NDS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Detroit Staff Member
- IT Specialist
Job Titles:
- Detroit Staff Member
- HR Generalist
Job Titles:
- Detroit Staff Member
- Staff Attorney
Job Titles:
- Harlem Staff Member
- Assistant to Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Detroit Staff Member
- Assistant to Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Detroit Staff Member
- Staff Attorney
Job Titles:
- Detroit Staff Member
- Staff Attorney
Job Titles:
- Social Worker, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Supervising Attorney, Collateral Consequences Team, Civil Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Chief Operating Officer for NDS, Inc
Spending her career in not-for-profit executive governance, Andrea has more than 25 years of experience providing non-profit organizations with the leadership to compel high quality services resulting in program expansion, additional funding opportunities, exceeded contract performance, and exemplary monitoring and audit conclusions.
Andrea has been responsible for securing millions of dollars in local, foundational, and governmental grants, spending the prior ten years in direct contracting with multiple state and federal departments including the U.S. Department of Defense, Corporation for National and Community Service, Social Security Administration, and the U.S. Department of Labor. She has been involved with numerous boards, committees, and research projects across Michigan and the U.S. assisting communities to be better stewards of program dollars.
Andrea has dedicated much of her free time in assisting persons of differing abilities in enjoying a better quality of life through her volunteering and advocacy.
She has a Master's in Public Administration from Saginaw Valley State University. She lives in Michigan with her husband, Matt, and two Bernese Mountain Dogs.
Job Titles:
- Detroit Staff Member
- Staff Attorney
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Education Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Client Intake Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Administrative Specialist
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Harris County Eviction Defense
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Civil Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Harris County Eviction Defense
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Supervising Attorney, Civil Defense Practice - Housing Defense Team
Job Titles:
- Investigator, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS Harlem Board
- Partner in Cravath 's Litigation
Damaris Hernández is a partner in Cravath's Litigation Department. Her practice focuses on complex civil litigation related to securities, ERISA and antitrust, as well as shareholder demands, internal corporate investigations and government investigations related to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Ms. Hernández also devotes substantial time to pro bono work, currently representing juveniles sentenced to indeterminate life sentences with the possibility of parole in a suit seeking to reform the parole hearing process in New York, and acting as lead counsel in a lawsuit in Alabama federal court challenging Jefferson County, Alabama's compliance with a consent decree after findings of discrimination in the hiring of firefighters and police. She is also representing sick children and their families in partnership with the Children's Hospital at Montefiore and Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. Ms. Hernández serves as a Fellow of the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity and as a mentor for students in New York University School of Law's AnBryce Scholar program. In 2017, she was elected to serve as a member of The American Law Institute and the Litigation Advisory Board for Practical Law, and she also serves as a District Leader in New York County for the New York State Bar Association.
Ms. Hernández received her A.B. degree magna cum laude in Literature from Harvard College in 2003, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 2007, where she was an associate editor of the Review of Law and Social Change and an AnBryce Scholar.
Job Titles:
- Interim Managing Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Social Worker, Civil Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS, Inc Board
- Head of Branding and Communications
David Dasharath Kalal is the head of branding and communications at The Futures, a firm that brings innovative narratives regarding global economics and climate change to youth audiences worldwide.
As a digital branding and communications expert, Kalal has worked with national and international organizations, including Project FIND, Neighborhood Defender Service, and Glorious Games. While with Glorious Games, a gaming company based out of Stockholm, Kalal directed communications and media content campaigns for organizations such as the Center for Women's Global Leadership and the Arcus Foundation, and negotiated co-branding deals with commercial partners, including BBC Worldwide, Paramount Pictures, Random House, Inc., Warner Brothers, and the World Wildlife Fund.
Kalal is a well-respected contemporary artist with his work featured at galleries in New York City, Toronto, Helsinki, and Stockholm and in academic publications from Duke University Press.
He works with film to raise awareness about the issues surrounding race, class, and gender. He has also curated exhibits at the MoMA in New York City and Lux in London.
He has taught graduate-level design theory and production courses at The New School.
