Degrees:
B.A., Mills College, 1986 (President, Student Government)
M.A., The University of Chicago, 1987
J.D., Case Western Reserve University School of Law, 1993 (President, Student Bar Association)

Bar Admissions:
U.S. Supreme Court; Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals; Federal District Court, Northern District of Ohio; Ohio.

Bar Memberships:
American Bar Association (Criminal Justice Section), Federal Bar Association, Cleveland Bar Association (Strategic Communications Committee, Publications Committee, Criminal Law Section, and Women in Law Section).

Professional:
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Life Member; Member, Board of Directors; Chair, New Member Services Committee; Member, Long Range Planning Committee, Problem Solving Courts Task Force, Membership Committee); Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (Life Member); NORML (Legal Committee).

Current Practice:
Private practice exclusively devoted to criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts. Practice emphasizes representation of people with mental retardation and mental illness as well as post-conviction proceedings.

Selected Professional Activity:

• Presenter, Ursuline College, "The Mental Health Court," Fall, 2007
• Presenter, Cuyahoga County Bar Association, "Representing Mentally Ill Offenders," Winter, 2006
• Legal Commentary for CNN, CourtTV, and MSNBC.
• Monthly Column, "Practice Points," The Champion (magazine of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers).
• Moderator, Cleveland International Film Festival, Panel following "Songbird" (film profiling incarcerated women). Spring, 2006.
• Co-Presenter, Second International Conference on Abuse of Children and Adults with Disabilities, Riverside, California, Spring, 2003.
• Co-Presenter, "Invisible Defendants: People with Mental Retardation in the Criminal Justice System." International Conference, Young Adult Institute/National Institute for People With Disabilities, Spring, 2002.
• Panelist, "Capital Defendants: Psychological Mitigating Factors," Annual Meeting, American Academy of Psychiatry and Law, Fall, 2001.
• Author, Book Reviews for The Federal Lawyer:
• Soldier Slaves: Abandoned by the White House, Courts, and Congress, February, 2008; Every Contact Leaves a Trace: Crime Scene Experts Talk About their Work from Discovery through Verdict, February, 2008; Thieves of Baghdad: One Marine's Passion for Ancient Civilizations and the Journey to Recover the World's Greatest Stolen Treasures, August, 2007; Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey Into the Inferno of American Justice, July, 2007; Chasing Justice: My Story of Freeing Myself After Two Decades on Death Row for a Crime I Didn't Commit, July, 2007; Exile: A Novel, May, 2007; Inside: Life Behind Bars in America, March/April, 2007; The Money Lawyers, February, 2007; Back from the Dead: One Woman's Search for the Men Who Walked Off America's Death Row and The Strange Case of Hellish Nell: The Story of Helen Duncan and The Witch Trials of World War Two, December, 2006; The Devil's Advocates: Closing Arguments in Criminal Law, September, 2006.
• Federal Prison Guidebook, August, 2006; Courtroom 302 and Professional Responsibility in Criminal Defense Practice, July 2006; The Death of Innocents, February, 2006; Women's Lives Men's Laws, August, 2005; Life on the Outside, July, 2005
• Author, Book Review for Trial Magazine:
• The Devil's Advocates: Closing Arguments in Criminal Law. Are you there Alone? The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates, July, 2004; The Ultimate Punishment, February 2004.
• Co-Author, "A Question of Competency: Representing People With Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities," The Vindicator, Fall, 2001.