Thomas Decker - Chicago, IL
Thomas Decker’s practice areas include civil practice, criminal defense, civil and criminal appeals. He is a 1955 graduate of Lake Forest College with a Bachelor of Arts, and a 1963 graduate of Northwestern University with Juris Doctorate degree. He is a member of Chicago and Illinois State (Member, House of Delegates, 1973-1977) Bar Associations, Bar Association of the Seventh Federal Circuit (Member: Board of Governors, 1984-1987; Advisory Committee on Circuit Rules) and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Director, 1979-1986). Mr. Decker served as a Law Clerk from 1963 until 1964 for U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. He was an Assistant Attorney General from 1964 until 1967 for the State of Illinois. Decker also served as a Deputy Director from 1967 until 1976 for Federal Defender Program, Inc., U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois. He was selected for "The Best Lawyers in America". He is a fellow of American College of Trial Lawyers.

Drew Findling - Atlanta, GA
Drew Findling spent the first three years of his career as a lawyer as a Fulton County, Georgia, public defender assigned to the courtroom of the late Judge William Daniels, known throughout Georgia for having authored three fundamental treatises on Georgia criminal practice. Just a few years after graduating from law school, in 1987, he “hung out a shingle” and went into private practice. Since then, he has represented clients in state and federal courts in many states, including Georgia, Texas, Florida, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, as well as handled international matters. Further, Drew Findling served as chair of the NACDL Forensic Evidence Committee for nearly a decade, allowing him to meet and work with the nation’s leading forensic experts, investigators, and support personnel, providing a resource to find the right person to assist in the smallest to the largest case. Drew Findling has enjoyed great success as a trial lawyer representing clients with charges ranging from minor offenses to multi-million dollar federal conspiracy cases. Over the years, his reputation for zealous and skilled representation has resulted in his being retained to represent several high-profile clients, including Grammy-nominee Faith Evans, Former Fulton County, Georgia, Sheriff Jackie Barrett, Former President of Morris Brown College Dolores Cross, NBA Superstar Shaquille O'Neal and former NBA great Dennis Rodman. In his nearly 25 years of practice, he has published numerous articles and given speeches in 30 states on such topics as defending battered woman syndrome cases, jury selection in high profile cases, forensic preparation for a criminal trial, giving effective opening and closing statements, and cross-examination, including several on the cross-examination of the homicide detective. He has lectured at Emory Law School, Georgia State University College of Law, the National Criminal Defense College, the Georgia Institute of Trial Advocacy, the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Criminal Defense College. Respected for his legal analysis and trial abilities, Drew Findling is also regularly invited by Shepard Smith and Bill O’Reilly of Fox News to serve as legal analyst on their programs. He has also earned a local reputation for his abilities and is often invited to appear on Atlanta-based CNN Headline News. Drew Findling’s professional memberships include the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Bar Association, and the Atlanta Bar Association. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the prestigious National Clearing House on Science and Technology of Law. He has been named as one of Georgia’s Legal Elite in Georgia Trend Magazine and as a Georgia “Super Lawyer” by Atlanta Magazine.

Stephen Glynn - Milwaukee, WI
Stephen Glynn received his B.S. in 1967 from UW-Milwaukee and his J.D. with honors in 1970 from UW-Madison, where he was articles editor of the Wisconsin Law Review. Following a clerkship with Federal Judge James E. Doyle in the Western District of Wisconsin, Mr. Glynn practiced with Shellow, Shellow & Glynn, S.C. form 1971 until he formed a new firm in 2000. The lawyers in Glynn, Fitzgerald & Albee, S.C. practice exclusively in the area of criminal defense in federal and state trial and appellate courts. He is a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (Chair, State Committee 2004-2006), and a member of the State Bar of Wisconsin (member, board of directors, Criminal Justice Section, 1995-1998; chairperson, 1978-1979), past president of the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Trust Account Foundation, and member of the Wisconsin and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Wisconsin Criminal Justice Study Committee (2005-2009). He is listed in the Best Lawyers in America (1983 -), The National Directory of Criminal Lawyers (1979 -), and has been voted best criminal defense lawyers in Milwaukee by lawyers and judges polled for each of Milwaukee Magazine’s Best Lawyers issues ( 1985, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2008), and among the top 5 lawyers statewide in Super Lawyer polls. He frequently writes and speaks on criminal law-related issues in Wisconsin and elsewhere.

