Washington, DC (August 13, 2014) –  Northampton, Mass. Attorney Marissa Elkins was sworn in to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association’s 57th annual meeting in Philadelphia on August 2.

Elkins is a solo practitioner in western Massachusetts, where she focuses almost exclusively on criminal defense. She was previously a partner at the Amherst law firm Allison, Angier, Bartmon, Elkins, & Fernald, LLP. Elkins began her career as a public defender, working as a staff attorney for the Northampton Superior Court office of the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services. She is especially dedicated to indigent defense, accepting major felony appointments in state court at both the Superior Court trial level and post-conviction cases before the Massachusetts Appeals Court and Supreme Judicial Court and in the United States District Court in Springfield as a member of the local CJA panel.

Elkins is currently President-Elect of the Hampshire County Bar Association and has been a member of that organization’s executive board since 2010. In the area of criminal defense training, she has given presentations on various emerging legal issues at trainings for the Hampshire County Bar Advocate Program and acts as a mentor/resource attorney for the Hampden County Bar Advocate program. In 2013, Elkins organized and recruited lawyers to participate in a required training for ASL and Certified Deaf Interpreters seeking certification as court interpreters and acted as lead counsel in the mock trial culminating the training. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law.

Elkins is a member of NACDL’s Indigent Defense Committee.

Elkins received her B.A. from Austin College and her Master’s at the University of Houston in 2002. She graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law with honors in 2005.

Contacts

Ivan Dominguez, NACDL Senior Director of Public Affairs and Communications, (202) 465-7662 or idominguez@nacdl.org

The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal justice system.