Kalal has a BA from Brown University and an MFA from Bard College.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the NDS Harlem Board
- Chairman and Founding Partner of Sanford Heisler
David Sanford is the Chairman and Founding Partner of Sanford Heisler, LLP, a national law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., New York and California. He received his law degree from Stanford Law School in 1995.
Mr. Sanford served as Lead Counsel representing over 6000 female employees in Velez v. Novartis. After a seven-week trial, plaintiffs secured the largest employment verdict ($253 million) in United States history. The firm obtained a court-approved settlement of $175 million on behalf of the class that the judge described as "extraordinary" and "one of a kind." The United Nations has recognized the Novartis case as among the top cases in the world advancing women's rights, and is the only case from the United States so recognized by the UN.
In July 2011, Mr. Sanford gave an address on women's rights at the United Nations. In addition to theNovartis matter, Mr. Sanford has served as lead counsel in over 50 class actions around the United States, generating recoveries to class members and extensive non- monetary relief. Before law school, Mr. Sanford was a professor of philosophy at Williams College, and taught at UNC-Chapel Hill and Oberlin College as well.
Dean Jefferson Exum is a member of the Editorial Board of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, and her work has been featured on prominent sentencing blogs, such as Sentencing Law and Policy. Dean Jefferson Exum mainly writes in the area of sentencing law and policy, but her research interests also include comparative criminal law and procedure, policing, and the impact of race on criminal justice. She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College.
Job Titles:
- Team Administrator, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Supervising Social Worker, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS Detroit Board
- Health Strategy Coach
Dr. Tolulope Sonuyi serves DLIVE as the "health strategy coach," or more formally, the medical director. Prior to DLIVE, Tolulope worked as an emergency medicine physician and community servant, deepening his learning about the things that contribute to cycles of illness and poor health. While honoring the intimate awareness of the challenges that his contemporaries in the city of Detroit were facing, he became an advocate to uplift his community. Pulling in his life's teachable moments, things he didn't understand began making sense and puzzle pieces started coming together-and his call to serve and create in this space became clear. Tolulope has received Alkebu-lan's Community Leadership Award and Crain's Health Care Hero Award, and he was named an Emergency Physician of the Year by the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians. Tolulope is a 2019 Echoing Green Fellow.
Job Titles:
- IT / System Administrator
Job Titles:
- Editor in Chief
- Member of the Board
- Member of the NDS Harlem Board
- Publisher and Editor in Chief of the New York Amsterdam
Elinor Tatum is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of the New York Amsterdam News, the oldest and largest black newspaper in the City of New York, and one of the oldest ethnic papers in the United States.
Ms. Tatum was appointed to Editor In Chief in 1997, becoming one of the youngest publishers in the history of the black press. She began at the newspaper as a journalist, covering local and national issues affecting Harlem and the Black community. Under her watch, the Amsterdam News has evolved from typewriters to total computerization and undergone several new layouts with refocused content relevant to a wider African American community in New York and across the nation and the creation of Amsterdamnews.com, the paper's online edition. Ms. Tatum has positioned the newspaper as a critical part of the national political discourse concerning African Americans.
In addition to publishing the Amsterdam News, Ms. Tatum produces and co-hosts a weekly segment of Al Sharpton's daily radio show "Keepin' It Real" - a nationally syndicated talk show that airs in over forty markets. Ms. Tatum's political insight is increasingly sought-after - she appears regularly on WNBC evening news, and on NY1. She has guest hosted on the new international network ARISE. She has also appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, 20/20, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Fox 5, and CUNY TV. In addition she has been been heard on WBLS and WWRL as a guest host.
Ms. Tatum is also a sought out keynote speaker, and expert on topics of media, race, politics and culture. In 2004 she served on the Nielsen Independent Task Force on TV Measurement. After the Election of Andrew Cuomo in 2010 Ms. Tatum was named to his transition team on The Committee on Economic Development and Labor. She currently sits on the State's Tourism Advisory Council.
Ms. Tatum was born and raised in New York City. She graduated from St. Lawrence University with a B.S. in Government Studies in 1993. She continued her education at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden, studying International relations and the Swedish model of government. Ms. Tatum holds a Master's degree in Journalism in Mass Communications from New York University.
