National Public Defense Virtual Conference 2021

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We at NAPD are thrilled that Nkechi Tafia accepted our invitation to be the opening speaker for the conference. She is back by popular demand, having mesmerized, energized and inspired the attendees at the NAPD Women’s Conference. Her memoir - Black Power, Black Lawyer: My Audacious Quest for Justice (2020) was published a few months ago. The book has been described as “an engaging memoir of not just a fascinating woman, but a history of a movement.” She will share lessons learned that helped her to remain steadfast in the fight against racism, injustice, and her experience in being a transformational activist in the justice reform movement.

This session will focus on the hows and whys of team defense; what you gain, what you need, and how to get it.

Being a public defender – attorney, investigator, mitigation specialist, administrative staff, social worker, etc. - is hard under any circumstances. This past year has been especially difficult. The pandemic has only intensified the nation’s neglect of its most marginalized communities. It has shined a bright light on the reality that many lives do not matter. Nowhere is America’s indifference towards the humanity of society’s most vulnerable members more starkly reflected that in the criminal legal system. You bear witness to this every day. You fight to demand dignity in systems that are cruel and uncaring. In the midst of such injustice, we can feel like we are not making a difference. Our impact can be hard to feel when we are in the midst of the struggle. However, when we step back and observe the power of our collective effort, we can see that we are the only conscience the system has. Every day you help keep the system from becoming even more cruel; more uncaring; more punitive. You help inch us towards a better day. Without you the system would have no moral compass. In this session we will step back, consider our collective impact, and appreciate one another.

Public Defenders are tasked with representing individual clients one case at a time. Through that ethical mandated representation by working with their teams, they can have an impact well beyond the one particular client they are representing. In this session, Jeff will share techniques for incorporating local history and the impact of race in our direct representation of clients. The purpose of movement lawyering is to save lives and improve lives. Those in public defense has the unique opportunity to do that one client at a time.

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In this session, you will have women who are living proof that there’s more to women returning citizens, then their conviction. The women will discuss their challenges, barriers, and lessons learned from being incarcerated and how each person deals with their unique struggles due to intersectionality. Topics covered include:

• Why it is essential to humanize people who have been directly impacted by incarceration. Seeing us as people first; not inmates, defendants, ex-felons, convicts. etc. After being relegated to second class citizenship, it’s vital that we are seen.
• We want people to be educated on issues of injustice, it is not our responsibility to teach. If we choose to, that is a decision that we are making; not an obligation we feel. 
• Systemic changes to the criminal legal system won’t happen unless people directly impacted are leading the movement; not asked for feedback after decisions have already been made for us. 
• Criminal justice reform is a racial/social justice issue. There are collateral consequences of incarceration that feed the cycle of poverty and marginalization of communities of color: job insecurity, lack of adequate healthcare, felonism (*the systemic, institutionalized prejudice against people suspected or convicted of a felony. This prejudice often extends to people who support individuals with a criminal history), etc.  
• The intersectionality of sexism, racism, classism and felonism that formerly incarcerated women face.
• Bring the audience proximate to the formerly incarcerated community allows them to see the humanity of those effected. We are more than felons or convicts. We are mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts.  Getting to know us as people is the first step in changing the narrative surrounding the incarcerated.

*www.urbandictionary.com

The entire team can benefit from this plenary about Storytelling. Learn how to represent and communicate your clients’ lived experiences through stories that respect the client while powerfully engaging a variety of audiences. In this presentation, storytelling expert Laura Wexler and NAPD’s Assistant Training Director and public speaker Lori James-Townes discuss the power and principles of personal storytelling — and show you ways to use stories to achieve your goals both in and out of the courtroom.

Join us with Cynthia Roseberry to close out the conference