Brandi Harden - Washington, DC
Brandi Harden is currently a partner at Harden & Pinckney, PLLC, a boutique law firm located in downtown Washington, DC. Harden & Pinckney, PLLC specializes in criminal defense litigation, contract, divorce and family law. Brandi Harden is also currently an adjunct professor at Howard University School of Law, where she is the coach of the Huver I. Brown Trial Advocacy Moot Court Team. Before going into private practice, Brandi Harden was a trial attorney as well as supervising attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (hereinafter PDS). While working for PDS as a trial attorney, Ms. Harden maintained a homicide case load and supervised attorneys litigating general felony cases in DC Superior Court. During her tenure at PDS, Brandi Harden served as a chair of the 2004 Criminal Practice Institute, led the felony division-trial practice groups, served as faculty for Summer Series trainings, and was an active member of the PDS Forensic Practice Group. Prior to becoming employed at PDS, Ms. Harden worked for the Southern Center for Human Rights, the United States Department of Labor, and for the United States Department of Justice in the Antitrust Division – Computer and Finance Section. Brandi Harden has served as faculty at the Georgia Honors Program, the Southern Public Defender Training Center, the National Student Leadership Conference, and Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop. Brandi Harden is a native Texan who obtained both her Bachelor of Arts degree a well as her Juris Doctorate from Howard University. She is currently admitted to practice law in Washington DC, and is an active member of the District of Columbia Bar.

Doris Holt - Memphis, TN
Doris Holt is the First Assistant Federal Defender in the Office of Federal Defender for the Western District of Tennessee. She handles the complex litigation and the high profile criminal cases for her office. She has been with federal defender’s office since Oct 2, 1989. She is native Mississippian. She is a 1975 graduate of Mississippi Valley State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration, and a 1987 graduate of the University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphrey School of Law. Ms. Holt was admitted to the TN Bar in 1988 and the Federal Bar in 1989. Doris Holt was the Senior Law Clerk from 1988 until 1989 for the Hon. Odell Horton, Chief Judge for the Western District of Tennessee. She also clerked for the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee from 1986 until 1988. Doris Holt was the International Legal Advisor for Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc from 2000 until 2008. She is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Federal Defenders and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

Robert Jones - Houston, TX
Robert Jones has been a practicing criminal defense lawyer for more than 37 years, and has lectured on criminal topics for the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the National Bar Association, State Bar Association and seminars at the University of Texas and Thurgood Marshall School of Law. He is AV rated by Martindale Hubbard and has been recognized as s super lawyer in Texas Monthly and Houston Magazines. He has practiced in Texas, California, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Missouri and Alabama. His down home approach and riveting cross-examination in state and federal cases has been described by some lawyers who tried cases with him, as participating in a continuing education seminar. He has appeared on local and national TV, discussing cases he has tried. His appellate practice has resulted in a Fifth Circuit reversal of life sentence and a number of successful Batson challenges in state death penalty cases. He believes that a lawyer’s true worth is measured by what his last client thinks about him.

Robert Lebell - Milwaukee, WI
Attorney Robert LeBell has over 29 years of experience in the areas of State and Federal, and Trial and Appellate criminal litigation. Typical cases involve charges of homicide, sexual assault, child molestation, drug violations, RICO conspiracy, and white collar offenses. He has been involved in thousands of criminal felony proceedings including all facets of trial and appellate practice. Attorney LeBell has extensive experience representing individuals who are the subject of civil sex predator commitment proceedings at both trial and appellate levels. He has presented numerous arguments before the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1996, he successfully argued before the United States Supreme Court securing a reversal in United States v. Ornelas, 52 F3d328 (7th Circuit 1995).

