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FACULTY (subject to change)
Amy Adelson (New York, NY)
Amy Adelson has been a member of the law firm of Dershowitz, Eiger & Adelson, P.C. for over twenty years. The firm specializes in criminal appeals, post-conviction remedies, and sentencing issues and practices in state and federal courts throughout the country. Ms. Adelson is admitted to practice before the state and federal courts in New York, the U.S. Supreme Court, and most of the United States Courts of Appeals. Ms. Adelson has represented on appeal Governor Edwin Edwards, Mike Tyson, Cicero Mayor, Betty Loren-Maltese, Medical Examiner, Dr. William Sybers, General Counsel of Rite-Aid, Franklin Brown, and currently, Dr. Mehmood Patel of Louisiana, among others. She also taught courses at New York University School of Law in legal analysis and writing with a focus on appellate advocacy. Ms. Adelson is a graduate of New York University School of Law (JD 1976), Order of the Coif. She was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1977.
Marilyn Bednarski (Pasadena, CA)
Marilyn Bednarski is a partner in the law firm of Kaye, McLane and Bednarski, L.L.P., in Pasadena California, specializing in federal and state criminal defense and civil rights litigation. Marilyn began her career as a criminal defense lawyer in 1983 working with a death penalty defense lawyer in Los Angeles. She joined the Federal Public Defender's Office in Los Angeles in 1984. Marilyn’s career has spanned public service and private practice. Marilyn tries cases in state and federal courts and has tried over a hundred jury trials in federal court. She has been very successful, once winning six acquittals in a row from juries. Marilyn has also been very successful in negotiations of dismissals and reduction of charges in all kinds of cases, including very complicated white collar fraud and securities prosecutions as well as other serious cases for example those involving guns and drugs. Recently, after a three week trial and the jury’s guilty verdicts in one of the few Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases tried nationally, the court – fully informed of the facts—sentenced the client in this 14 million dollar foreign bribery case to 6 months in custody and home detention. During this same time period, in a federal child pornography case involving possibly the largest collection of child pornographic pictures and videos ever seized, Marilyn negotiated a settlement that saved the client from a jail sentence, and resulted in home detention despite the sentencing guidelines, prosecutor, probation officer all pushing for a sentence of many years in prison. Marilyn is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and is on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College, in addition to several national trial advocacy programs, and has lectured extensively nationwide. On several occasions she has been acknowledged as a "Super Lawyer" in California and been named one of California's Best Women Litigators. She is well known nationally and enjoys a stellar reputation amongst her attorneys, judges and clients for hard work, creativity and dogged commitment to her clients. Amongst other passions besides work, Marilyn enjoys the outdoors, especially the mountains, and has traveled the world.
Nathan Dershowitz (New York, NY)
Nathan Z. Dershowitz is a senior member of the law firm of Dershowitz, Eiger & Adelson, P.C. The firm specializes in criminal appeals and complex civil litigations. Mr. Dershowitz has argued appeals in virtually every circuit and many state appellate courts throughout the United States. Mr. Dershowitz has represented Leona Helmsley, Mike Tyson, Tupac Shakur, Governor Edwin Edwards, Stanley Friedman, Ann Pollard, and was a member of the O.J. Simpson Dream Team. Mr. Dershowitz has testified before both the United States Senate and House of Representatives on various subjects, including prayer in public schools and the Voting Rights Act. He has also submitted amicus curiae briefs in the Supreme Court on such cases as The Regents of the University of California v. Bakke and many church-state cases. Mr. Dershowitz taught at Hofstra Law School and has lectured to many criminal defense associations, particularly on the subject of handling federal criminal appeals. He is the author of numerous articles on matters relating to church-state concern. Mr. Dershowitz is a graduate of New York University School of Law. Mr. Dershowitz is admitted to practice before the state and federal courts in New York; he is also admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and all of the United States Courts of Appeals. Mr. Dershowitz has also argued two major appeals before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Mr. Dershowitz recently consulted in a case in Ukraine involving its former President, Mr. Leonid Kuchma.
