Faculty: La Mer Kyle-Griffiths

La Mer Kyle-Griffiths is the Division Leader of the Training Division with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. She has been a lifelong public defender amplifying the voice of the poor in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Washington and now California. Prior to her role in the largest public defender's office in the world, she was the Assistant Public Defender of the Santa Barbara Public Defender’s Office. Previously, she was the Director of Training and Complex Litigation with Still She Rises in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Washington, she was responsible for designing, organizing, and facilitating training for the 400+ team members of the Department of Public Defense. In Kentucky, she was part of the Capital Defense Unit and litigated several death penalty cases. She has sat on many case reviews on death penalty cases and continues to teach nationally and at various state programs on capital litigation, jury selection, and mitigation. She has litigated juvenile, capital, felony, and misdemeanor cases as well as arguing two appeals to the Kentucky Supreme Court. A graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law she has been a lifelong advocate and is looking forward to her continuing adventure with her family including three young women, one just starting at UCLA, who all learned to crow “Acquittal” early!

Faculty: Heather Rogers, Chief Public Defender, Santa Cruz County
              Dr. Susan Greene, PhD

Description: An introductory session on the unique ways women experience the carceral system, including structural power, patriarchy, and cycles of harm affecting incarcerated women and those who support them.

Susan Greene has worked with people in the criminal legal system for over 30 years, combining lived experience with data to inform programs, influence policy, and effect community change. Her research has focused on women in jail—their social histories, pathways to incarceration, challenges upon release, and the ripple effects on children and families. Her work with the Santa Cruz County Superior Court included program design and evaluation for men and women in Behavioral Health and Reentry Courts. Susan is currently a Research Associate in the Psychology Department at UC Santa Cruz and collaborates with community-based organizations on policy initiatives, program design, evaluation, and grant development as a research consultant. She is a founding partner of the SIS Project (Support Instead of Stigma), is a new program of the Parents Center supporting children and families impacted by incarceration through direct assistance, advocacy, and community connection. From 2017-2025, Suan developed and coordinated the Santa Cruz County Commission on Justice & Gender (JAG) to address the needs of justice-involved women and their children. She was the founding Director of Gemma, an innovative transitional program for women after jail, and later served as Analyst and Chief Aide to a Santa Cruz County Supervisor on issues of justice, health, and human services. Her work has been honored by United Way as Advocate of the Year, the Santa Cruz County Women’s Commission Trailblazer Award, and as California Assembly District 29 Woman of the Year.

Heather Rogers (she/her) has been a public defender for 20 years in the state and federal courts. Heather has handled cases at every stage of litigation, from arraignment through trial and appeal. She has represented clients accused of offenses from delinquency to homicide, defended detainees incarcerated at Guantánamo Naval Base in Guantanamo, Cuba, tried numerous cases to jury, and argued cases in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Heather is honored to serve as the first Public Defender of Santa Cruz County, her birthplace and home. Before her appointment, Heather served as a public defender in Santa Cruz and Monterey County and as a federal defender in the Southern and Northern Districts of California. Heather is a faculty member of the National Criminal Defense College, lecturer in Legal Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and frequent trainer at regional and national trial skills programs. Heather has also taught at California Western School of Law and Monterey College of Law. Heather clerked for the Honorable M. Margaret McKeown on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals before starting her career in public defense. Heather has an A.B. in English Language & Literature from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. Heather lives in the Aptos mountains with her husband, children, and pets. In her free time, Heather enjoys traveling, hiking, and snowboarding.

Faculty: Rebecca Kahan, Deputy Public Defender, Santa Clara County
           Debbie Mukamal and Andrea Cimino (Authors, Fatal Peril, Stanford Criminal Justice Center, 2024)

Description: Presentation on the Fatal Peril research and findings, including abuse, coercive control, and traumatic brain injury among incarcerated women. Our presenters will also discuss preliminary findings from a recent (unpublished) Illinois study showing similarly high rates of abuse across incarcerated women beyond homicide cases.

