Equal Justice Initiative

Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of EJI, has won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system. Since graduating from Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government, he has assisted in securing relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, advocated for poor people and developed community-based reform litigation aimed at improving the administration of criminal justice. He also is on the law faculty at New York University School of Law.

Eva Ansley, Operations Director, has coordinated and developed legal services for poor people and death row prisoners in Alabama for almost 20 years. She has been instrumental in developing institutional assistance to indigent defendants at the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center and the Equal Justice Initiative since the inception of both organizations.

Randy Susskind, Deputy Director, has been with EJI since graduating from Georgetown University Law Center in 1994. He also serves as adjunct faculty in the Equal Justice and Capital Defender Clinic at the New York University School of Law. He previously worked as a staff attorney at the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center.

Jacqueline Jones-Peace, Senior Attorney, was on the faculty at New York University School of Law as Co-Associate Director of the Lawyering Program. Prior to that, she was a Litigation Associate at Cleary Gottlieb in New York for several years after clerking for U.S. District Judge John S. Martin in the Southern District of New York. She is a 1995 graduate of New York University School of Law.

Angie Setzer, Senior Attorney, interned with EJI in the fall of 1998 and joined the staff after graduating from the University of Michigan Law School in 1999. She currently manages some of EJI's training programs and has challenged capital convictions and death sentences across Alabama.

Aaryn Urell, Senior Attorney, has been with EJI since she graduated from New York University School of Law in 2001. She has a Master's Degree in International Relations from American University and has worked on human rights and conflict resolution in Ghana and South Africa.

Tatiana Bertsch, Senior Development Attorney, is a 2005 graduate of New York University School of Law. She was a public defender in West Palm Beach, Florida, for five years prior to joining EJI. She has a B.A. in geology from Smith College and prior to law school was assistant director of the Gender Studies Program at Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Cathleen Price, Cooperating Senior Attorney, is a 1996 graduate of Harvard Law School and a former law clerk of Justice Fred Banks on the Mississippi Supreme Court. She is a 1999 National Association for Public Interest Law (NAPIL) Equal Justice Fellow and has coordinated complex litigation at EJI for several years.

Sophia Bernhardt, Staff Attorney, is a Root-Tilden-Kern public interest scholar and 2008 graduate of New York University School of Law. She has a B.A. degree from the University of Chicago and has worked as a community organizer on behalf of tenants in the Bronx and as an investigator for the New York City Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Stephen Chu, Staff Attorney, is a 2008 graduate of New York University School of Law, where he co-chaired a committee of the Asian-Pacific American Law Student Association and advocated on behalf of children in delinquency cases. He has a B.A. in Biochemistry and Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology. He spent a year clerking for Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan C. Page before joining EJI.

M. Geron Gadd, Staff Attorney, previously was an associate at several law firms, most recently at Boies, Shiller and Flexner in Miami, Florida. She graduated from Harvard Law School in 2004 and Harvard Divinity School in 2001, and received a B.A. in Political Science from Southern Methodist University in 1998.

Benjamin Maxymuk, Staff Attorney, is a 2006 graduate of Harvard Law School, where he co-founded a student organization to promote awareness of needed reforms in the criminal justice system. He clerked for U.S. District Judge Louis H. Pollak in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and for Judge Richard A. Paez on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit prior to joining EJI. He earned a B.A. in English from Duke University in 1995.

Carla Crowder, Cooperating Staff Attorney, received a J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law in 2009. She has a B.A. in English and History from Huntingdon College. Prior to joining EJI, she was an award-winning journalist who most recently covered Alabama prison and parole systems, juvenile justice, and capital punishment for The Birmingham News.

Sia Sanneh, Cooperating Staff Attorney, received a J.D. from Yale Law School in 2007. She has a Master’s degree in teaching of social studies from Columbia University Teachers College and earned a B.A. in history from Columbia University in 2001. After graduating law school, she was a Liman Public Interest Fellow at Legal Action Center in New York, where she studied the collateral consequences of school-based arrests.

Catherine Coleman-Flowers, Rural Development Manager, is a native of Lowndes County, Alabama. She taught high school in Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. before returning home to advocate for poor people in Alabama's Black Belt. She is the founder and director of the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise and joined EJI in summer 2008 as part of EJI's Race and Poverty initiative.

Maria Morrison, Social Worker, has worked with children, adults, and families in the social services field for over ten years, most recently at a residential treatment program for emotionally troubled children. She has an M.S.W. from the University of Alabama, an M.F.A. in creative writing from Goddard College, and a B.A. in English from the University of Montana.

Lynda Black, Staff Assistant, came to EJI in 2008. She previously worked for over 20 years at the University of Pittsburgh in the Academic Resource Center. She was responsible for Center operations and research and performed a wide range of administrative tasks.

