Washington, DC (Aug. 10, 2026) – Six individuals were elected to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association’s Annual Meeting on August 8. The Board Members below join those currently serving their terms on the NACDL Board of Directors.
Paola Armeni – Las Vegas, NV
Paola Armeni is the Managing Member of the Las Vegas, Nevada office of Clark Hill, where she serves as a partner in the Litigation Business Unit, focusing primarily on criminal defense and civil rights. She has served as a Criminal Justice Act (CJA) panel attorney for the District of Nevada since 2007, and prior to that represented indigent clients in the Eighth Judicial District Court in Clark County, Nevada. She defends clients in municipal, state, and federal courts throughout Nevada. Armeni serves on the Nevada Sentencing Commission and the Clark County Indigent Appointment and Selection Committee. She previously served on the Nevada Commission for the Administration of Justice, which was instrumental in advancing significant criminal justice reforms across the state. She is the Past President of Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice and a Past President of the State Bar of Nevada after twelve years on its Board of Governors.
Ian Friedman – Cleveland, OH
Ian Friedman is the Founding and Managing Partner at Friedman Nemecek Long & Grant, LLC. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Ian has served as chief legal counsel on behalf of individuals and entities across the United States and as far as Europe, Asia, and South America. In addition to his legal work, he is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Cleveland State University College of Law where he teaches Cybercrime. A past president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, he founded the New Lawyer Bootcamp, an annual event in which judges, top lawyers, and professionals join to assist new lawyers in better navigating their way in the profession. As a former president of the Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, he was the driving force behind passing a new version of Ohio Criminal Rule 16, more commonly known as “Open Discovery.” The new rule, made effective by the Ohio Supreme Court on July 1, 2010, requires that accused persons in Ohio be provided with all evidence intended to be introduced by the government against them at trial. In recognition of his effort, the OACDL honored Ian as their first-ever Ohio Lawyer of the Year. He is a Fellow and past president of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers and is a Life Member of NACDL.
Jonathan Harwell – Indianapolis, IN
Jonathan D. Harwell is the founder and managing partner of Harwell Criminal Defense in Indianapolis, Indiana. A nationally recognized criminal defense attorney, legal educator, and author, his practice concentrates on serious criminal litigation, appellate advocacy, and post-conviction relief. Harwell has represented clients in matters ranging from misdemeanor offenses to murder prosecutions and death penalty cases, litigating complex constitutional, evidentiary, and procedural issues throughout Indiana's trial and appellate courts. He is a multi-year Super Lawyers Rising Stars honoree, a graduate of the National Criminal Defense College Trial Practice Institute and the Indiana State Bar Leadership Development Academy, and author of a criminal motions treatise published annually by LexisNexis. Harwell frequently teaches continuing legal education programs on criminal defense, trial advocacy, professionalism, and law practice management. He remains actively engaged in professional leadership through the Indiana State Bar Association, Indianapolis Bar Association, and organizations dedicated to advancing the rights of the accused. Through his litigation, teaching, writing, and service, Harwell has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to strengthening the criminal defense profession and improving access to justice.
Sonya Pfeiffer – Charlotte, NC
Sonya Pfeiffer is a civil rights and criminal defense attorney at Pfeiffer Rudolf in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she represents individuals in the United States and internationally. Pfeiffer began her legal career as a public defender, then transitioned to a corporate law firm where she handled white-collar criminal matters, civil litigation, and pro bono death penalty work. She focuses the majority of her present work on wrongful conviction and police misconduct matters. Pfeiffer also regularly advises attorneys and law firms on media strategy and working with the press. She is a licensed barrister in Ontario, Canada, where she consults on complex and high-conflict cases and trains younger lawyers at Toronto-based Brauti Thorning, LLP. She serves on the McMillan Committee of Charlotte’s Mecklenburg County Bar Association and the Communications Committee of the North Carolina State Bar Association. She is an executive committee member of the Civil Rights Section of the North Carolina Advocates for Justice, the state trial lawyers’ organization. In 2025, she co-founded North Carolina Lawyers for the Rule of Law, a non-partisan 501(c)(4) united in defense of the foundational principles of due process, equal protection, an independent judiciary, and zealous advocacy. She co-chairs NACDL’s Women in Criminal Defense Committee, has served two terms on the NACDL Board of Directors, and has served as a trustee of the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice.
Cris Schneider – Savannah, GA
Cris Schneider is the founding partner of The Schneider Law Firm in Savannah, Georgia, where he devotes his practice exclusively to defending individuals accused of crimes throughout Southeast Georgia. Over nearly three decades, he has defended clients in matters ranging from misdemeanors to serious felony cases. After earning his Juris Doctor from The George Washington University Law School in 1995, Cris began his legal career at The Findling Law Firm in Atlanta, where he trained under Drew Findling. Throughout his career, Cris has handled serious felony cases in both private practice and public defense. From 2020 to 2021, he served as Chief Assistant Public Defender in coastal Georgia. Beyond his courtroom practice, Cris has remained active in criminal defense education and is a frequent lecturer on cross examination and motions practice.
Lawrence Zimmerman – Atlanta, GA
Lawrence Zimmerman is an Atlanta, Georgia criminal defense attorney at the Law Office of Lawrence J. Zimmerman. He has represented those accused of serious crimes for over 25 years in state and federal courts. He attended University of Florida undergraduate school and law school at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island. After law school, he moved to Atlanta and opened his own law firm within the first six months of practicing as a lawyer. Zimmerman previously served on the NACDL Board of Directors and the NACDL Council of Affiliates. He is a past president of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, where he worked closely with the trial courts, Supreme Court, and multiple government agencies to help address problems in the criminal legal system and come up with solutions during the statewide judicial emergency including a pandemic handbook issued by GACDL. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers. He serves on the board for the Southern Center for Human Rights, a leading civil rights organization in the south.
Contacts
Jessie Diamond, Deputy Director, Public Affairs and Communications, (202) 465-7647 or jdiamond@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 legal system.
