Jenny Andrews is the Director of Training at the Indigent Defense Improvement Division of the Office of the State Public Defender in California. A child of counterculture, raised off the grid by back-to-the-land hippies on the Lost Coast of Northern California, Jenny is a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School. Prior to joining IDID in 2022, she litigated trial cases for twenty-three years in the public defense offices in Alameda, Sonoma and Santa Barbara counties. She has carried specialized caseloads of complex, forensic, and capital litigation, and has held specialized assignments such as Forensic Resource Counsel, Felony Team Leader and Training Director. She teaches on the faculty of Gideon’s Promise, the National Association for Public Defense, the National Criminal Defense College, the Trial Advocacy Workshop at Harvard Law School, the California Public Defenders Association, in public defense training programs in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and in public defense offices throughout California. In 2018, she created BeSustained.org, a resource hub supporting the well-being of public defenders. 

Vincent J. Brunkow is the Chief Appellate Attorney at Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. Vince received his undergraduate degree from UCLA and his J.D. from the University of San Diego. He has been with Federal Defenders for almost thirty years, serving as a trial attorney, an appellate attorney, and as the Chief of the appellate unit since 2012. He has argued numerous times before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, including five en banc panels, and has participated in the merits and amicus briefing of several Supreme Court cases. Vince was honored as the Appellate Attorney of the Year in 2012 by the San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association and received the 2020 Paul Bell Award for excellence in representation of the indigent accused on appeal. 

Nancy Collins is a supervising attorney at the Washington Appellate Project. The cases she has argued and won in the Washington Supreme Court include rulings prohibiting routine shackling of defendants in court, condemning the prosecution’s use of implicitly racist arguments, and requiring reversal where deliberating jurors display racial hostility to another juror. Nancy graduated from Tufts University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. 

Jonathan Duke (he/him), Parole Success Advocate, has recently returned to society from over 11 years of incarceration. He is a graduate of the Offender Mentor Certification Program (OMCP), where he achieved his certification as a Substance Use Disorder Counselor. Jonathan has also received his Associates Degree in Behavioral and Social Science and Arts & Humanities from Cuesta College. Jonathan has facilitated numerous groups over the last decade. Since being released, he has worked as an Alcohol & Other Drug counselor working with those who suffer with co-occurring disorders. Jonathan continues to assist with those helping to rebuild communities and is committed to giving back to our community.

In his role as Parole Success Advocate at UnCommon Law, Jonathan works with the Home After Harm team assisting incarcerated individuals with achieving parole and successful integration back into society.

Genevie Gold is a Capital Racial Justice Act Research and Writing Fellow at the Office of the State Public Defender in Oakland, California. In this role, she assists capital appellate case teams in identifying and preparing claims under the Racial Justice Act. Before OSPD, she was an associate at Phillips Black, Inc., a non-profit, where she represented clients serving severe sentences, including death and juvenile life without parole (JLWOP), in post-conviction litigation. Ms. Gold is also a mitigation specialist who has prepared mitigation investigations for JLWOP and capital cases nationwide. Her passion for capital work was borne in the visitation rooms of the Potosi Correctional Center and the backroads of the Ozarks. She is motivated by the challenge of working effectively in diverse teams to weave together the complex themes that make up our clients’ stories. She is also interested in how defense practitioners can develop relationships with the communities they serve to support holistic, anti-racist defense, and the greater goal of abolition. She graduated from Tufts University in 2008 and received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 2014.

Justin Heim is the Director of Learning Innovation at the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA). Previously, he worked for 12 years at the Wisconsin State Public Defender as a Staff Development Program Specialist in their Training Division and a Mitigation Specialist in the WISPD’s Appellate Division. Before working in Public Defense, Justin held various positions in community mental health in Colorado. Justin received his BA in Psychology from Michigan State University, and his MA in Contemplative Counseling Psychology from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Nerissa Huertas is a Supervising Deputy State Public Defender and a Co-Director of Amicus Litigation at California’s Office of the State Public Defender, where she litigates capital appeals before the California Supreme Court. Before joining OSPD, she was a staff attorney at the Sixth District Appellate Program, the Federal Pro Bono Project, The Opportunity Agenda, and Justice Now. She was also a law clerk to the Hon. Lawrence K. Karlton in the Eastern District of California, and an Immigration Law Clerk at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York. She graduated from New York University School of Law in 2005, and from U.C. Berkeley in 2001.  

Tatiana Kline is a training attorney for the Office of the State Public Defender in California. Prior to that role, she worked as a Deputy Public Defender in San Diego for 9.5 years. Tatiana graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law in 2013 and from the University of Michigan in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology and a B.A. in English. She served as a Director for the San Diego County Bar Association from January 2022 to May 2024. She is currently the co-chair on the SDCBA’s Wellness subcommittee and is active in the SDCBA’s DEI division, Anti-Racism subcommittee, and LLC committee. Additionally, she is a member of the National Association for Public Defense’s Wellness Committee, the Early B. Gilliam Bar Association, the Criminal Defense Lawyers Club and is a certified instructor for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. Tatiana finds joy in promoting the health and wellness of everyone she interacts with. After finding herself unhappy, depressed and desperate for change, she started her own journey to find mental wellness, clarity and peace. Tatiana enjoys sharing her journey in hopes that others find comfort and solace in the practices that have tremendously changed her life. 

