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As I begin my year as your president, I want to set out in general my assessment of the current state of affairs and what I see as NACDL’s response.
The Trump administration is reshaping the legal and political landscape at breakneck speed. We find ourselves navigating shifting ground under intense pressure. Policy decisions with sweeping consequences for due process, civil liberties, and public safety are being made every day. New technologies, especially artificial intelligence, are being deployed rapidly — and with little transparency or oversight. As always, the full weight of the criminal legal system continues to fall most heavily on the vulnerable and marginalized.
But criminal defense lawyers are built for hard times.
NACDL is composed of problem solvers, freedom fighters, and truth seekers. We do our best work when the stakes are highest and the path ahead is most challenging. We are a community of smart, resilient, and courageous professionals. We have never backed down from a challenge in our lane. And we won’t. We are already fully engaged in meeting the current challenges, and we are well-resourced with funds, talent, and commitment.
We stand at the threshold of a new era — one that will demand even more from us, but also one in which we have new tools at our disposal. Artificial intelligence is among the tools we can use. AI is already being weaponized against our clients — through opaque predictive policing models, biased risk assessments, and data-driven surveillance. We must ensure we are not left on the sidelines.
Instead, we must continue to work to understand the offensive and defensive uses of this technology and weaponize AI in defense of liberty.
We must embrace AI technology to enhance our advocacy, streamline our practices, and level the playing field. AI tools can help us analyze massive discovery dumps in seconds, unearth patterns of misconduct, and find the needle in the haystack that could make the difference between freedom and incarceration. We must do so with a deep awareness of the ethical, legal, and human consequences of these powerful tools.
NACDL is already a leader in the AI conversation. Our members — more than 10,000 strong — are some of the most talented, diverse, and motivated defense lawyers in the country. Together, we are forging a vision of the future in which technology serves justice, not subverts it.
NACDL members cannot do the organization’s work as individuals. In these times of rapid change, unity is not optional; it is essential. We must recommit to working together, supporting one another, and engaging in civil, thoughtful discourse even, and especially, when we disagree. We are bound by aspirations larger than ourselves:
NACDL’s Mission Statement
NACDL’s mission is to serve as a leader, alongside diverse coalitions, in identifying and reforming flaws and inequities in the criminal legal system, and redressing systemic racism, and ensuring that its members and others in the criminal defense bar are fully equipped to serve all accused persons at the highest level.
We face new and difficult challenges. But we also have new opportunities — to innovate, lead, and recommit ourselves to the principles that brought us to this work in the first place. Through its mission statement and its history, NACDL forcefully claims its rightful place as a leader in the criminal legal space, and we must continue to lead through these challenging times.
Let us meet this moment in history with enthusiasm, courage, and collaboration. The future of justice depends on it — and on us.
About the Author
Andy Birrell is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He represents clients in all phases of criminal law and related matters from grand jury investigations through trials and appeals in federal and state courts throughout the United States. Birrell is also a seasoned appellate lawyer, having argued before the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Andrew S. Birrell (NACDL Life Member)
Birrell Law Firm, PLLC
Minneapolis, Minnesota
612-238-1939
andy@birrell.law
https://www.birrellcriminaldefense.com/
