SESSION 1: Defending Criminalized Survivors: An Interdisciplinary Approach

Presenter: Sierra Bartlett, Holly Krig, Keshia Golden, Kyan Keenan, Brett Balmer

This session will explore how a public defender, mitigation specialist, community advocate, and client worked together to defend a criminalized domestic violence survivor charged with first-degree murder while eight months pregnant. Using this case as a framework, the panel will discuss interdisciplinary collaboration, strategies for securing bond, and the role of media and grassroots organizing in supporting criminalized survivors. The session will highlight how coordinated legal and community advocacy can strengthen defense efforts and shift outcomes both inside and outside the courtroom.

SESSION 2: Immigration Enforcement and the Erosion of Legal Rights for All

Presenter: Marie Ndiaye

This session will equip public defenders for the profound impact of expanded immigration enforcement on criminal defense practice. We will analyze how the revitalized 287(g) Task Force Model (TFM) is fundamentally changing local policing by coupling federal immigration priorities with local arrests, and how the subsequent decay of legal standards is creating dangerous precedents that directly threaten core constitutional protections for all clients.

Depending on where attendees are from, we may be able to provide specific information about 287g agreements coming from those jurisdictions. This session may also include a practice component focusing on how defense attorneys can leverage discovery practices to uncover detailed information about local 287(g) rules, policies, and operational practices.

SESSION 3: Local Courts Under Federalization: Lessons from DC’s Arraignment Court During the Federal Takeover

Presenter: Rebbie Davis, Keirra Coleman

This presentation and skills training, offered on behalf of the organization Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, will present information on how the Trump Administration’s federalization of Washington, DC attempted to hijack DC arraignment court proceedings in ways that increased harm for Black and Brown loved ones. We will share emerging trends observed during the Federal Surge period in Summer 2025 regarding petty crime arrests, prosecutorial hold requests, shifts in charging patterns, and concerning changes in bench decisions, based on data captured by Harriet’s Wildest Dreams’ program, Courtwatch DC.

By providing information on DC’s federalized arrest rates and arraignment court proceedings, this session will arm public defenders with the information, resources, and defense strategies needed to fortify their criminal justice systems against future federalization attempts across the nation.

SESSION 1: Beyond the Clinical File: Conducting a "Cultural Autopsy" to Unpack Race-Based Trauma in Legal Defense

Presenter: Keisha Ross, Jameca Woody Cooper

Public defenders are the first line of defense against the trauma of the carceral system. This workshop is designed to equip attorneys with a framework for understanding and leveraging psychological evidence of race-based trauma, moving beyond standard diagnostic labels. We will introduce our model of the "Cultural Autopsy," a forensic assessment that systematically deconstructs the impact of chronic, intersectional trauma, racial, generational, community, and carceral factors on a client’s psychological functioning and behavior at the time of an alleged offense.

SESSION 2: What Others Miss: A Former Journalist’s Approach to Investigation for Public Defenders

Presenters: Eric Burse

Public defense often depends on more than what is disclosed. It depends on what is discovered. Drawing on a background in journalism and investigative reporting, this session explores how defenders can uncover overlooked information, including court records, subpoenaed materials, and digital evidence, to strengthen motions, challenge credibility, and shape trial strategy.

Through practical examples and investigative techniques, participants will learn how to move beyond being passive recipients of discovery and develop a more proactive approach to building and litigating their cases.

SESSION 3: Mitigating the Risk of Family Separation: Practicing at the Intersection of Family, Criminal, and Civil Law

Presenter: Sidni P. Rouse

It is generally understood by advocates that contact with the criminal legal system, immigration system, and public benefits system can have a negative impact on the children of the individuals that we represent. But education should not stop there. Advocates are still in search of the knowledge and technical training to help them identify and address issues in their cases that can result in family separation through the family regulation and immigration systems and destabilization of the family unit through the housing and social benefits systems. This session will explore the historical context of the criminal legal, family regulation, immigration, and public benefits systems and the ways that they overlap and destabilize Black families. We will issue spot, strategize, and develop tools to identify and address the enmeshed consequences of these systems on families, with a focus on maintaining the family unit and mitigating the risk of harm from the family regulation system.

SESSION 1: Muddy Waters - Attorneys, Social Workers, and Race in Holistic Defense

Presenter: Brandon Banks, Angelene Musawwir

This presentation will explore how attorneys and social workers can effectively navigate the challenges that sometimes arise when working together within the holistic defense model. It will also include a discussion of the role that race can play in these team dynamics, and why diversity and inclusion are important considerations when building and supporting holistic defense teams.

SESSION 2: Client Advocacy and Art: Community Defense Centers at the Forefront of Community Impact and Empowerment

Presenters: Angela Kilpatrick

A panel discussion led by Angela Kilpatrick, Deputy Public Defender of the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, including two Defense Center Client Advocates and an Artist in Residence, who will discuss their roles within the Cook County Defense Centers, what drew them to this work, and how they see their purpose in the community through examples of their advocacy and artistry. The panel will also discuss their plans and goals for the communities they serve, how client advocacy and art create impact beyond the courtroom, and what other defenders can do to think outside the box about what Community Defense looks like.

SESSION 3: Defending Youth Where They Are

Presenters: Brittany Mobley, Christina Tavares, Guy Lang

A session that challenges defenders to go beyond the courtroom and meet youth where they actually are: in their communities, in detention facilities, and in systems that were never designed for them to thrive. Presenters will explore what culturally responsive, race-conscious youth defense looks like in practice, from community outreach and non-traditional partnerships to conditions of confinement advocacy and representing youth behind the wall. The session will also examine cross-jurisdictional insights from Philadelphia and D.C., and what defenders can do — even with limited resources — to show up differently for the young people they serve.

All attendees are invited to join a BPDA committee for strategic planning and engagement. Select the committee that aligns with your interests:
• Membership Committee (Room TBA)
• Law School Committee (Room TBA)
• Policy Committee (Room TBA)
• Training Committee (Room TBA)