La Mer Kyle-Griffiths is the Division Leader of the Training Division with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. She has been a lifelong public defender amplifying the voice of the poor in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Washington and now California. Prior to her role in the largest public defender's office in the world, she was the Assistant Public Defender of the Santa Barbara Public Defender’s Office. Previously, she was the Director of Training and Complex Litigation with Still She Rises in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Washington, she was responsible for designing, organizing, and facilitating training for the 400+ team members of the Department of Public Defense. There she became certified to teach and facilitate on issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Before that she practiced for over 17 years as a public defender in both Kentucky and Massachusetts. In Kentucky, she was part of the Capital Defense Unit and litigated several death penalty cases. She has sat on many case reviews on death penalty cases and continues to teach nationally and at various state programs on capital litigation, jury selection, and mitigation. She has taught administrative professionals, investigators, attorneys, mitigation specialists, law students, and leaders across the country in the areas of appeals, capital litigation, litigation with a racial and gender lens, investigation, sentencing, trial skills, supervision tools, and forensics. She has litigated juvenile, capital, felony, and misdemeanor cases as well as arguing two appeals to the Kentucky Supreme Court. She has been an adjunct professor at the Seattle University College of Law, the Iowa University of Law, Boston College and currently teaches at the Darrow Baldus Death Penalty College, the National Criminal Defense College, Gideon’s Promise, and Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop. A graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law she has been a lifelong advocate and is looking forward to her continuing adventure with her family including three young women, one just starting at UCLA, who all learned to crow “Acquittal” early! 

Erik Levin is a Supervising Deputy State Public Defender at California’s Office of the State Public Defender, where he litigates capital appeals. Before joining OSPD, he represented clients in criminal trials and appeals in state and federal courts as an assistant federal public defender in Seattle, a county public defender in the Bronx, and in private practice. He taught lawyering theory and practice (including narrative theory) at New York University School of Law where he graduated in 1999.

Gregory Link is the Director of the Washington Appellate Project in Seattle. Greg has been an appellate public defender since 1995 when he first joined the office. After more than 20 years as a staff attorney Greg became Director in 2016. In those nearly 30 years as an appellate defender, Greg has represented clients in hundreds of appeals from across Washington, arguing before the United States Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and arguing more than 50 cases before the Washington Supreme Court. Greg has represented clients on appeal in a wide range of cases including misdemeanor, felony, family defense, post-conviction and death penalty cases. 

Colleen Marion has been a postconviction and appellate defender at the Wisconsin State Public Defender for the past thirteen years. She represents clients in misdemeanor, felony, juvenile, involuntary commitment, and family defense cases. Colleen completed her undergraduate degree at Lewis and Clark College in 2008 and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2012. She is a familiar face at public defender training programs and has served as faculty at the Wisconsin Appellate Skills Academy. Colleen is a returning ADT faculty member and is thrilled to be back.

Cristina Najarro joined the California Office of the State Public Defender in 2021, representing capital and non-capital clients in their direct appeals. Before that, she spent four years as a trial attorney with the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Prince George’s County, and one year with the Contra Costa County Public Defender. She graduated from Berkeley Law in 2015 and Columbia University in 2010. She is a member of the California and Maryland bars. 

Alexander Post is a Supervising State Public Defender at the Office of the State Public Defender in Oakland, California. Alex started at OSPD in 2009, handling noncapital appeals before moving on to assist and then lead capital appeals. He continues to litigate his own capital appeals and supervises other capital appellate attorneys. Before OSPD, Alex spent two years working for the Criminal Central Staff of the California Supreme Court. Like many appellate practitioners, Alex is working to build the Racial Justice Act airplane while flying. Alex graduated from UC Davis in 2004 and received his J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law in 2017. 