Miguel A. Estrada (Washington, DC)
Miguel A. Estrada is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. He is Co-Chair of the firm's Appellate and Constitutional Law Practice Group. Mr. Estrada has represented clients in federal and state courts throughout the country and in international arbitrations. For example, Mr. Estrada has acted as lead counsel for PricewaterhouseCoopers in international arbitrations under UNCITRAL rules. He was a lead attorney for Aetna in dozens of class actions against the managed care industry that the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation consolidated in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. In re Managed Care Litigation (MDL No. 1334). He was also lead counsel for Clear Channel, the largest radio station owner in the country, in a challenge to the Federal Communications Commission’s media ownership rules. Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC (3d Cir. 2004). He currently is lead counsel for NBC Universal in a challenge to the FCC’s enforcement regime for regulating purportedly “indecent” broadcasts. Mr. Estrada has handled a broad range of matters before the United States Supreme Court. He has argued 20 cases before that Court, and briefed many others. Representative matters include: In Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings v. Metabolite Laboratories, Inc. (2006), he persuaded the Court to leave undisturbed a Federal Circuit ruling upholding the validity of a two-step process patent setting forth a method for diagnosing vitamin deficiencies. In Northern Insurance Co. of New York v. Chatham County (2006), he persuaded the Court to rule unanimously that counties are not entitled to invoke sovereign immunity in admiralty actions. In Aetna v. Davila Health (2004), he persuaded the Supreme Court to rule unanimously that federal law preempts state laws that give patients the right to sue managed care organizations. In Strickler v. Greene (1999), he argued on behalf of a death row inmate pro bono in a challenge to his conviction and sentence. Mr. Estrada was also part of the team that successfully presented then-Governor Bush’s position to the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore (2000). Other cases that Mr. Estrada handled in the Supreme Court include Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 460 (2005) (dormant Commerce Clause and Twenty-First Amendment), Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States ex rel. Stevens (2000) (False Claims Act, Article III standing and Eleventh Amendment immunity), Old Chief v. United States (1997) (rules of evidence), United States v. Mezzanatto (1995) (evidence and plea bargaining), United States v. Robertson (1995) (constitutional limits on Congress’ Commerce Clause powers), Citizens Bank of Md. v. Strumpf (1995) (bankruptcy law), and NOW, Inc. v. Scheidler (1994) (RICO). From 1992 until 1997, Mr. Estrada served as Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States. He previously served as Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section, U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York. In those capacities, Mr. Estrada represented the government in numerous jury trials and in many appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Before joining the U.S. Attorney's Office, Mr. Estrada practiced corporate law in New York with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Mr. Estrada is a Trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society. He also is a member of the Board of Visitors of the Harvard Law School. In July 2004, Legal Times named him one of the top twelve appellate litigators in the D.C. area, noting that “people who follow appellate practice in Washington have known for several years that Estrada . . . is one of the best around.” In December 2004, Washingtonian Magazine named him one of the top constitutional law lawyers "who could become one of the legends of the Supreme Court bar." In 2011, Chambers & Partners named him as one of the a handful of attorneys that it ranked in the top tier among the nation's leading appellate lawyers, describing him as "an unbelievably smart attorney with a creative approach to cases and a real fighting spirit." He was also selected by his peers for inclusion in the 2013 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® in the specialties of Appellate Law, Commercial Litigation and Criminal Defense: White Collar, Intellectual Property Litigation, and Regulatory Enforcement Litigation in the areas of SEC, Telecom, and Energy. Mr. Estrada served as a law clerk to the Honorable Anthony M. Kennedy in the U.S. Supreme Court from 1988-1989 and to the Honorable Amalya L. Kearse in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1986-1987. He received a J.D. degree magna cum laude in 1986 from Harvard Law School, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review. Mr. Estrada graduated with an A.B. degree magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1983 from Columbia College, New York.
