Lawyering to End Mass Incarceration
Join an inspiring virtual panel of lawyers all using their degrees in creative ways to challenge the harms of mass incarceration, from passing legislation to representing people as a public defender, from championing impact litigation to working in private practice on important criminal cases. This is your chance to ask questions about their work, career path and how they’ve used the privilege and power of a law degree to advocate for a more just future. RSVP here.
Defense work
Shawn Hoover is a trial attorney with the Capital Defender Office in Georgia. Previously, he was the Southwest Georgia Conflict Defender for the Georgia Public Defender Council and the Assistant Public Defender in Douglas County, Ga.
Avery McNeil is the Alternatives to Incarceration Specialist with the Criminal Defense Practice at the Bronx Defenders. Previously, she worked as a parent advocate in Bronx Family Court.
Impact litigation
Ezekiel Edwards leads Arnold Ventures’ pretrial team, overseeing more than $80 million invested in bail reform, prosecutorial practices, and public defense. Previously, Ezekiel served as director of the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project. Ezekiel also worked as a staff attorney at the Innocence Project, a criminal justice fellow at the Drum Major Institute of Public Policy, a public defender at the Bronx Defenders, an investigator at the New York State Capital Defender Office, and a paralegal in the appellate bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Arielle Herzberg is a Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Colorado. Previously, Arielle was an associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York City, a law clerk to Judge Stanley Chesler in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey and a client advocate on child custody cases.
Policy and research
Ames Grawert is senior counsel and John L. Neu Justice Counsel in the Brennan Center’s Justice Program. He leads the program’s quantitative research team, focusing on the collateral costs of mass incarceration. Previously, Grawert served as an assistant district attorney in the Appeals Bureau of the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office and an associate at Mayer Brown LLP.
Elise Logemann is the Youth Policy Counsel at the ACLU where she advocates to end reliance on youth incarceration. Elise also works as Deputy General Counsel for Denver Public Schools and a contractor with Alternate Defense Counsel. Previously, Elise worked with the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., represented plaintiffs in civil rights lawsuits at Beldock, Levine, and Hoffman in New York City, served as a trial attorney at the Colorado State Public Defender, led the Colorado Juvenile Defender Center as Executive Director and was the Assistant Director at the Sturm College of Law.
Private practice
Gail Johnson has more than two decades of experience representing clients in criminal and civil cases in federal and state courts in Colorado, California, and the District of Columbia. Previously, Gail worked as the E. Barrett Prettyman fellow with the Georgetown Criminal Justice Clinic in Washington, D.C., a law clerk to Justice Michael L. Bender on the Colorado Supreme Court, and an associate with O’Melveny & Myers LLP (San Francisco office) and Haddon, Morgan & Foreman, P.C. (Denver), before starting her own firm where she represents people accused of crimes.