In addition to her career in journalism, Ms. Tatum is a philanthropist and holds many civic positions. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of her college alma mater, St. Lawrence University. In addition she currently sits on the board of the Creative Visions Foundation. She is also the former Secretary of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. Ms. Tatum has received numerous business awards, honors and media recognition.
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Managing Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Director, Youth Law Practice
Job Titles:
- Assistant Supervising Attorney
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Managing Attorney, Civil Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Assistant Supervising Attorney
Job Titles:
- Researcher & Training Attorney
Job Titles:
- Team Administrator Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Supervising Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Supervising Social Worker, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Paralegal & Outreach Coordinator, Civil Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Supervising Attorney, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Board
- Dean of the Detroit Mercy School
Jelani Jefferson Exum is the Dean of the Detroit Mercy School of Law and the Philip J. McElroy Professor of Law.
She is a nationally recognized expert in sentencing law and procedure. Before joining academia, Dean Jefferson Exum served as a law clerk for the Honorable James L. Dennis, United States Circuit Judge for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Honorable Eldon E. Fallon, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Prior to joining the Detroit Mercy Law faculty, she was a Professor of Law and Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion at the University of Toledo College of Law, an associate professor at the University of Kansas School of Law, and a visiting associate professor at the University of Michigan Law School. Dean Jefferson Exum has also been a Forrester Fellow and Instructor in Legal Writing at Tulane Law School.
Job Titles:
- Supervising Attorney, Harris County Eviction Defense
Job Titles:
- Supervising Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice - Training
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS Harlem Board
- Founding Partner of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP
Jonathan S. Abady, a founding partner of Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP, has a diverse trial and litigation practice, with extensive experience in both federal and state courts.
In the area of civil rights, Mr. Abady was on the team of lawyers who helped free Meek Mill, the Roc Nation recording artist wrongfully imprisoned in Philadelphia; he represented the family and Estate in the tragic Cleveland police shooting case involving 12-year-old Tamir Rice; he is one of the lead lawyers in two major class actions resulting in historic reform in the New York City jail system at Rikers Island; and he litigated significant voting rights cases in both the Bush-Gore and Obama-McCain Presidential elections.
Job Titles:
- Social Worker, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Fellow, Immigration Defense Team
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Civil Defense Practice - Housing Defense Team
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS, Inc Board
Job Titles:
- Team Administrator Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Senior Trial Attorney, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Senior Trial Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Managing Director, NDS Detroit
Kristine Longstreet is a Detroit native who attended the city's public schools and obtained her law degree from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing. Her first job after law school was as a public defender for Wayne County, where in nearly two decades she logged more than 18,000 hours of criminal litigation experience, including jury and bench trials. A long-time member of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Michigan, Longstreet has also served as the Human Rights Commissioner for District One. Kristine joined NDS Detroit as Supervising Attorney in 2019, and became Managing Director in 2022.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Supervising Attorney
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS Detroit Board
Job Titles:
- Senior Trial Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Team Administrator, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Supervising Attorney, Operation Lone Star
Job Titles:
- Interim Supervising Attorney, Civil Defense Practice - Collateral Consequences / Housing Defense Teams
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Chief of Management
Matt joined NDS as a staff attorney in 2002, and has been a supervising attorney since September of 2005.
While in law school, Matt interned in the Criminal Defense Clinic at the Legal Aid Society's Capital Defense Unit. Prior to joining NDS, he practiced criminal defense as an associate at the law offices of Larry J. Silverman and at Cohen, Frankel & Ruggiero, where he was responsible for a significant federal caseload, as well as representing clients in courts throughout New York State.
Matt has trained attorneys at numerous continuing legal education seminars, on subjects such as managing client relationships, pre-trial suppression hearing practice, felony sentencing in New York, and many other topics. He has delivered presentations at several of New York City's law schools about public interest and public defender careers. Matt also trains and supervises law firm associates who participate in NDS's Volunteer Attorney Project; the Project has trained associates from more than a dozen major law firms.