Peter Goldberger (Ardmore, PA)
Peter Goldberger is the founder and principal of a three-lawyer firm, located near Philadelphia, which for more than 20 years has focused its practice on the post-conviction aspects of federal criminal cases, especially sentencing and appeals. Admitted to appear before every Circuit, Mr. Goldberger has briefed and/or argued nearly 200 federal appeals. He has also been appointed twice for cases on the merits, and has argued, before the Supreme Court of the United States, both appointments being in cases raising issues concerning sentencing in drug cases. Mr. Goldberger was the first winner, in 2001, of FAMM's "Cesare Beccaria Defender of Justice" Award. A founding member of the Board of Governors of the Third Circuit Bar Association, Mr. Goldberger was elected in 2007 to the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers. He has been named repeatedly as one of Pennsylvania's "SuperLawyers" by Philadelphia Magazine, and has been listed for more than a decade in Best Lawyers in America. Working for over ten years under a CJA appointment, he was part of the team that won the first DNA exoneration from Pennsylvania's death row, in 2003. After graduating from Yale Law School (1975), Mr. Goldberger served as law clerk to then-U.S. District Judge (later Chief Circuit Judge) Edward R. Becker (deceased, 2006). Following his clerkship, he served two years as an Assistant Federal Public Defender. Mr. Goldberger is a former professor at the Villanova University and Whittier College Law Schools, where he taught criminal law and procedure, corporate and white collar crime, and other subjects. He has presented many well-received CLE programs, and is the co-author of a two-volume Practice Guide for Federal Appellate Procedure in the Third Circuit (1997, out of print). He is a co-author of a 100-page chapter on criminal appeals in the Third Circuit Appellate Practice Manual (Penna. Bar Inst. 2007, revised 2010), and is a contributing author for Collier on Bankruptcy, responsible for the chapter on Fifth Amendment privilege and immunity. He has also designed and occasionally teaches a course on Law and Morality at Haverford College.
Prof. James Goodman Ph.D. (Newark, NJ)
James Goodman is a professor of history head of non-fiction writing in the MFA program in creative writing at Rutgers University. His passion, as a writer, as a teacher, and as the U.S. editor of Rethinking History, has been to take literary form seriously—all writing as creative writing--in the reading and writing of history and every other form of non-fiction. His issues of Rethinking History feature the work of historians, scholars in other fields, creative writers inside and outside academe, and graphic artists struggling to find the forms—the literary structures, the perspective(s), the images, the voices, the words, the pace--that do their subjects the most justice. He has received fellowships and awards from NYU, Princeton, Rutgers, and the Guggenheim Foundation, and his first book, Stories of Scottsboro, a narrative history of the Scottsboro Case written from many different points of view, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His second book, Blackout, was about the blackout and blackout looting in NYC in the summer of 1977, and he is currently completing the manuscript for his third, a book about the long and twisted life of a famous and infamous bible story, Genesis 22, the working title of which is, “I Wrote the Story of Abraham and Isaac.”
Nicole Hardin (Ocala, FL)
Nicole Valdes Hardin is an Assistant Public Defender for the Fifth Judicial Circuit in Marion County, Florida and has worked for the Public Defender’s Office since 2006. She currently handles felony cases and is qualified as co-counsel for death penalty cases. Ms. Hardin has been a part of the homicide defense team on seven murder cases in addition to her regular caseload. It was while working on a case for a defendant charged with first degree murder that Nicole first encountered stacks of cell phone “tracking” records, allegedly tying her client to the crime scene area. The State Attorney’s Office was seeking the death penalty with their main evidence an eye witness with credibility problems and cell phone records. She struggled to understand the technology behind the tracking capabilities of cell phone towers, determined to identify their weaknesses. Additionally, she sought to suppress the evidence using federal and state law. Eventually, through research and working with experts, she was able to understand enough about the technology of cell phone towers to attack the process of tracking during cross examination. The tireless work of the defense team resulted in a hung jury. The State sought a new trial, but dropped the death penalty. On the second trial lead counsel Tricia Jenkins and Nicole were able to secure an outright acquittal for the defendant. Wanting to share her new found information, Ms. Hardin contributed to articles attacking the science of cell phone tracking in criminal cases in two publications. She additionally has met with and helped to pass on expertise and materials to other defense attorneys facing the same circumstances. Nicole has also worked to develop felony sentencing training seminars for incoming felony attorneys at her office. The success of those presentations earned Ms. Hardin an invitation to co-present at a statewide defense conference on effective mitigation in sentencing. She attended the City University of New York at Queens College School of Law and is a proud alumnus of their Defender’s Clinic. She is a member of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.
