A new CEO has taken the reins at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), with the organization’s board of directors announcing its appointment of Robyn Epps as president.
Epps will be the second woman in NACDL’s history.
Before joining the organization in 2004, Epps served as director of the American Bar Association’s Office of Legal Affairs and as a senior legal adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
She said she will be taking the reins for “a period of time.”
Epps previously served as president of the National Center for Victims of Crime and as president-elect of the International Association of Prosecutors and Bar Associations.
She also served as the CEO of the Association of State and Territorial Attorneys in New York.
Epps’ new role will be part of her overall mandate to focus on the development of the criminal justice system, she said in a statement.
Epp said she has been working closely with the board since the election, but also with the attorney general’s office.
She said the new leadership team will “focus on expanding the NACLD’s resources and resources to serve our clients and expand access to justice and protection in our communities.”NACLD is a national nonprofit organization that represents more than 5,000 criminal defense lawyers nationwide.
In addition to NACLC’s leadership team, the organization has two directors: the national executive director, Robert E. Nardelli; and the regional executive director for California, Lisa C. Farias.NACLC has been at the forefront of advocacy and advocacy efforts to end mass incarceration, especially in California, for more than a decade, with the launch of the California Justice Coalition and the California Coalition Against Mass Incarceration.
Epp, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, has worked on criminal justice reform and criminal justice issues since 2008.
Eggs, who is also president and CEO of New York-based Advocates for Youth, will be joining the board of NACCLD.
She will be serving as president for “several months,” the board said in the statement.
Nardelli, who served as executive director of Advocates’ criminal justice strategy for the past five years, said in an email to CBC News that she will “bring a broad experience in policy-making, advocacy and strategy to the NALDL.”
Farias, who has worked as an associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University and the University of Chicago, was also appointed by the president, according to the statement of appointment.
She served as senior director of strategic planning for the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence, where she helped develop and execute strategies to fight online radicalization, including the strategy for online radicalism as a security threat.