Governance

Civil Council

The Civil Council's primary objective is to develop programs and policies that support NLADA members. Its main duties include:

• Initiating policy and programs, subject to board approval, relating to the provision of civil legal services
• Reviewing all matters of interest to legal services organizations
• Procuring a budget
• Determining the Civil Division's program
• Issuing policy statements
• Participating as Amicus Curiae on civil legal services related issues in the name of NLADA
• Engaging in appropriate activities in support of legal services organizations

Civil Council members are generally elected on a regional basis, and include management, staff and clients from legal aid programs nationwide. Persons who are elected or appointed to the Civil Council must maintain current individual membership in the Association throughout their terms on the Civil Council.

Click Here for Civil Council Materials

Members

• Clarissa Gaff, Chairperson
  East St. Louis, IL
• Sam Abel-Palmer
  Burlington, VT
• Diego Cartagena
  Los Angeles, CA
• Stephanie Hudson,
  Oklahoma City, OK
• Jessica Jewell
  Modesto, CA
• Alicia M. Johnson
  Kansas City, MO
• Kara Moberg
  Kalamazoo, MI
• Sharon Sergent
  Phoenix, AZ
• Suzanne Small
  Boston, MA
• DarKenya Waller
  Nashville, TN
• LaShung Willis
  Hammond, IN

Civil Council Committees 

These committees advance the objectives and help fulfill the duties of the Civil Council, especially by making recommendations to the group on specific areas.

• Executive Committee
  The Executive Committee consists of the chair and vice chair of the Civil Council and the chairs of the standing committees. On issues of a time-sensitive nature between meetings, the Executive Committee is charged with the authority to act on behalf of the entire Council between meetings.
• Leadership and Diversity Committee
  This committee makes recommendations on leadership and diversity issues, such as supporting and developing minority leadership in legal services programs, developing new leadership in legal services programs, involving non-directors in legal services community leadership roles and assuring that diverse staff are recruited and retained throughout the legal services community. Projects include developing a series of training events that help leaders address issues currently facing legal services programs, including issues that arise as programs undergo internal changes.
• Program Enhancement Committee
  The Program Enhancement Committee makes recommendations on a wide array of issues designed to enhance and improve the quality of legal aid delivery at the advocate, program, state, and national levels.
• Recruitment and Retention Committee
  The Recruitment and Retention Committee makes recommendations regarding loan repayment assistance programs and other policies designed to improve the ability of legal aid programs to recruit and retain diverse, high-quality staff. 
• Regulations and Restrictions Committee
  The Regulations and Restrictions Committee makes recommendations on policy and regulatory issues related to the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). It has developed and presented recommendations to the LSC regarding policies such as LSC's Case Service Reporting system and has analyzed the LSC Property Acquisition and Management Manual, as well as proposed changes in various LSC regulations.
• Resources Committee
  This committee makes recommendations on funding and funding-related policy and regulatory issues affecting civil legal services to the poor. The Resources Committee develops and presents funding requests to the LSC board and Congress for LSC appropriations, and it develops policy recommendations to guide LSC in implementing its funding priorities. The committee also develops policy recommendations relating to non-LSC federal sources of funding, IOLTA resources, and other major sources of support for civil legal aid.

Civil Sections

NLADA sections comprise people within a specialized legal area whose common interest is to improve the quality of services rendered to their clients, develop the specialized skills of the group, enhance communications and information sharing, and strengthen advocacy and client communities. Civil sections include:

• Farmworker Law
  The Farmworkers Law Section supports the efforts of migrant farmworker advocates and legal services programs serving seasonal farmworkers. It seeks to increase awareness of legal problems and the rights of migrant and seasonal farmworkers and to advance the cause of justice for migrant and seasonal farmworkers.  Working closely with the Farmworker Project Group, the section provides technical assistance to migrant farmworker advocates and legal services programs, meets at the NLADA Annual Conference, and sponsors a biennial training conference for migrant advocates from across the country.
• Latino Advocates
  The Latino Advocates Section focuses on national legal and regulatory issues that affect low-income Latinos, including the intersection of race, ethnicity, and poverty. It also addresses substantive law issues of critical importance to Latino communities, such as immigration, education, and labor; it also offers support to Latino staff through networking, peer mentoring, training, and other appropriate mechanisms.
• Native American Law
  The Native American Section focuses on the unique cultural problems affecting the delivery of legal services to Native American Indians. The section, working closely with the National Association of Indian Legal Services (NAILS), develops systems to provide effective civil and criminal representation to Native Americans living on and off reservations. The section provides technical assistance to offices that deliver legal services to Native Americans.
• Technology
  The Technology Section aims to serve the national legal services community on both the civil and defender sides and the established network of programs by providing leadership and knowledge regarding the use of technology to foster provision of quality legal services. It provides a forum within NLADA for development of a critical perspective regarding technology issues and supports efforts to bridge the "digital divide" and ensure that our client community is not further marginalized by lack of access to technology. The section also provides a voice to Congress and the Legal Services Corporation regarding technology issues and addresses issues of training, funding, and support for technology within NLADA, and within the legal services community.

Client Council 

The Client Council provides a forum for client inclusiveness and involvement in NLADA.  The Client Council is composed of:

• One member is a client representative on the Civil Council and is elected by the Civil Council.
• One member is a client individual member of NLADA and is elected by the client individual members.
• One member is a client representative on the Defender Council and is elected by the Defender Council.
• One member is a client individual member of NLADA and is elected by the Defender Council.
• One member is a chief staff officer or staff representative on the Civil Council and is elected by the Civil Council.
• One member is a director or staff representative on the Defender Council and is elected by the Defender Council.
• One member is appointed by the chairperson of the Client Council, in consultation with staff and the Leadership Development Committee, to meet the diversity goals of NLADA.

Click Here for Client Council Materials

Members

• Liza E.L. Merrill, Chairperson
  Phoenix, AZ
• Ronald Simpson-Bey, Vice Chairperson
  Atlanta, GA
• Soummer Crawford
  Detroit, MI
• Eddie Ellis
  Washington, DC
• Robyn Hasan-Simpson
  Atlanta, GA
• Suzanne Small
  Boston, MA
• Rosita Stanley
  Macon, GA
• LaShung Willis
  Hammond, IN
• Marquita Wise Jones
  Baltimore, MD

Client Committees 

The purpose of the NLADA Client Section is to promote the mission of NLADA by providing a forum for clients of legal aid and public defense programs to voice their interests and concerns as members of NLADA, as program board members, as customers of legal services, and as advocates for themselves.

• Communications Committee
  The Communications Committee addresses issues of communication among and with the client membership, the Council, and NLADA.  One of the committee's first recommendations to the Council was the creation of a newsletter to be published jointly with the National Association of Client Advocates (NOCA). The Client Update is published three times per year. To view the current and past issues of the Client Update, please go to the Client Resource Center.
• Training Committee
  The Training Committee addresses the training opportunities and needs of the client membership.  NLADA offers training for clients and client advocates at the Annual Conference, and these opportunities are planned by a design committee that includes members of the Training Committee.
• Membership Committee
  The Membership Committee was established because NLADA members expressed interest in establishing a client section. The committee was instrumental in achieving this objective, and in March 2001 the NLADA board approved the creation of the Client Section. The committee now works to promote membership in the section and in NLADA. 

Client Section

This section promotes the mission of NLADA by providing a forum for clients of legal aid and public defense programs to voice their interests and concerns as NLADA members, as customers of legal assistance, and as advocates for themselves. Membership is open to all NLADA members, with a special focus on NLADA client members.

Defender Council

The Defender Council advises the Board of Directors regarding policy and programs relating to the provision of defender legal services. It reviews matters of interest to defender organizations, recommends policy statements and public positions to the Board of Directors, as well as reviewing requests for participation in amicus curiae on defender related issues in the name of NLADA. Those elected or appointed to the Defender Council must maintain current individual NLADA membership throughout their terms on the council.