Stephen Hurley (Madison, WI)
Steve Hurley's more than 35 years of practice provides clients with the background necessary to litigate complex cases. Steve is highly regarded throughout the state for his expertise in criminal defense. His persuasive presentation in the courtroom and knowledge of the law make him an effective litigator for civil cases as well. Steve was nominated and elected by his peers to the American College of Trial lawyers. His reputation earns him many referrals from colleagues for both criminal and civil cases. Steve practices before agencies, state and federal courts, and has successfully represented clients at all stages: from pre-suit or pre-charging negotiations, through appeals before the appellate and supreme courts. Various bar associations frequently request Steve to lecture on evidence, trial advocacy and criminal defense topics. Since 1989 he has been an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin law School, a popular teacher on evidence and trial advocacy. In 1998 Steve was appointed by Governor Tommy Thompson as a member of the Criminal Penalties Study Committee, composed of judges, lawyers and corrections officials, which provided advice about implementation of Wisconsin's Truth in Sentencing Law and which rewrote the penalty structure for criminal offenses. Steve was profiled by the Isthmus magazine in a cover story titled "Hurley for the Defense”. In addition, the American Bar Association Journal had a feature article on Steve's recent victory on behalf of a client. The 2008 Wisconsin Super Lawyers® magazine featured Steve in its cover story.
Omar Jadwat (New York, NY)
Omar C. Jadwat is a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project. He leads IRP's campaign against state and local anti-immigrant initiatives, including Arizona's SB 1070 and related state laws. His litigation and advocacy also addresses other immigration enforcement and due process issues. Omar graduated from NYU Law School and was a law clerk for Judge John G. Koeltl of the Southern District of New York before joining IRP as a Skadden Fellow in 2002. He is an adjunct professor at Cardozo Law School.
Omodare Jupiter (Jackson, MS)
Omodare Jupiter is an Assistant Federal Defender in the Southern District of Mississippi. He is a frequent speaker at training seminars around the country for criminal defense attorneys practicing in federal courts. He has over twenty years experience as a criminal defense attorney. Mr. Jupiter was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He received his undergraduate degree from Loyola University of New Orleans in 1986, and his J.D. from Howard University School of Law in 1989. Mr. Jupiter started his legal career in 1989 as the law clerk for The Honorable Paul R. Webber, IV, who presided over the Civil Division of the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. He then worked for several years as a staff attorney with the District of Columbia’s Public Defender Service (PDS). PDS provided quality training, immediate trial experience, and, more importantly, an atmosphere that encouraged zealous and quality advocacy. In 1994, Jupiter returned to his hometown, New Orleans. He worked for a short period with solo practitioners on various types of cases, but enjoyed criminal defense more than any other area. He eventually served as an Assistant Public Defender for the Orleans Indigent Defender Program. In 1998, he began to serve indigent defendants in federal court as a Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel attorney. In 2000, Mr. Jupiter began his career as an Assistant Federal Defender. He served as an AFD in Seattle, Washington. In 2004, he transferred to the Southern District of Mississippi where he currently works. Last year, he completed a six month temporary assignment as an Attorney Adviser with the Training Branch of the Office of Defender Services in Washington, D.C.
Orin Kerr (Washington, DC)
Orin S. Kerr is the Fred C. Stevenson Research Professor of Law at George Washington University Law School. Professor Kerr is a nationally recognized scholar in the fields of criminal procedure and computer crime law. Professor Kerr’s scholarship has been cited in over 90 judicial opinions, including decisions by the United States Supreme Court and all of the regional U.S. Courts of Appeals. In a recent study, he ranked seventh among criminal law and procedure scholars in the United States for citations in academic journals. Professor Kerr has briefed and argued cases in the United States Supreme Court as well as federal circuit and federal district courts. He has also testified several times before Congressional committees. He is a coauthor of the leading casebook in criminal procedure with Yale Kamisar, Wayne LaFave, Jerold Israel, Nancy King, and Eve Brensike Primus, now in its 13th Edition. He also has authored a law school casebook on computer crime law, now in its 3rd Edition. Before joining the GW Law faculty in 2001, Professor Kerr was an honors program trial attorney in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as a special assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He is a former law clerk for Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court and Judge Leonard I. Garth of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania.
