Faculty Biographies

Keynote Speaker

J. Richard Cohen is the Vice President and General Counsel of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama. He has been involved in a wide variety of civil rights litigation, most notably lawsuits against neo-Nazi organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and the White Aryan Resistance.

A Virginia native, Mr. Cohen received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University in 1976 and his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1979. He was named one of 45 young lawyers outside the private sector "whose vision and commitment are changing lives" by American Lawyer.

Lunchtime Speaker:

Jerry Gardner is the Executive Director for the Tribal Law and Policy Institute in Los Angeles, California.

Mr. Gardner is an attorney with more than 24 years of experience working with Indian tribes, tribal court systems, and victims of crime in Indian country. He served as the Administrator for the National American Indian Court Judges Association and as a Senior Staff Attorney with the National Indian Justice Center. Mr. Gardner also worked for the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the American Indian Lawyer Training Program.

Faculty Presenters

Scott Beard is principal attorney for the Crime Victims Law Firm, which represents victims of crime in civil courts in South Carolina. He is also the Director of the Faith-Based Collaborative Project, which links crime victim agencies and faith communities in urban areas. Mr. Beard wrote the initial draft of and lobbied for sponsors for the Federal Child Victim Witness Protection Act, and he wrote the Legislative Directory of victim laws for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has long been active in victim issues and has substantial experience in legal advocacy for crime victims.

Douglas E. Beloof is an Associate Professor of Law at Lewis & Clark Law School and the Director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute. A former prosecutor and tort lawyer for victims, Mr. Beloof is the author of the Casebook Victims in Criminal Procedure, and has litigated victim rights cases around the nation.

Barbara Berenson is a private attorney practicing in the areas of appellate advocacy and victims' rights. She is also a frequent instructor in continuing legal education and community programs on topics such as child sexual abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, sexual harrassment and hate crimes. Ms. Berenson was the Assistant District Attorney of Middlesex County for 10 years and recently served as Assistant Attorney General of Massachusetts. She will co-chair a day-long continuing legal education course on the legal rights of victims this fall.

Stephen Branchflower became Alaska's first crime victim advocate when he was appointed to head the Office of Crime Victim's Rights in 2002. He advocates on behalf of victims of felony offenses or class A misdemeanors involving domestic violence or assault. He also acts as a liason between state agencies and crime victims. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Branchflower served as state prosecutor in Anchorage for 28 years.

Russell Butler is the Executive Director of the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center (formerly the Stephanie Roper Foundation) and managing attorney for the Crime Victim Legal Advocacy Program, which provides victim advocacy and legal services in Maryland. Mr. Butler is responsible for many Maryland victim statutes and litigates on behalf of victims in criminal trial and appellate courts.

Catherine Carroll is Staff Attorney with the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs in Washington state. She has worked in the field of domestic violence and sexual assault for the past 11 years, working directly with abused women and girls. Ms. Carroll was a former staff attorney at the Support Network for Battered Women in Mountain View, California, and at the Family Violence Law Center in Berkeley, California; served as Co-Chair of the California Alliance against Domestic Violence, Public Policy and Research Committee in the San Francisco Bay Area; worked extensively on domestic violence legislation in California; and has trained hundreds of law enforcement officers in California and across that nation as a trainer with the National Primary Agressor Training Project.

Stasy Click directs the Victim's Legal Assistance Project at Arizona State University Law School in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to her work at ASU, she served seven years as a prosecutor, specializing in child sexual abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence.

Sarah Deer is Staff Attorney for the Tribal Law and Policy Institute in Los Angeles, California. Formerly, she was a grant program specialist at the U.S. Department of Justice in the Violence Against Women Office. She is on the national advisory cabinet for the V-DAY Indian Country project and serves on the Board of Advisors for the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. In February, 2003, Sarah was appointed by Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn to serve on the Los Angeles City/County Commission on Native American Indian Affairs.

Deborah Epstein has been working as an advocate for victims of domestic violence for 20 years. She is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Domestic Violence Clinic at Georgetown University, where she teaches a seminar course on domestic violence and litigation strategy. Ms. Epstein co-chaired the design and implementation of the D.C. Superior Court's Domestic Violence Court, which handles civil and criminal family abuse cases. She was also Co-Director of the Washington, D.C. Superior Court’s Domestic Violence Intake Center and Director of the Emergency Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, the D.C. Mayor’s Commission on Violence Against Women, and the D.C. Domestic Violence Fatality Review Team.

