral institutions. They currently serve as a steering committee member with House Our Neighbors. They are formerly a movement lawyer with the Lavender Rights Project and a Lawyer-in-Residence with the Movement Law Lab.

Stanford Hickman is a criminal defense attorney currently based in New York City. A Howard University School of Law Graduate, he began his career as a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society in Queens New York and progressed to senior trial attorney with New York County Defender Services, (NYCDS). During his tenure as a senior trial attorney with NYCDS, Hickman has litigated numerous cases including homicides, armed robberies, and a high-profile celebrity stalking case. Hickman, along with trial work, is currently a supervisor with NYCDS overseeing and mentoring a team of attorneys as they develop in their career. 

Additionally, he is involved in an initiative to formulate new policy and expand in-house training, toward combating implicit bias and advancing racial justice. Hickman also participates in numerous training programs around the country, he has served as a faculty member for Nash /York trial training, Department of Public Advocacy in Faubush, Kentucky and Office of the Alternative Defender in Denver, Colorado and Office of the Public Defender in Trenton, New Jersey. Locally, he serves as an adjunct professor with Seton Hall School of Law for their intersession trial advocacy program. Hickman is also a graduate of the inaugural class of the New York Black Defender Leadership Institute, (BDLI), which is sponsored by the Black Public Defender Association, and now serves on the faculty for BDLI.

Vickie Mwitanti is a sixth-year trial attorney at New York County Defender Services where she has had the privilege of representing folks accused of crimes in Manhattan. She is a past Black Defender Leadership Institute Fellow as well as co-chair for NYCDS’ Racial Justice Data Committee who focus their efforts towards using Data to strengthen race-conscious advocacy. She is a Suffolk University Law School graduate and spent most of her time in Boston as an advocate and community educator for fair housing. Although she is a lawyer by trade, she has always been a public servant by calling and her motivations are rooted in combatting race-based social justice issues.

Reverend Jacqueline (Jackie) Newsome has made it her life’s mission to faithfully fight for the freedoms of those swept up in the American Criminal Legal System. After earning her Bachelor of Arts in Politics from New York University, Rev. Jackie continued her studies at The University of Chicago Law School, where she served as President of the Black Law Students Association and received many accolades, including the Ann Watson Barber Outstanding Service Award and recognition for being a Chicago Women’s Bar Foundation Scholar. A year after graduating with her Juris Doctor, Rev. Jackie enrolled in Emory University’s Candler School of Theology and further developed her identity as a social justice preacher and minister. Her thesis, Jesus Loves Guilty People: Making The Case for the Black Church to End Mass Incarceration, highlighted her theological perspectives on why the Black Church must abide by abolitionist principles to disrupt the prison industrial complex. Also, as President of the Black Student Caucus and a student member of Candler’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, Rev. Jackie worked tirelessly to hold the institution accountable to its stated values on behalf of the student body. Off-campus, Rev. Jackie served as an intern minister at Greater Turner Chapel AME Church in Atlanta, GA, and Mount Zion AME Church in Decatur, GA. 

After completing her studies at Candler in 2019, Rev. Jackie brought her passion, skills, and expertise to Philadelphia to work as an Assistant Public Defender for the Defender Association of Philadelphia until 2024. Her commitment to the church, community, and social justice led her to her current role as Assistant Pastor at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown, where she continues to make a significant impact.

Rev. Jackie is a dedicated member of the Philadelphia Reparations Task Force and the Rise Up for Reparations Committee. In both spaces, she actively contributes to the community's efforts towards just practices on behalf of the descendants of enslaved Africans. She is also a multi-state bar licensed attorney and continues to consult with the Defender Association of Philadelphia as a volunteer defender. Lastly, she is a highly sought-after preacher and speaker who is always ready to get into good trouble.

Guy Lang, a dedicated father of three and a proud Temple University graduate with a BA in Criminal Justice is deeply committed to advocating for and uplifting Black communities. With a career marked by unwavering dedication, Guy is an active member of organizations such as the Black Public Defender Association, National Legal Aid and Defender Association, and the National Association for Public Defense. His passion for justice and growth led him to become a fellow in the Black Defender Leadership Institute 2.0, currently honing his skills and leadership. Guy also served as the Training Coordinator for the Juvenile Defender Association of Philadelphia, a role appointed directly by the JDAP president, underscoring his commitment to the cause of racial justice.

Expanding his horizons, Guy studied Child Exploitation in Cambodia through Trinity Law School, enriching his global perspective. Beyond borders, his relentless commitment extends to empowering communities and advocating for racial justice. Currently, Guy serves as the Director of Youth Partnerships and Community Outreach, and Director of the Junior Defender Program at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. His dedication also extends to public speaking engagements, where he shares insights and advocates for positive change.

In these pivotal roles and accomplishments, Guy cultivates strong connections with the communities served by the Defender, fostering collaboration, facilitating resource-sharing, and bridging the gap between Defender clients and comprehensive community support systems. His tireless efforts aim to bring Defender services closer to its clients, nurturing a more inclusive and supportive environment that champions social equity and racial justice.

Christina Tavares is a dedicated professional currently serving in a dual capacity as Director of DEI and Social Service Advocate at the Defender Association of Philadelphia. With a career spanning over a decade in public service, Christina has demonstrated unwavering commitment to improving the lives of marginalized individuals.

Christina’s journey in advocating for the underprivileged began in 2012 when she joined the Defender Association of Philadelphia. Her work there has been nothing short of transformative, as she tirelessly conducts home, placement, and agency visits to evaluate and address the emotional, social, and educational needs of abused, neglected, and exploited youth. Her tenacity shines through as she navigates complex situations to secure vital resources for these vulnerable individuals.

Before her tenure at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, Christina commenced her career as a Student Advisor for the Philadelphia School District, where she collaborated with a diverse team of interdisciplinary school staff. Together, they assessed a wide spectrum of issues affecting students, ranging from educational and social to cognitive, emotional, and substance abuse concerns. Christina’s dedication to intervention and support during this phase laid the foundation for her impactful career.

In her most recent role as a Director of DEI, Christina spearheads initiatives aimed at fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion within her organization. Her commitment to social justice extends beyond the office, as she actively engages with various committees, including DEI Committee, Social Work Practice Committee, Autism in the Courts Committee, and the NAPD’s DEI and Racial Justice+ Committee. Christina more recently joined The Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania team as the Co- Chair Director for their Racial Justice Screening Series.

Christina holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Service with a minor in Psychology, earned from Chestnut Hill College she also completed her certification of Diversity Equity and Inclusion from Cornell University. Beyond her professional endeavors, she exemplifies a strong sense of community engagement, volunteering her time at Expungement Clinics and Restorative Justice Initiatives in collaboration with the DA’s office. Christina is also a familiar face at various community events, where she provides essential resources related to housing, therapy, and substance abuse support.

In summary, Christina Tavares is a tireless advocate for justice, equity, and the welfare of those often overlooked by society. Her diverse experience, coupled with her unwavering dedication, make her a driving force for positive change in her community and beyond.