E.G. 'Gerry' Morris - Austin, TX
The office of Austin, Texas based criminal defense lawyer, E. G. "Gerry" Morris, focuses on the defense of federal and state criminal accusations. The practice includes all federal courts in Texas and state courts in Austin (Travis County), Georgetown (Williamson County), San Marcos (Hays County) and other Central Texas venues. Attorney Morris is one of the small percentage of criminal defense lawyers to have qualified to be designated as a Criminal Law Specialist by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, and his abilities as a criminal defense lawyer have been recognized by his fellow attorneys. Through peer rating he has earned the coveted AV rating from the Martindale Hubbell legal directory; is listed in the publication, The Best Lawyers in America; and has been named as one of Texas's Super Lawyers by the Texas Monthly Magazine. Attorney Morris was elected to serve as President of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association during the 1997-98 term and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He also served as chair of the Criminal Law and Procedure Section of the Travis County Bar in 1987, and is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Austin Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

Steve Oberman - Knoxville, TN
Steven Oberman is currently serving as Dean of the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD). He has served as Chair or Co-Chair of NACDL’s DUI Committee since 1995, and is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tennessee Law School. Certified as a DUI Defense Specialist by the Tennessee Commission on CLE and Specialization, he has successfully represented nearly 2,000 clients charged with alcohol-related driving offenses. Oberman is the author of DUI: the Crime & Consequences in Tennessee (Thomson Reuters), and co-author with Lawrence Taylor of Drunk Driving Defense (Aspen Publishers).

Heather Pinckney - Washington, DC
Heather Pinckney is currently a partner at Harden & Pinckney, PLLC, a boutique law firm located in downtown Washington, DC. Harden & Pinckney, PLLC specializes in criminal defense litigation, contract, divorce and family law. Before entering into private practice, Ms. Pinckney served as a deputy chief of the Trial Division for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (hereinafter PDS). As a deputy trial chief, Heather Pinckney assisted in the management and day to day operations of the trial division and supervised over 60 attorneys litigating criminal cases in the District of Columbia Superior Court. Prior to becoming deputy trial chief, Ms. Pinckney served for 8 years as a staff attorney at PDS. She also served for 4 years as the chair of the DC Public Defender Service Hiring Committee. During her tenure, Ms. Pinckney represented juvenile and adult indigent clients on criminal matters raging from misdemeanors to homicides before both, the DC Superior Court and the United States Parole Commission. Her representations have included individuals charged with homicide, sex offenses, arson, firearm violations, and obstruction of justice. She has tried numerous jury trials to verdict and has represented individuals at every stage of criminal litigation, including pre-indictment, grand jury, trial and post-trial. Ms. Pinckney is a native Washingtonian and received her B. A. from Marymount University and her J.D. from George Washington University School of Law. Ms. Pinckney is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. Prior to beginning at PDS, she worked for the Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. She also worked for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and TransAfrica. She served as chair of the 2005 PDS Criminal Practice Institute Conference, acted as faculty for numerous PDS Summer Series Training Sessions and was an active member of the PDS Forensic Practice Group, which dealt with areas involving blood spatter and DNA. Ms. Pinckney has acted as a visiting instructor with the Georgia Honors Program and with the Southern Public Defender Training Center. She has also served as a guest lecturer at Howard University School of Law, American University School of Law, the David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC), and the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop.