Margaret Garvin joined the National Crime Victim Law Institute in 2003. As Staff Attorney, she is developing a library of federal and state law governing victim rights and helping to establish victim assistance clinics nationwide. She is also part of the Institute’s team participating in impact litigation on behalf of victims throughout the country. Prior to joining the Institute, Ms. Garvin clerked for the Honorable Donald P. Lay of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, after which she practiced law in a private firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, focusing primarily in the areas of complex commercial litigation and appellate advocacy. Ms. Garvin has also served as pro bono appellate counsel through the Minnesota State Public Defender’s Office.

Jay Howell is a crime victim tort lawyer specializing in the representation of child and adult victims of crime in civil cases. He is a former prosecutor who has represented victims in a variety of civil and criminal law contexts for over 15 years. Mr. Howell founded the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and advocates for stronger laws for the protection of children.

Steve Kelly directs the Crime Victim Legal Advocacy program at the Maryland Crime Victims' Resource Center, which provides legal services to impoverished crime victims. The program recruits and trains volunteer attorneys to serve on its pro bono panel in order to ensure that victims understand and are able to fully exercise their legal rights. Mr. Kelly has held the position of Director since 1998. He also worked for the National Crime Prevention Council in Washington, D.C. as a youth program specialist. He is a part-time Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland College Park.

Laurie Kohn, Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown University, is the Assistant Director of the Domestic Violence Clinic in Washington, D.C. She has supervised students representing victims of domestic violence, taught the clinic seminar, and litigated domestic violence and criminal contempt cases.

Jim Marr, Senior Account Manager of Pac/West Communications, has over 15 years of experience in media relations. His media expertise includes work as a reporter, news anchor and producer, and he has devised marketing, advertising and public relations plans for clients Fred Meyer, McDonald's, Safeway and Baskin Robbins.

Gina McClard is the Associate Director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute and the director of the Appellate Clinic, working with students to litigate on behalf of crime victims nationwide. She has served as legal counsel for the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and as legal counsel for the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Wendy Murphy is a Visiting Professor at the New England School of Law, a former prosecutor, and founder of the Victim Advocacy and Research Center. She has extensive experience litigating victim rights issues, has generated test cases on the confidentiality of victim counseling records, and has argued cases that have helped shape state law in Massachusetts.

James Papillo was appointed as Connecticut's first Victim Advocate in 1999. The Office of Victim Advocate protects and promotes the rights of crime victims, serving as a voice for victims throughout the criminal justice process. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Papillo practiced law in West Hartford. He has a Ph.D. in psychology, specializing in behavioral medicine and health psychology.

MaryLee Perry serves as Staff Attorney for the Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs, providing technical assistance to rape crisis centers in Kentucky and representing them on public policy issues. She has also worked as an advocate and crisis counselor for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Lyn Schollett is General Counsel to the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, a statewide network of 29 rape crisis centers. She provides legal advice to individual centers, trains prosecutors and law enforcement officers, and helps to develop statewide policy on a range of issues affecting rape victims. She co-authored the ICASA booklet A Guide to Civil Lawsuits: Practical Considerations for Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse and Rape. NCVLI recognized Ms. Schollett for her work with crime victims at the 2002 conference, giving her the Outstanding Legal Achievement award.

Steve Twist is of Counsel to the National Crime Victim Law Institute. He actively litigates victim rights cases in criminal trial and appellate courts in Arizona and teaches a course on "Victims in Criminal Procedure" at Arizona State University Law School. He is the founder of Arizona Voice for Crime Victims, an organization dedicated to providing legal services to crime victims. He is also actively involved in the ongoing effort to achieve a constitutional amendment to the U.S. constitution recognizing victims' rights.

Alice Vachss prosecuted rape, child sexual assault, elder abuse, domestic violence and homicide cases as Chief of the Special Victims Bureau in the Queens District Attorney's office. During her tenure there, the bureau applied new techniques in sex crimes prosecutions. She authored the book Sex Crimes and has lectured and consulted internationally. She currently works for Legal Aid Services of Oregon.