Jonathan M. Kirshbaum (Las Vegas, NV)
Jonathan M. Kirshbaum is currently an attorney in the Non-Capital Habeas Unit of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Nevada in Las Vegas. In this position, he focuses exclusively on 28 U.S.C. § 2254 petitions in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada and the Ninth Circuit. Prior to that, he worked for thirteen years at the Center for Appellate Litigation, a private, non-profit organization in New York City that represents indigent criminal defendants in their direct appeals and post-conviction proceedings in state court and habeas corpus petitions in federal court. As a public defender in New York, he worked on over 200 cases, arguing appeals before the Appellate Division, First Department, the New York State Court of Appeals, and the Second Circuit. He was also an adjunct professor at Brooklyn Law School for eight years teaching a criminal appeals clinic and a class focusing on judicial opinion writing. Mr. Kirshbaum has written articles focusing on federal habeas corpus issues that have been published in the New York Law Journal, the Bloomberg BNA Criminal Law Reporter, and Pace Law Review. In August 2009, he founded the Habeas Corpus Blog (http://habeascorpusblog.typepad.com), which is now a group legal blog that focuses on federal habeas corpus issues in the Second and Ninth Circuits and the Supreme Court. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Bloomberg BNA Criminal Law Reporter. Mr. Kirshbaum graduated cum laude from New York University School of Law in 1996. He worked in the Staff Attorney’s Office for the Second Circuit and served as a law clerk to United States Magistrate Judge Andrew J. Peck in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Karen Landau (Oakland, CA)
Karen L. Landau has been in private practice since 1993,handling criminal and civil appeals and federal criminal sentencing. Ms. Landau has briefed and argued upwards of 200 appeals, arguing more than 75 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit alone. She has handled all types of federal criminal appeals, ranging from complex white-collar offenses to drug trafficking and RICO offenses. Ms. Landau currently serves as an Appellate Law Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference. She is a member of CJA Selection Committee for the CJA Appellate Panel of the Central District of California. She is a member of the CJA Appellate Panels for the Northern, Central & Eastern districts of California. Ms. Landau formerly served as law clerk to the Hon. Terence T. Evans, then U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and in various capacities at the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, including as the Senior Criminal Motions Attorney.
Mark Mahoney (Buffalo, NY)
Mark Mahoney graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1971. In 1974 he received his law degree from the State University of New York Law School at Buffalo. Beginning with the firm of Doyle, Diebold & Bermingham and up to the present time with his firm of Harrington & Mahoney, he has always engaged in the private practice of criminal law. He is admitted to practice in all New York courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is one of the few attorneys admitted to practice in all four federal district courts in New York. Mr. Mahoney is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (“NACDL”), which he has represented on several occasions as amicus curiae. He is now an elected member of the Board of Directors of the NACDL, the first member of that Board from Buffalo, or even the Western part of New York, since John Condon, one of the founders of NACDL in1958. He is a Past President (1990-91) of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He was also a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the New York State Defenders Association. For several years very early in his career Mr. Mahoney was Chair of the Criminal Law Committee of the Erie County Bar Association. He served for 16 years on the Erie Conty Youth Services Board, as a member and Chair. A member of the New York State Bar Association, Mr. Mahoney sits on the Executive Committee of the Criminal Justice Section. Mr. Mahoney is also member of the Criminal Lawyers Association, in Canada, and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Legal Committee. In January of 1997, the New York State Bar Association honored Mr. Mahoney with the “Charles F. Crimi Memorial Award as the Outstanding Practitioner,” presented by the Criminal Justice Section of the Association. In July of 1997, at is 30th Anniversary Meeting, the New York State Defenders Association presented Mr. Mahoney with its “Service of Justice” award. He is listed in “The Best Lawyers in America,” and the exclusive “National Directory of Criminal Lawyers” by the preeminent Barry Tarlow. Mark Mahoney has frequently appeared as a lecturer in educational programs sponsored by such organizations as the New York State Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Criminal Lawyers Association. In 1994 West Publishing Co announced the release of Mark Mahoney's “New York Criminal Defense Motions,” an electronic publication of hundreds of motions, forms, and memoranda for use by criminal practitioners. This publication grew out of Mr. Mahoney’s “Whole Motion Catalog”, a widely circulated motion practice manual for criminal defense attorneys in New York State.
Elliot R. Peters (San Francisco, CA)
For three decades Elliot Peters has litigated, tried and advised clients in some of the nation's most high-profile, high-stakes complex commercial and white collar criminal cases. Mr. Peters has tried more than 50 cases on behalf of CEOs, leading law firms, and major corporations. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. He has also been named Attorney of the Year by California Lawyer and The Recorder, the Litigator of the Week by The American Lawyer, and one of the Top 100 Attorneys in California by the Daily Journal.
Archana Prakash (New York, NY)
Archana joined Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem in February of 2008 after working as a staff attorney at the Bronx Defenders for two-and-a-half years. She became a Supervising Attorney at NDS in July of 2011. Previously, Archana served as the Civil Rights Fellow at Cochran, Neufeld & Scheck, litigating high-impact wrongful conviction and police brutality cases, and clerked for the Honorable Myron Thompson in Montgomery, Alabama. Archana graduated from Columbia Law School in 2002, where she was awarded the Lowenstein Fellowship for her commitment to public service.
