Summary:
Public defenders play an integral role in identifying police misconduct among their clients; how can they collaborate with civil rights attorneys to maximize their impact and protect their clients' interests? Join an experienced civil rights attorney and a seasoned public defender to learn how your work can support accountability to make communities safer from police misconduct. This session, organized by the National Police Accountability Project in partnership with NACDL, will cover how to issue spot a civil rights claim, preserve the claim through criminal proceedings and plea deals, and collaborate with civil rights attorneys while staying true to your mandate for zealous representation in criminal proceedings.
DATE: June 25, 2025, 2:00-3:30 pm ET
CLE Credit: No CLE credit available
COST: FREE (Not a member of NACDL? Learn more or Join Today!)
NOTE: The Webinar link will be provided in a confirmation email after registering.
MODERATOR:
Michelle Dahl, Legal Fellow, National Police Accountability Project
PANELISTS:
Jonathan H. Feinberg - Partner, Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin
Mr. Feinberg focuses his practice on civil rights litigation and criminal defense. He is an experienced trial lawyer and appellate litigator, having successfully tried cases and argued appeals in both state and federal court. Mr. Feinberg is an established expert in numerous areas of law in the civil rights and criminal defense fields. In the civil rights arena, he specializes in cases involving wrongful convictions and prosecutions of innocent persons, the excessive use of force by police and correctional officers, the unconstitutional denial of medical care to incarcerated and detained people, and abuses of noncitizens in the immigration system. In the criminal defense practice area, Mr. Feinberg has extensive experience litigating federal habeas corpus matters and state post-conviction challenges to convictions and prison sentences. Mr. Feinberg is an active participant and leader in the National Police Accountability Project (NPAP), the country’s most prominent organization of legal professionals focused on law enforcement misconduct. He has served as a member of the organization’s board of directors since 2013, and, in October 2023, was appointed as its president. Mr. Feinberg frequently lectures at continuing legal education courses and to law students on a variety of issues related to civil rights law and criminal defense practice. In the 2007-08 academic year, Mr. Feinberg served as an adjunct faculty member in the University of Pennsylvania Law School Civil Practice Clinic, and, in 2022, he returned to the classroom at the University of Pennsylvania Law School as an adjunct instructor, teaching a class he created regarding the litigation of civil rights cases in the law enforcement context. In addition to his volunteer service with NPAP, Mr. Feinberg regularly consults for and co-counsels with local public interest organizations, including the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, and the Abolitionist Law Center, as well as national advocacy groups, including the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, American Immigration Council, and the National Immigrant Justice Center. Mr. Feinberg is a 2001 summa cum laude graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School where he was awarded the Best Oralist prize in the prestigious Edwin R. Keedy Cup moot court competition. After completing a judicial clerkship with the Honorable Jan E. DuBois of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Mr. Feinberg joined the firm in September 2002 and was promoted to partner in 2006.
Sara Jacobson - Executive Director, Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania
Sara Jacobson is the Executive Director for the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania (PDAP), where she is responsible for training and supporting Public Defenders across Pennsylvania. She also chairs Pennsylvania’s Indigent Defense Advisory Committee, created in 2023 to recommend standards and funding frameworks for Pennsylvania, so it can provide grants for indigent defense. Before joining the PDAP, Sara served as the Director of Trial Advocacy and an Associate Professor at Temple Law School, where she served as the Director of Trial Advocacy and an Associate Professor. At Temple, she taught Trial Advocacy, Evidence and Criminal Procedure, and worked with Temple’s International LLM program in Beijing. She also helped to run Temple’s National Trial Team and co-chaired the Dean’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion. Before joining the Temple faculty, Sara was an Assistant Public Defender at the Defender Association of Philadelphia, where she tried thousands of cases, served as the Assistant Chief of the Juvenile Unit, and taught a Criminal Defense Clinic for Penn Law. Her first job as a Public Defender was in Berks County. In 2024 Sara was appointed by Governor Shapiro to Chair Pennsylvania’s Indigent Defense Advisory Committee. She served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s Rules of Evidence Committee through October of 2023, serving as the Committee Chair and Vice-Chair. She was a member of Governor Shapiro’s Safety and Justice transition committee. She is a former Chair of the Public Interest Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association and served on its Board of Governors. In 2023 Sara was awarded the Cesare Beccaria award by the Criminal Justice Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association. In 2022 she was awarded the Cheryl Ingram Advocate for Justice award by the Bar Association, which honors individuals who have made substantive contributions to the LGBT community in Philadelphia. That same year she was awarded the Edward D. Ohlbaum Professionalism Award by Stetson Law School, which recognizes a trial team coach or program director who exemplifies the late Professor Ohlbaum’s commitment to doing things with a high degree of professionalism, integrity, and competency.
Code of Conduct
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