Jonathan Rapping - Atlanta, GA
Jonathan Rapping teaches criminal law and criminal procedure at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School and is the Executive Director of the Southern Public Defender Training Center. Prior to joining the JMLS faculty Professor Rapping was the Chief of Training for the Orleans Public Defenders and has been instrumental in the rebuilding of that office in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Before joining the Orleans Public Defenders, he was the first Training Director for the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council. In that capacity he developed the GPDSC Honors Program, designed to recruit young public defenders to offices throughout the state and to provide them with the training and support needed to help transform indigent defense representation in those jurisdictions. Prior to that, he was the Training Director for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. Professor Rapping has designed training programs and supervised new lawyers for the past seven years. He had been a public defender for twelve years prior to joining the faculty at JMLS and continues to represent indigent clients in the South. He has tried a wide variety of cases, both adult and juvenile and has represented clients charged with offenses ranging from misdemeanors to capital murder. Professor Rapping was an adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Georgetown University and serves as a visiting professor with Harvard’s Trail Advocacy Workshop. He has designed and participated in training programs for public defenders across the country. Professor Rapping received a J.D. from the George Washington University School of Law, a M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, and a B.A. from the University of Chicago. Professor Rapping was awarded a Soros Fellowship to design and implement the Southern Public Defender Training Center, a training center for public defender offices throughout the South. In recognition of his work in New Orleans, he was a co-recipient of the prestigious Lincoln Leadership Award, given by Kentucky’s Department of Public Advocacy to honor leadership in national efforts to improve indigent defense. Most recently, Professor Rapping was selected as one of Harvard Law School’s Wasserstein Public Interest Fellows in recognition of his contribution to the public interest legal arena.

Martin Sabelli - San Francisco, CA
Martin Sabelli has represented individuals in federal and state courts since 1993. He has represented individuals in complex federal white collar matters as well as “street crimes” including many gang-related offenses, the murder of a police officer, and state and federal cases. He served as a federal public defender in San Francisco, as the first Director of Training for the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, and as a law clerk to the late Honorable Robert F. Peckham. He has also practiced criminal defense with Patrick Hallinan and as a partner Winston & Strawn in San Francisco. He teaches regularly at the National Criminal Defense College and for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy as well as numerous other criminal defense/public defense programs around the country and abroad. He has authored law review articles on the dangers of self representation and prosecutorial discretion and am currently writing on methods for challenging the reliability of confession evidence at trial. He graduated from Harvard College, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and Yale Law School, and is a member of the Board of Directors of NACDL..

Kent Schaffer - Houston, TX
Kent Schaffer is a nationally known defense lawyer and partner in the Houston, Texas firm of Bires & Schaffer. He has practiced since 1981 and is licensed in Texas, the District of Columbia, and several federal districts around the country. He is a frequent lecturer and has authored numerous articles dealing with the trial of criminal case. While Bires & Schaffer handles all matters related to criminal law, Mr. Schaffer’s practice is devoted primarily to white collar criminal defense and complex federal litigation, including healthcare fraud, bank fraud, mortgage fraud, embezzlement, theft, and conducting internal investigations.

Brent Turvey, MS - Sitka, Alaska
Brent Turvey has participated as a forensic scientist and /or criminal profiler in the investigative or trial phase for both law enforcement and attorney clients around the World. The greatest volume of his casework has focused on the examination and interpretation of physical and behavioral evidence. Mr. Turvey has qualified in court as an expert in a number areas related to forensic science and criminology, including Criminal Profiling, Criminal Investigation, Crime Scene Investigation, Crime Scene Analysis, Crime Reconstruction, Offender Signature Analysis, Offense Motivation, Staged Crime Scenes, and Victimology. Mr. Turvey continues to consult with private individuals, attorneys and law enforcement agencies in both criminal and civil matters.

Deja Vishny - Milwaukee, WI
Deborah (Deja) Vishny is a criminal defense lawyer who has practiced with the Office of the Wisconsin State Public Defender since 1980. She is currently the head of the homicide practice group in the Milwaukee trial office and has been a supervisor since 1990. She is also a training coordinator for the office statewide, and plans and teaches at various conferences, including the Wisconsin Trial Skills Academy. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin law school in 1980 and obtained her undergraduate degree in journalism at UW in 1976. She began teaching at Marquette Law School in 1991 and currently teaches trial advocacy; she previously taught the criminal defense law clinic for five years. In 1998 she joined the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College in Macon Georgia. She has lectured on various aspects of trial practice at CLE programs sponsored by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and at public defender and criminal defense association CLE's in Washington DC, Georgia, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Illinois, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, California, Indiana, and Virginia. She is currently on the board of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the State Bar of Wisconsin Criminal Law section..