Rebecca Kahan is a Deputy Public Defender at the Office of the Public Defender in Santa Clara County. She received her B.A. in Biology from the University of California, Berkeley and earned her J.D. at Northwestern University School of Law, then clerked at the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Currently, she serves on the Special Trials Unit, specializing in defending homicide cases with a focus on mental health and forensics issues.

Andrea N. Cimino, PhD, MSW is a social scientist and expert in gender-based violence with over 15 years of experience advancing research to improve responses to intimate partner violence. She has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and contributed to over $9 million in funded research shaping state and national policy. Dr. Cimino previously served as Director of Research for Fatal Peril, a study sponsored by the Stanford Criminal Justice Center on homicide risk among incarcerated survivors. As Principal Consultant of Rogue Scholar Consulting, and through projects with the Stanford Criminal Justice Center, Loyola University Chicago, RTI International, and Johns Hopkins University, she leads applied research that translates complex evidence into decision-ready tools for systems change.

Faculty: Cecilia Fierro, Deputy Public Defender, Contra Costa County 
               Attorneys from If/When/How - Repro Legal Defense Fund 

Description: Training on protecting clients’ rights in Welfare and Institutions Code section 300 court, coordinating with family defense attorneys, and navigating cases involving pregnancy outcomes, parenting, and criminal prosecution.

Cecilia Fierro is a Deputy Public Defender at the Contra Costa Public Defender's office and has served her entire career in a trial assignment. In the office, Ms. Fierro serves on the board of the Racial Justice and Diversity Committee and proudly organizes summer happy hours, sporting events, and BBQs. Outside the office, Ms. Fierro serves on the board of directors for If/When/How, a national reproductive justice non-profit. She is also an adjunct professor at USF School of Law. Ms. Fierro is an alumna of Boston College ('08) and University of San Francisco School of Law ('15).

Faculty: Susan Leff, Senior Deputy Public Defender, Santa Barbara County
               Rachel Martin, Senior Staff Attorney, Pregnancy Justice

Description: An introduction to defending pregnant clients, including constitutional issues, writ practice, and the intersection of criminal prosecution, medical decision-making, and reproductive justice.

Rachel Martin (she/her) is a senior staff attorney at Pregnancy Justice. Previously, she spent nearly 15 years as a public defender in the Eastern District of Virginia, the Southern District of New York, and in New York County’s Supreme Court. She began her career in D.C. as an associate at Paul Hastings LLP and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP. She also clerked for federal judge Algenon L. Marbley in the Southern District of Ohio. Rachel holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. She spends her free time hanging out with her two teenaged kids, pampering her dog (Norman), and reading murder mysteries. 

Susan Leff (she/her/hers) is the first lawyer in her family. In 1996, Susan became a public defender attorney and has worked at Public Defenders offices in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Napa, San Francisco, Nevada counties. She currently works at the Santa Barbara County Public Defenders Office, where she specializes in mental health cases including LPS, CARE, AOT, Probate, OMHD, and SVP. Susan worked her way up from a beginning misdemeanor trial caseload to handling violent and serious felonies, including multiple homicides and Three Strikes cases. Later, at the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, she and her favorite public defender investigator co-founded a police practice project and Susan assisted in training new lawyers and legal interns in Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendment issues. While at the San Francisco Public Defenders Office, Susan also joined the Board of the California Public Defenders Association, where she has regularly conducts trainings, develops and helps pass criminal legal reforms, trains new lawyers as a co-coordinator of the CPDA Basic Trial Skills Institute and was recently awarded the California Public Defenders Association’s “Defender of the Year 2023.” She has served as an Adjunct Law Professor at both New College School of Law, where she taught Evidence, and Golden Gate University School of Law, where she served as the Acting Director of Externships and, for over 15 years, taught Criminal Litigation, Criminal Litigation Clinic and Trial Advocacy. In 2011, Susan also received the National Defense Investigators Association's "Profiles in Courage Award,” "in recognition of dedication and professionalism in training and educating indigent criminal defense investigators, paralegals and public defender personnel, and willingness to speak truth to power in the face of adversity."