Click Here for Defender Council Materials

Members

• Aisha McWeay, Chairperson
  Tulsa, OK
• Danny Engelberg, Vice Chairperson
  New Orleans, LA
• Kevin D. Coker
  Houston, TX
• Kenneth Days III
  Atlanta, GA
• Eddie Ellis
  Washington, DC
• Robyn Hasan-Simpson
  Atlanta, GA
• Stan Hickman
  New York City, NY
• Martesha Johnson Moore
  Nashville, TN
• Angela Kilpatrick
  Chicago, IL
• Stacey Lannert
  St. Louis, MO
• Katherine Mayer
  Austin, TX
• Ellen McDonnell
  Martinez, CA
• Jeffrey Wright
  Des Moines, IA

Defender Council Committees

These committees advance the objectives and help fulfill the duties of the Defender Council, especially by making recommendations to the group on specific areas.      

Executive Committee
The Executive Committee serves as a steering committee for the Defender Council coordinating and providing oversight of NLADA’s defender work and sections and represents the Defender Council in between meetings.

Training & Leadership Development
The Training & Leadership Development Committee identifies and addresses training and leadership development needs in the defender community, including identifying and recruiting a broad array of effective and diverse trainers.

Standards & Best Practices 
The Standards & Best Practices Committee identifies and develops indigent defense related standards, guidelines, opinions and best practices to ensure that indigent clients in the criminal justice system receive high quality legal representation.

Amicus
The Amicus Committee writes or recruit writers to compose appellate briefs that promote law reform on indigent defense and related legal matters.

Defender Sections

Defender sections provide members with an opportunity to focus on specialized skills and topics, enhance communication and information sharing among occupational and other affinity groups, and issue policy statements and take public positions on relevant issues on behalf of the section. Defender sections include:

American Council of Chief Defenders

The American Council of Chief Defenders (ACCD) is a national community of public defense leaders dedicated to securing a fair justice system and ensuring high quality legal representation for people facing loss of life, freedom, or family.  A practice section of NLADA, ACCD draws from NLADA’s network of defenders to bring together chief and deputy chiefs of diverse indigent defense programs,  including public defender offices, assigned counsel systems, and contract systems. ACCD members collaborate through a listserv and annual conferences.  Learn more about ACCD.

Appellate

The Appellate Section provides a forum for attorneys who handle criminal appeals to keep up to date on legal developments and obtain case-related assistance. 

Black Public Defender Association

The Black Public Defender Association (BPDA) is a new section within the NLADA defender community, and it is dedicated to the recruitment, support and development of Black defenders that advocate on behalf of indigent populations in the legal system. We recognize the extreme over-representation of low-income Black people in the legal system, and the under-representation of Black advocates in the public defense profession. Our goal is to promote diversity and inclusion within the public defender community.  Learn more about BPDA

Death Penalty Litigation Section

The Death Penalty Litigation Section provides a forum for mitigation specialists, defense investigators, and defense attorneys who handle capital cases to keep up–to-date on legal developments and obtain case-related assistance.  Each year the section sponsors Life in the Balance, a nationally renowned capital defense training program that gathers the leading practitioners and experts from across the country. Section members regularly teach at Life in the Balance and other training programs for the death penalty defense community.

National Alliance of Sentencing Advocates and Mitigation Specialists

The National Alliance of Sentencing Advocates and Mitigation Specialists (NASAMS) is the only national organization devoted to the educational and professional development of mitigation specialists and sentencing advocates. NASAMS offers national and regional trainings, individual consultation, an internet forum and listserv, and other member services designed to support and enhance an effective mitigation practice.  Learn more about NASAMS. 

National Alliance of Indigent Defense Educators 

The National Alliance of Indigent Defense Educators (NAIDE) brings together indigent defense training directors and professionals to create premier programs in continuing legal education. NAIDE members share the latest legal developments, adult learning techniques, and breakthroughs in web-based and other distance-learning technologies through a listserv and Train-the-Trainers sessions at NLADA conferences.  NAIDE also advises other NLADA sections, such as the American Council of Chief Defenders, on best practices in defender training. Learn more about NAIDE.