Hon. Reena Raggi (Brooklyn, NY)
Judge Reena Raggi is a United States Circuit Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. At the time of her appointment in 2002, she was a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York. Judge Raggi earned her B.A. degree in 1973 from Wellesley College and her J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1976. She was law clerk to Judge Thomas E. Fairchild of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1976 to 1977. From 1977 to1979 she was in private law practice as an associate with the New York law firm of Cahill, Gordon & Reindel. She served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York from 1979 to 1986, including assignments as Chief of the Narcotics Division (1982 to 1984), and Chief of the Special Prosecutions Division (1984 to 1986). Also in 1986, she served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York under an interim court appointment. Later that year, she resumed the private practice of law as a partner in the New York firm of Windels, Marx, Davies & Ives. She remained there until her appointment in 1987 as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York.
Associate Justice Dianne T. Renwick (New York State Supreme Court, Appellate Division)
Justice Dianne Renwick sits on the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, for the First Judicial Department. She is a graduate of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and Cornell University. Justice Renwick began her legal career at the Criminal Division of the Legal Aid Society. She has served as a member of the judiciary since March 1997, when she was appointed a New York City Housing Court Judge. Subsequently, she was elected to the New York City Civil Court and, in 2001, elected to the New York State Supreme Court. Prior to ascending to the bench, Justice Renwick was an attorney for the Federal Defenders in the Eastern District of New York. Justice Renwick has appeared as a guest commentator on the Courtroom Television Network (Court TV) and has taught at several law school and bar association sponsored trial advocacy programs, including Harvard, Cardozo, Hofstra, and the New York County Lawyers Association. She has chaired the City Marshal's Committee and served on numerous committees and boards, including the Governor's Task Force on Judicial Diversity, the Second Circuit Task Force on Gender and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts, Chess in the Schools, the Board of Directors of the Academy of Mt. St. Ursula, the Black Bar Association of Bronx County, the Lehman College Art Gallery and the Pelham Art Center. Presently, Justice Renwick is a member of many boards including Chair of the New York State Continuing Legal Education Board. She is also a member of the Board of Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York American Inns of Court of the New York City Bar Association, The New York Botanical Garden, The President’s Council of Cornell Women, The Picture House Regional Film Center.
Raymond Rogers (New York, NY)
Raymond E. Rogers received his B.A. from University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1979, and his J.D. from Drake University Law School in 1982. He served as Assistant Appellate Defender in Iowa State Appellate Defender's Office from 1982 until 1988, and as Chief Appellate Defender in Iowa State Appellate Defender's Office from 1988 until 1990. Since 1990 he has been with The Legal Aid Society of New York City serving as Staff Attorney at the Appeals Unit, Juvenile Rights Practice.
Paul Rudof (Northampton, MA)
Paul Rudof is the Public Defender Co-Counsel at the Committee for Public Counsel Services, assisting public defenders throughout Massachusetts in litigating complex or novel legal issues and trying cases. Previously, he worked as a staff attorney in the CPCS Criminal Defense Training Unit and as a staff attorney in the Essex County office of the CPCS Public Defender Trial Unit. Mr. Rudof has tried felony cases, including first degree murder cases, in Superior and District Courts throughout the Commonwealth and has argued numerous times before the Supreme Judicial Court and Massachusetts Appeals Court. Mr. Rudof has written chapters in several books published by MCLE, including Trying Sex Offense Cases in Massachusetts, Trying Drug Cases in Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts District Court Criminal Defense Manual. He is in the process of co-editing and writing several chapters for a new MCLE book entitled Trying Identification Cases in Massachusetts. Mr. Rudof is also a faculty member at the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia, where he teaches annually at the NCDC Trial Practice Institute. He has also taught at trial skills programs and lectured at conferences in New York, Wisconsin and Colorado. A 1999 graduate of the University of Utah College of Law, Mr. Rudof spent a year as a law clerk for the Honorable Michael Murphy of the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit before joining CPCS. He earned his B.A. from Brown University in 1993. He then went on to work as a middle school Social Studies and English teacher in the Washington D.C. public school system and as a tenant-organizer for low-income housing residents in Tucson, Arizona, before heading to law school.