Mano Raju is the elected San Francisco Public Defender.  A son of immigrants from India, his pursuit of justice is rooted in his acute awareness of the ramifications of social inequalities. Despite coming from a farming village, his parents managed to emigrate to America, where they raised Mano on the East Coast. Mano completed his undergraduate degree at Columbia University, and holds a Master’s degree in South Asian Studies from U.C. Berkeley, where he also earned his law degree. He worked as a Deputy Public Defender in Contra Costa County for seven years before he was recruited by Jeff Adachi to join the SF Public Defender’s Felony Unit in 2008. Due to his impressive practice as a felony line attorney, he was promoted by Jeff Adachi to be the Director of Training and then Manager of the Felony Unit. He has lectured for California Public Defender’s Association, California Attorneys For Criminal Justice, and the Black Public Defender’s Association on various aspects of complex trial practice such as race-conscious representation, and defending gang and homicide cases. He is on the Board of the National Association of Public Defense.  He has been awarded North America South Asian Bar Association’s 2019 Public Interest Achievement Award, the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2021 James Madison Freedom of Information Award, La Raza Centro Legal’s 2022 Visionary of Justice Award, and California Public Defender’s Association’s Special Recognition Award for achievements and contributions in the field of criminal defense. Mano is deeply committed to a client and community-centered approach to defense work. “Our impact is not measured in numbers, but in the people we represent,” he said. “It’s by the mother who can return home to her family. The son who can continue to work to support his family. And to the children of those we defend, who benefit from having an equal opportunity to survive and who might one day use that opportunity to lead.” The personal interest he takes in his clients’ lives helps fuel him not only to fiercely litigate and win cases, but also to raise his voice against the inequities he and his clients encounter in the criminal legal system. As the only elected Public Defender in California, Mano continues to uphold the Office’s reputation not only as a formidable group of lawyers, paralegals, social workers, investigators and support staff, but also as a catalyst for criminal legal system change in  local and state-wide arenas. 

Laura Rogers is a Senior Deputy at the Office of the State Public Defender. She began her career in indigent defense as a mitigation and culpability investigator. For the last 15 years, her practice has focused on state habeas and capital appeals in California. Before joining OSPD, she worked in private practice and as a staff attorney at the California Appellate Project.  She is particularly interested in expanding models of client-centered appellate representation, and in creative and thematic issue spotting and briefing.

David Singleton received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1991, and his A.B. in Economics and Public Policy, cum laude, from Duke University in 1987. Upon graduation from law school, David received a Skadden Fellowship to work at the Legal Action Center for the Homeless in New York City, where he practiced for three years. He then worked as a public defender for seven years, first with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and then with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. After moving to Cincinnati in the summer of 2001, David practiced at Thompson Hine before joining OJPC as its Executive Director in July 2002. David is also a Professor of Law at Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law. 

Travis Stearns is an advocate for the right to counsel for all disenfranchised persons. He has worked in public defense most of his career, currently with the Washington State Office of Public Defense. A graduate of George Washington University Law School, he has worked for the New York City Legal Aid Society, the Whatcom County Public Defender, the Washington Defender Association, and the Washington Appellate Project. He focuses on training and substantive policy reform, having seen success in the courts and with the legislature. He is a nationally recognized speaker on issues relating to injustice, leadership, trial advocacy, the right to counsel and the impact of criminal convictions. He has published articles in law school journals, primarily on issues relating to the impact of criminal convictions on reentry. He is an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law. He has chaired or been a member of the WSBA's Commission on Public Defense, NLADA’s Education Committee, the Supreme Court’s Minority and Justice Commission, and the ABA’s Standards Committee. His major accomplishments as a litigator includes arguing landmark cases in the Washington Supreme Court on issues of racial injustice. 

Mikel Steinfeld supervises the Appeals Unit of the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office in Phoenix, Arizona, and he’s passionate about storytelling. Mikel had been doing appellate work for just a couple of years when he first attended this conference. It was life-changing. Before the conference, Mikel struggled every time he had to write a statement of facts. He’d hide in his office, lock the door, turn up the music way too loud, and grind his way to a dissatisfactory result. This program changed that. Encouraged by so many people who were committed to storytelling and effective advocacy, Mikel went home committed to telling his client’s story. With every new client, Mikel worked on the craft--he read books on plot, attended lectures about character, and taught classes on storytelling in appellate advocacy. Since attending, Mikel has consistently worked to tell his client’s story in more effective, compelling, and creative ways. And because of that commitment, Mikel has found appellate advocacy even more rewarding. 

Thanh Tran is an Amerasian-Vietnamese and Black filmmaker, music artist and criminal justice organizer from Sacramento, California. While incarcerated, he co-founded Uncuffed, a podcast amplifying incarcerated voices; ForwardThis Productions, an incarcerated film team; and the Ella Baker Center’s Inside/Outside Fellowship, supporting incarcerated organizers with resources and connections. Now the director of Finding Má, a personal feature-length documentary. Thanh also serves as a Policy Consultant at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, advancing legislation to improve prison conditions, reduce incarceration, and foster civic engagement inside carceral settings. He is also the interim Executive Director for Asian Prisoner Support Committee. He sits on advisory councils for the New Breath Foundation, Asian Prisoner Support Committee, and Uncuffed, championing justice and transformative change. 

Lei Young supervises the Disproportionality Unit at the Washington State Office of Public Defense, where she works to advocate against racial and social injustice in the legal system. Prior to that position, she spent 17 years as an attorney with The Defender Association, which is now a division of the King County Department of Public Defense. As a public defender, she represented clients in a variety of practice areas, including felony, sex offender commitment, and dependency proceedings. Her teaching experience includes serving as an Adjunct Professor at Seattle University School of Law. She received her J.D. from Cornell Law School in 2006.