Matt graduated from Albright College in 1996, and received his JD from Brooklyn Law School in 1999, where he was a Richardson Merit Scholar.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Harlem Board Chair
Matthew L. Mazur is a Partner in the Litigation Department at Dechert LLP. He previously served as a staff attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (2004-2008) and at the Office of the Appellate Defender in New York City (2008-2011). Matt is also a former employee of NDS, where he was an investigator from 1998-2000. The Mazur family have been strong supporters of NDS for over 15 years.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Managing Attorney of NDS Texas
Meenu Walters manages NDS Texas. She previously served with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid as Chief Public Defender of Atascosa, Wilson, Karnes, and Frio Counties.
Job Titles:
- Senior Management Assistant
Job Titles:
- Special Litigation Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Team Administrator, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the NDS Harlem Board
Melody Rollins, CFA, CAIA, is a Client Advisor, leading the Institutional Core team at Bridgewater Associates, a global macro investment firm. Prior to joining Bridgewater in 2018, Ms. Rollins was a Partner at Brightwood Capital, where she oversaw existing and prospective client and consultant relationships and led the development, marketing and distribution of the firm's private credit strategies. Prior to that, Ms. Rollins spent 15 years at PIMCO, most recently as Head of US Institutional Client Management. In that capacity, she oversaw the team of professionals who delivered customized client service and investment solutions to the firm's institutional clients. Ms. Rollins also worked directly with many of the firm's largest clients, including corporate and public pensions, endowments and foundations. Ms. Rollins was a member of PIMCO's Inclusion & Diversity Committee and on the board of the PIMCO Foundation. Prior to 2001, Ms. Rollins held positions in debt capital markets and liability management at Salomon Brothers and Deutsche Bank. She has an MBA with a focus on financial engineering from MIT Sloan and a BS in economics from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. In addition, Ms. Rollins holds both the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations. She is a member of the Economic Club of New York.
Job Titles:
- Investigator, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Senior Trial Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice - Homicide Team
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Member of the NDS Harlem Board
- Senior Attorney
Miriam Gohara is a Senior Attorney with the Federal Capital Habeas Project, where she assists lawyers representing clients who have been death-sentenced by the United States. She has also taught clinics at Columbia Law School and Yale Law School.
From 2000 to 2006 Miriam was an attorney in the Criminal Justice Project at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) in New York. At LDF, Miriam's areas of concentration included capital punishment and right-to-counsel litigation. She co-counseled two successful death penalty appeals in the United States Supreme Court: Banks v. Dretke, 540 U.S. 668 (2004); and House v. Bell, 547 U.S. 518 (2006). She also won federal habeas sentencing relief in Williams v. Allen, 532 F.3d 1326 (11th Cir. 2008).
She received her B.A. in 1994 from Columbia and her J.D. in 1997 from Harvard Law School. After law school, she clerked for Judge R. Guy Cole, Jr. on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. From 1998 to 2000, she represented indigent clients in civil and criminal cases at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS), where she now serves on the board of directors. In 2003, Harvard Law School awarded Miriam a Wasserstein Fellowship presented to outstanding public interest attorneys.
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Supervising Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Social Worker, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Social Worker, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Social Worker, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Supervising Social Worker
Pam Lipp-Hendricks is head of Talent at T. Rowe Price.
Prior to her current position, she was head of Executive Talent Management, and held various other talent and development positions, at JPMorgan Chase for 21 years, where she led the strategic alignment of talent management, diversity and inclusion initiatives. Pam drove the firmwide agenda and a broad range of diversity efforts impacting its work environment including the firm's Talent Review, the JPMC Diversity Council, Business Resource Groups, Disability Inclusion and Affirmative Action. In addition, she oversaw two talent pipeline programs, the Management Associate Program and the Human Resources Analyst program.
Lipp-Hendricks has also worked at American Express and AT&T. During her tenure as a professor at the City University of New York at Baruch College and the Fashion Institute of Technology, Lipp-Hendricks taught introductory Psychology courses.
She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where she was a President's Fellow.
Lipp-Hendricks was recognized as a 2017 Black Achievers in Industry Award recipient.
Lipp-Hendricks was recently recognized as a 2017 Black Achievers in Industry Award recipient. She lives in New Jersey with her husband Jason and two children.