Albert E. (Buzz) Scherr (Concord, NH)
Albert Scherr is a Professor of Law at UNH School of Law. He teaches Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Evidence and Expert Witnesses & Scientific Evidence and directs the Trial Advocacy Program at UNH Law. His research interests are in the area of genetics, law and privacy. He is on the national board of directors of the ACLU, president of the NHCLU and is a founding member of UNH Law’s Social Justice Institute. Prior to joining the UNH Law faculty in 1994, Professor Scherr was a public defender for 13 years. He has litigated DNA admissibility issues in numerous felony and homicide cases over the last 20 years and continues to consult with defense lawyers on DNA cases. Professor Scherr was the principal investigator on a two–year NIH grant to study genetics, police investigation and constitutional privacy. His article, “Genetic Privacy and the Fourth Amendment: Surreptitious Sampling and the Harvesting of Out-of-Body DNA” will be published in the Georgia Law Review this spring. Professor Scherr also co–designed & taught a national model, NIH–funded Summer Faculty Institute at Dartmouth College for nine years that educated undergraduate faculty from around the country in the ethical, legal and social issues of the Human Genome Project. He continues to lecture lawyers, judges and others on genetic privacy, evidence and experts issues.
David J. Silbert (San Francisco, CA)
David Silbert is a partner of the law firm of Keker & Van Nest, LLP. He has won or favorably resolved cases in state and federal courts across the country. Mr. Silbert has successfully represented plaintiffs and defendants in patent cases involving cable television, semiconductors, medical devices, recombinant DNA, and numerous other technologies. He has defended several national law firms and their partners against claims of malpractice, and represented individuals in government and internal investigations. He is listed in Best Lawyers in America for Patent Litigation, 2012-2013; Recommended Attorney, Intellectual Property - Patent litigation, The Legal 500 U.S., 2011-2012; Top 75 IP Litigators, The Daily Journal, 2011; Northern California Super Lawyer, Business Litigation, 2005-2007, 2010. He is a graduate of UC Hastings College of the Law.
Brett G. Sweitzer - (Philadelphia, PA)
Mr. Sweitzer is the Chief of Appeals in the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia. The Office provides legal representation to indigent criminal defendants charged with federal crimes committed in a nine-county area, including and surrounding Philadelphia. Mr. Sweitzer handles direct appeals in a variety of federal criminal cases, ranging from drug trafficking and firearms offenses to white-collar fraud. In addition to direct criminal appeals, he represents prisoners seeking federal habeas corpus relief, including detainees at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Before joining the Federal Community Defender Office in 2003, Mr. Sweitzer was an associate with Pepper Hamilton LLP in Philadelphia, where his practice focused on white-collar criminal defense and appellate litigation. Mr. Sweitzer received his B.A., magna cum laude, in 1993 from Colgate University, concentrating in philosophy. In 1998, he received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as a Senior Editor for the University of Pennsylvania Law Review.
Deja Vishny (Milwaukee, WI)
Deja Vishny has practiced criminal defense for 33 years with the Wisconsin Office of the State Public Defender. She heads the Homicide Practice Group at the Milwaukee Trial Office and is also a training coordinator for that agency. She studied police interrogation and attended the Reid school of Interrogation course in 2004, is a nationally known lecturer on the subject of defending false confession cases, and published articles in The Champion and The Wisconsin Defender on the subject. She is a faculty member at the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia, and an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at Marquette University Law School and has taught at seminars on trial and motion practice throughout the United States and in India. She served two terms on the Board of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is a Vice Chair of CLE for that organization and served several terms on the Board of the Wisconsin State Bar Criminal Law Section. She is currently writing a book on litigating suppression motions due to be published in 2013 by the James Publishing Company.
Prof. Robert Williams (Camden, NJ)
Professor Williams teaches state constitutional law and is the associate director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies at Rutgers. He is the author of dozens of articles and numerous books on state constitutional law. Prior to joining the Rutgers faculty in 1980, Professor Williams served as a legislative assistant during the 1967 Special Constitutional Revision session of the Florida Legislature and represented clients before the 1978 Florida Constitution Revision Commission. Professor Williams has participated in a wide range of litigation on state constitutional law and has lectured to hundreds of state judges and lawyers on a variety of subjects involved with state constitutional law. He also co-produced a television documentary marking the 50th anniversary of the New Jersey Constitution and is the convener of the Research Group on Subnational Constitutions of the International Association of Constitutional Law.