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Somer Chyz, a North Carolina native, received her BA from Yale University in 1999, and her JD from the University of Richmond School of Law in 2003. She spent three years in private civil practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico before moving to Tucson, Arizona. While in Arizona, she spent two years as a prosecutor with the Arizona Attorney General, and two years as an Assistant Public Defender with the Pima County Public Defender. She joined the CLO Misdemeanor Division in 2010. Bob Edwards is a UT College of Law graduate who joined the PD/CLO in 1998 after eighteen years in private practice, during which time he focused on personal injury, family law and criminal defense. He also served in the Volunteer Legal Assistance Program. He currently serves the PD office as a Criminal Court trial attorney. He is a member of TACDL, KDLA, and the KBA. Nathaniel Evans is an assistant public defender practicing Criminal trial work. He earned his baccalaureate from the University of Michigan and JD from the UT College of Law. In law school he was a member and treasurer of the Moot Court Board and is currently a member of the Order of the Barristers as well as TACDL, the KBA, and the ACLU. He is also a member of Knoxville's Urban League Young Professionals. David Gall is a UT College of Law graduate and assistant public defender since 1990. He was in private practice in the years leading up to joining the PD office and still offers assistance through Legal Aid of East Tennessee, the TBA’s Access to Justice Committee, and the Foster Care Review Board. He currently defends cases in Juvenile Court. He is a member of TACDL, KDLA, and the KBA. Julia Gautreau has been an assistant public defender since graduation from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1990. She is presently a trial attorney in Criminal Court, and also works as an editor and technical writer for office-related media. A member of TACDL, she was presented, along with Mark Stephens, the Robert W. Ritchie Award for media service to the organization. She is also a member of the KBA and the ACLU. Jessica Greene graduated from the University of North Carolina College of Law in Chapel Hill in 2004. She joined the PD staff immediately and presently defends Criminal trial cases. A college major in Romance Languages/Spanish, she is fluent in Spanish and assists in the representation of Hispanic clients. She is a member of TACDL, KDLA, and the KBA. John Halstead is an Ohio native and graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law. He worked for the Kentucky Dept of Public Advocacy for twelve years before joining the PD staff in Knoxville in 1994. In 2003 he was awarded the B. Rex McGee Award for the Pursuit of Legal Excellence. He is currently an appellate supervisor and Criminal Court trial attorney. He is a member of TACDL, KDLA, and the KBA. Christina Kleiser graduated from DePaul University College of Law in 1997 and has worked for a variety of public interest law firms in Florida and Ohio. She is a long-time member of the National Lawyers Guild and currently serves on their Immigration Project Committee’s Board of Directors. She teaches immigration law as an adjunct faculty member for the UT College of Law, and her fluency in Spanish avails her to the representation of indigent Hispanic clients in her present capacity as a defender in Juvenile Court. She is a member of TACDL, the KDLA, and the KBA. Patrick Leonard is a Knoxville native and a 1985 graduate of Memphis State School of Law. He was in private practice for sixteen years before joining the PD staff in 2002, and where he now works in the Criminal trial division. He is an elder at the First Christian Church of Knoxville and a past president of the Knoxville Optimist Club, a youth-oriented service organization. He is also a member of TACDL, KDLA, and the KBA. Gianna Maio, an alumna of Kenyon College, graduated from UT College of Law in 2005, but began working with the PD staff as a clerk in 2003. She presently works in the Criminal trial division. While in law school she coordinated the Tennessee Innocence Project and served as Publications Editor of the Tennessee Journal of Law & Policy. She is interim president of the Tennessee Innocence Project and is a member of TACDL, KDLA, and the KBA. Kevin McGee is a native of Nashville and graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2002. He then moved to Birmingham, Alabama and graduated from Cumberland School of Law in 2005. After law school, he worked as an Assistant Public Defender in Nashville from 2005-2007. He then worked in private practice specializing in criminal defense in Nashville for about a year before moving to Knoxville and joining the Community Law Office. Mr. McGee works in the Criminal trial division. Jim Montague graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University in 1977 and from UT College of Law in 1980. He was in private practice before joining the PD staff in 1992. He returned to private practice in 2005 and rejoined the CLO in 2009. He defends cases in Misdemeanor Sessions. He is a member of TACDL, KDLA and the KBA. Jhasta Moore is an assistant public defender assigned to the Criminal trial division. A Knoxville native, she joined the PD staff as a law clerk/extern in 2006 and graduated from UT College of Law in 2007. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee with a BA in Communications and Political Science. Her honors include the UT College of Law Awards for Academic Excellence for, respectively, Advanced Trial Advocacy and the Public Defender Externship program. She also won awards for Outstanding Pro Bono Service and Completion of the Advocacy Concentration. She was also an active member of the Criminal Law Society and Student Bar Association. Currently, she is a member of TACDL, KDLA, and KBA, and also volunteers with the Saturday Bar through Legal Aid of East Tennessee. Christy Murray is a 2000 graduate of UT College of Law and was during her term in law school a co-director of the UT Pro Bono Project. She currently carries a caseload as a Criminal Court trial attorney and also assists in personnel management. She is a member of TACDL, KDLA, ACLU, and the KBA, where she serves on the Hunger and Poverty Relief Committee. Jamie Niland is a Purdue University and UT College of Law graduate who joined the PD staff in 1992, where she now works in the Criminal trial division. She is a member of TADCL, the NLADA, KDLA, and the KBA, and has volunteered in the Partners in Law partnership with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. James Owen graduated from the University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law in 1997, where he worked in the Student Legal Aid Program and dedicated himself to indigent criminal defense. He joined the PD staff upon his graduation and presently defends cases in the DUI trial division. He is a member of TACDL and the KBA. Jim Owen is a UT College of Law graduate and was for many years in private practice before joining the PD staff in 1998. He has served as an MP in the Army Reserves, and was a member while in law school of the Order of the Coif and an editor with the Tennessee Law Review. He currently serves as a Criminal Court trial attorney. He is a member of TACDL, KDLA and the KBA. Denise Quigley graduated cum laude from Milligan College in 2000 and cum laude from UT College of Law in 2003. Her academic honors include the UT Legal Clinic Distinguished Student Attorney Service Award, Academic Excellence in Contract Drafting, and the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award. She practiced private civil law and was a stay-at-home mother before joining the CLO Misdemeanor division. She is a member of TACDL and KBA. Joseph Ramsey graduated from UT College of Law and worked for the PD staff in Johnson City, Tennessee, before joining the Knoxville office in 1995, where he presently defends cases in the Misdemeanor division. He is an ordained deacon and Sunday School teacher at Sevier Heights Baptist Church. He is a member of KDLA, TACDL and the KBA. David Skidmore graduated from UT College of Law, where he was active in the UT Legal Clinic. He joined the staff of the Public Defender upon his graduation in 1995, when he was awarded a Dean’s Citation for contributions to the College of Law. He currently defends cases in the DUI trial division. He is a member of KDLA, TACDL and the KBA. Marie Steinbrenner graduated from UT College of Law in 1989, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She joined the PD staff in 1992, and currently defends cases in the Criminal trial division. She is a member of TACDL, the KBA, and the ACLU. Mark E. Stephens was elected Public Defender for the Sixth Judicial District for an eight-year term in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1990, and was re-elected in 1998 and 2006. He practiced law in the private sector for over ten years before committing to indigent defense services. He is dedicated to transforming his Public Defenders Office into a national model of holistic representation through the Community Law Office, a program he created in 2003 on the anniversary of the landmark US Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright. He is a participant in the DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance, NACDL, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the ABA Bar Information Program, the Tennessee Bar Association, the KBA, and the Knoxville Defense Lawyers Association. Arrin Zadeh graduated from UT in 2004 with a BA in Political Science, and earned his JD at the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia. He returned to Knoxville and entered private practice, joining the CLO staff Misdemeanor division in March 2009. He is a member of KBA, TACDL, and the ABA. |
