Parliamentarian
Vicki H. Young has been a criminal defense attorney throughout her career and tried more than 60 felony cases.
Ms. Young is the principal of the Law Offices of Vicki H. Young in Palo Alto, CA and is also of counsel to the Law Offices of Ephraim Margolin in San Francisco, CA. She has a broad criminal defense practice in both federal and state courts, and devotes significant time to the defense of the indigent. Ms. Young previously served as a deputy public defender in Sacramento County, California, a deputy federal public defender in the Central District of California and a supervising assistant federal public defender in the Northern District of California. She is a graduate of Wellesley College in Massachusetts and received her J.D. from Boalt Hall, the law school of the University of California, Berkeley.
Ms. Young is a Life Member of NACDL and served on NACDL’s Board of Directors from 2003-09. She served as Chair of NACDL’s Nominating Committee the past two years, taking on the difficult task of implementing complex new nominating policies, and she has served for many years on NACDL’s Long Range Planning Committee, helping to craft the future direction and goals of the Association. She is a member of NACDL’s Diversity Task Force and an early and frequent supporter of the Foundation for Criminal Justice. She has also served on the Executive Committee of the Criminal Law Section of the State Bar of California (1994-97), the Board of Governors of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ), an NACDL affiliate, (1990-99), and the Board of Directors of Women Defenders (1994-2000). Ms. Young was a Lawyer Representative to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Council from 1997 to 2000.
Ms. Young has been a driving force in making NACDL a leading source of credible research on criminal justice policies. From 2007-2009, she served on the Task Force on Problem-Solving Courts, which researched and held hearings on the operations of drug courts and other problem-solving courts. The Report of the Task Force, entitled America’s Problem-Solving Courts: The Criminal Cost of Treatment and the Case for Reform provided a blue print for the fair operation of these courts and has been sited and reference by policymakers and academics across the country. Ms. Young now Co-Chairs the Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status after Conviction, which is conducting hearings to evaluate mechanisms by which individuals can seek relief from the oppressive civil consequences of their criminal convictions.
For her long-standing dedication and service to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the ideals of a humane criminal justice system, Vicki H. Young received the 2012 Robert H. Heeney Award.