Job Titles:
- Team Administrator, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS Detroit Board
- Executive Director of City Year Detroit
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS Detroit Board
Rainy Hamilton, Jr. is a native Detroiter and graduate of the University of Detroit-Mercy School of Architecture. Rainy has a comprehensive understanding of the design industry and has built a national practice that has created award winning designs in the areas of entertainment/hospitality, higher education, residential and recreational facilities. He has a keen ability to quickly develop design solutions, organize and solve complex issues and craft solutions that are environmentally responsible and financially feasible.
Mr. Hamilton established his own Detroit-based architectural firm as a solo practitioner in 1993. Since that time, Hamilton Anderson Associates (HAA) has grown to include over 50 full-time employees with an office in Atlanta, GA. Hamilton Anderson's mission is to contribute to the positive evolution of urban environments and progressive social cultures. The firm has been active in the rebuilding of the economic and physical fabric of Detroit, working on such projects as City Modern, Little Caesars Arena, Elton Park Mixed Use Development, the Detroit / Wayne County Port Authority, MGM Grand Detroit Casino, the Detroit School of Arts, and the Hudson's Redevelopment Project.
Rainy's dedication to his profession is illustrated by his activities in the professional arena. In 2012, Rainy was elevated to Fellow by the American Institute of Architects, and in 2013 he received the AIA Detroit Gold Medal award. Rainy served as President of the Detroit Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 2001, the first African American to serve in this position. Rainy has been active with the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), he spearheaded the formation of the Detroit chapter, serving as its President in 2012, and hosted the 40th National Conference and Expo. Rainy's community involvement also includes serving as a board member for several community based organizations.
Job Titles:
- Social Work Supervisor, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Founding Member of the Neighborhood Defender Service
Rick Jones is the executive director and a founding member of the Neighborhood Defender Service. He is a distinguished trial lawyer with 30 years experience in multi-forum litigation. Rick served as the 59th president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and is an inaugural member of the steering committee of the National Association for Public Defense (NAPD). He is the vice-chair of the International Legal Foundation (ILF) and a trustee of Fair Trials International. He has served on the faculties of both Columbia Law School and the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC) for more than a decade.
Rick Jones is the Executive Director and a founding member of the Neighborhood Defender Service (NDS). He is a distinguished trial lawyer with 30 years' experience in multi-forum litigation, a lecturer in law at Columbia Law School and a faculty member of the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, GA.
Rick is the immediate past President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL). At NACDL he served as co-chair of both the Special Task Force on Problem-Solving Courts and the Task Force on Restoration of Rights and Status After Conviction. Both of these efforts resulted in the publication of ground breaking reports and continuing reforms. He also held the inaugural NACDL Presidential Summit on Race Matters in Detroit and followed it up a year later with the Race Matters II conference in Los Angeles.
Rick is an internationally recognized expert in public defense. He has been invited to speak at events hosted by the United Nations and serves on the Board of Trustees at Fair Trials International and as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the International Legal Foundation (ILF). Rick has worked with defense offices in West Africa and South America and has addressed the past two International Conferences on Access to Legal Aid in Criminal Justice Systems, in Argentina and Tbilisi, Georgia. He also spoke at the first-ever Conference on Effective Legal Aid Delivery Models, held in India. ILF invited him to travel to Nepal in an effort to help sustain, strengthen and institutionalize the public defense function in their newly created constitutional government.
Rick is a commissioner on the New York State Council on Community Re-Entry and Reintegration. He is an inaugural member of the steering committee of the National Association for Public Defense, sits on the boards of the New York State Defenders Association and the Sirius Foundation and serves on the Editorial Board of the Amsterdam News. He was appointed to the Advisory Board of the National Task Force on Fines, Fees, and Bail Practices.
Job Titles:
- Social Worker, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS, Inc Board
- Counsel at Miller Canfield
Saul Green is of counsel at Miller Canfield in Detroit, an international law firm recognized as one of the top 200 largest law firms in the United States.
Green rejoined the law firm in 2012 after serving as deputy mayor of the City of Detroit from 2008 to 2011. Prior to his appointment with the City of Detroit, in which he oversaw the police, fire, law, and homeland security departments, he was senior counsel and a member of Miller Canfield's Criminal Defense Group and Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group, with a specialty in alternative dispute resolution, white-collar crime, and high-profile litigation.
