Pat Shelton is the Client Services and Mitigation Team Leader at the Nashville Public Defender Office. Pat manages a team of social workers and client advocates and provides training for graduate student interns from various disciplines. Pat has gained extensive experience from working at the Public Defender’s Office for over 30 years.   She started her career as a clerk typist, then worked in intake assessment and as a legal assistant. While in her numerous roles, Pat demonstrated her ability to work within a team, to lead a team, and to help others be empowered to speak. After graduate school in 2016, Pat officially began her career as a client advocate. In October of 2019, she became the CSM Team Leader. She and her team advocate on behalf of indigent clients that are represented by the Public Defender Office. Services are provided in adult court and in some juvenile cases when the client is likely to be charged as an adult. She and her team work on all stages of a case with a typical referral including, but not limited to mental health assessments/evaluations, release planning, A/D referral, mitigation and testimony.