Civil Justice

The film "Tribal Justice" will be shown at the Annual Conference of the National Consortium on Racial and Ethnic Fairness in the Courts. A discussion will be facilitated by Judge Claudette White and Jennifer Walter.

After completing a site visit to Alaska a phone conference was held with the Alaska Public Defender Agency and The Center for Holistic Defense. The purpose of the phone call was to give feedback and TA with the information gathered during the site visit and for The Center to give recommendations to the grant recipient.

As part of our on-going technical assistance in all aspects of holistic defense to requesting offices and organizations a public defender from the New Mexico Legal Aid organization travelled to The Bronx Defenders to meet with members of The Center for Holistic Defense to conduct a day of on-site study, evaluation, guidance, and training in various aspects of holistic defense.

As part of our on-going one-year grant of technical assistance in all aspects of holistic defense to the Augusta Judicial Circuit Public Defender several members of The Center for Holistic Defense travelled to Augusta, Georgia to conduct several days of on-site study, evaluation, guidance, and training in various aspects of holistic defense.

The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) requested a subject matter expert to develop a publication summarizing the themes and findings of the January 2017 Justice Reinvestment Strategy Session forum. Alison Shames was selected to fulfill the request and provided support by attending the forum; conducting follow up interviews with BJA staff, session attendees, and other stakeholders; and drafting and delivering the report to BJA . The technical assistance commenced in January 2017 with Shames conducting pre-forum research and attending the forum on January 12 in Washington, D.C.

On June 17, 2016 Karen Maxim, staff attorney for The Bronx Defenders in the Civil Action Practice, conducted a training at the Urban Justice Center regarding litigating Bawdy House cases. The emphasis of her training was how to litigate these types of cases holistically when representing typically underserved populations.

Molly Kovel, Legal Director for the Civil Action Practice at The Bronx Defenders, spoke about permanent exclusions from public housing for prisoners who are re-entering society. The focus was on how defense counsel needed to look to the future and possible re-entry issues when considering what is the most appropriate disposition in a case.

On March 8, 2016 Robin Steinberg, Executive Director and Founder of The Bronx Defenders spoke to a group of public interest law students at Georgetown Law regarding the tenets of Holistic Defense and why it is so vital to adhere to them when representing undeserved communities.

Social Workers from The Bronx Defenders presented at this conference on a panel focused on representing parents in Family Court who also had Criminal Justice Involvement. The focus of the panel was the necessity for holistic representation for clients in these circumstances.