During his many years of public service, he has also held the positions of Wayne County Corporation Counsel; chief counsel, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Detroit Field Office; and assistant U.S. attorney. In 1994, President William J. Clinton appointed Green as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. Green served in that capacity from May 1994 to May 2001.
In 2009, he received the Dennis W. Archer Public Service Award, recognizing outstanding public service to the metropolitan Detroit region, from the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association. He has also completed service as the independent monitor overseeing implementation of police reforms in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Green received his law degree in 1972 from Michigan Law and a BA in pre-legal studies in 1969 from the University of Michigan.
Job Titles:
- Community Outreach Coordinator
Shalonda is Community Outreach Coordinator, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the Senior Management Team
- Chief Advancement Officer
- Media Inquiries
Job Titles:
- Team Administrator, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Senior Trial Attorney, Hays County
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS Detroit Board
- Member of Dickinson Wright
Suzanne Sukkar is a member of Dickinson Wright and has years of experience in all areas of immigration law, including, obtaining non-immigrant employment-based visas (such as H, L, E, O, P, R, TN, NAFTA visas), immigrant employment-based visas (EB-1, EB-2, EB-3, EB-5 and PERM labor certifications), outbound (global) immigration, family-based immigration, and naturalization.
She is experienced in conducting I-9 and LCA file audit training. She has also developed a niche expertise in the area of E-1/E-2 (treaty trader/investor) visa applications, consular processing, and start-up ventures. Suzanne services a multiple array of employment and business related industries including: automotive, healthcare, education, financial services, hospitality/food, IT/technology, engineering, religious, and not-for-profit. She has a solid foundation in various areas of the law which strengthens her ability to represent immigration clients.
Suzanne represents clients before government agencies including the Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of State, and Department of Labor. She renders expert strategic and tactical counsel to a broad clientele base including visa matters for client's employees at all levels of the corporate organizational structure, from the high-profile CEO or President, to the entry-level business professional. Suzanne has represented high-profile companies in the process of changing its executive-level leadership. Through strategic planning and by offering creative solutions, she has assisted with the seamless transfer of numerous executives and professionals to U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates. Additionally, Suzanne has counseled and offered immigration advice to a CEO Search Committee composed of Board Members of two public companies merging.
Job Titles:
- Senior Trial Attorney, Criminal Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Member of the NDS, Inc Board
- Senior Counsel at the Office
Warren Gary Kohlman is Senior Counsel at the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.
Kohlman has a strong career in public service, beginning his career at the District of Columbia Public Defender Service (PDS). He worked for PDS from 1973-1982, serving as the Training Director and as the Felony Trial Chief, representing hundreds of indigent adults and children and achieving an unprecedented acquittal rate. While serving as training director, Kohlman trained Harvard Law, Professor Charles Ogletree. D.C. Superior Court Judge Eugene N. Hamilton called Kohlman an outstanding trial attorney.
After his role at PDS, Kohlman worked in private practice for 30 years specializing in labor law, complex civil litigation, employee tax and benefits law, and white-collar criminal defense. He worked in a private law practice with Mark J. Rochon, Jr. and Michele A. Roberts.
In 1995, Kohlman joined Bredhoff & Kaiser, a Washington DC law firm, where he worked until 2014.
In 2014, the National Basketball Players Association hired Kohlman as its new general counsel where he successfully represented players in a $70 billion collective bargaining negotiation. In 2015, Kohlman alleged that the NBA age limit has racial undertones. He provided support to Thabo Sefolosha after he was arrested by the New York Police Department.
Kohlman serves on the board of Gideon's Promise. He also serves on the board of JusticeAid. Kohlman has served on the board of trustees for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.
Kohlman is currently married to Washington, D.C. based attorney, Lesley Zork. He has four children, Jake, Becca, Abby, and Jessie Ann Kohlman.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Supervising Attorney
Job Titles:
- Managing Attorney, Family Defense Practice
Job Titles:
- Staff Attorney, Family Defense Practice