Lee Eaton, Staff Assistant, has 20 years experience providing administrative and executive support in both for-profit and non-profit settings. She has worked with the American Red Cross in New York and with the Hibernia Bank in California. She graduated from Wells College and has been on the staff at EJI since 2001.

Anne Hanks, Staff Assistant, joined EJI in 2012. She came to EJI from the nonprofit Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group in Montgomery, where she provided support for the director and program director and administrative support for consultants nationwide.

Ramona Thornton, Staff Assistant, graduated from Huntingdon College in 1991, with a B.A. in Art. She brings a wealth of administrative and operations assistance experience to EJI.

Brannon Walden, Operations, graduated from Auburn University Montgomery with a B.S. in Economics and Finance. He previously worked for more than ten years at the Alabama Democratic Party where he was Director of Operations and Technology.

Estela Dimas, Fellow, graduated in 2010 from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, where she was in the death penalty clinic and interned with the Contra Costa County Office of the Public Defender. She has a B.A. in Political Science and English from Arizona State University.

Jennae Swiergula, Fellow, received a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 2008. She has a B.A. in psychology from the University of Washington. She interned with Judge Michael H. Dolinger on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and was an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York prior to joining EJI.

Jennifer Taylor, Fellow, is a 2010 graduate of Yale Law School, where she participated in the Prison Legal Services Clinic and interned for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. She has a B.A. in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity from Stanford University and a Master's in Journalism from Columbia University.

Ryan Becker, Fellow, joined EJI after graduating in 2011 from New York University School of Law, where he was in the Equal Justice and Capital Defender Clinic and interned with the Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem and Cabrini Green Legal Aid in Chicago. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a B.A. in Political Science, and before that served active duty in the United States Marine Corps for four years.

Noam Biale, Fellow, graduated in 2011 from New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden-Kern public interest scholar and participated in the Equal Justice and Capital Defender Clinic. He interned at the Defender Association in Seattle and Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project in Amman, Jordan, and prior to law school, worked for the ACLU. He has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California at Berkeley.

Andrew Childers, Fellow, graduated in 2011 from Harvard Law School, where he was a clinical student in the Criminal Justice Institute and the Human Rights Program, volunteered for the Prison Legal Assistance Project and Mississippi Delta Project, and interned with EJI and NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He has a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.A. from Tulane University, both in Anthropology.

John Dalton, Fellow, graduated in 2009 from Stanford Law School. Prior to joining EJI, he clerked for Judge Pamela Ann Rymer on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and was an associate at Davis, Polk & Wardwell. He has a B.A. in Political Science, History, and Religion from Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

Claudia Flores, Fellow, graduated in 2011 from the New York University School of Law, where she was in the Equal Justice and Capital Defender Clinic and interned with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem. She has a B.A. in Metropolitan Studies from New York University.

Leroy Maxwell, Fellow, a native of Selma, Alabama, graduated in 2011 from Valparaiso University School of Law, where he interned with the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender and also clerked with the Lake County, Indiana Public Defender. He has a B.A. in Philosophy from Purdue University and Masters of Science in Sports Administration from Valparaiso University.

Krystal Quinlan, Fellow, graduated in 2011 from New York University School of Law, where she was a Criminal Law Scholar and participated in the Equal Justice and Capital Defender Clinic. She interned at the Orleans Public Defenders in Louisiana and the Drug Policy Alliance in Berkeley, California. Prior to law school, she worked at Facebook and interned at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Benjamin Schaefer, Fellow, graduated in 2011 from New York University School of Law, where he participated in the Equal Justice and Capital Defender Clinic and interned at the Orleans Public Defenders in Louisiana. He has a B.A. in History from the University of Virginia and a master's degree in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He previously taught sixth grade social studies in Henderson, North Carolina.

Nicholas Xenakis, Fellow, graduated in 2010 from Stanford Law School, where he was Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Stanford Law & Policy Review, a Public Interest Fellow, and participated in the Criminal Defense Clinic. During law school, Nicholas interned with the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. After graduating, he clerked for Judge Robert B. King of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He has a B.A. in History from Kenyon College.

Zawadi Baharanyi, Paralegal, after graduating from Columbia University in 2011 with a degree in Political Science with a concentration in Human Rights, joined EJI as a Justice Fellow. A native of Lee County, Alabama, Zawadi is involved in research, client management, and educational projects.

Sarah Golabek-Goldman, Paralegal, after graduating with a B.A. from Stanford University in 2010, joined EJI as a Justice Fellow in 2011 where she provides executive assistance on a wide range of EJI projects. Prior to coming to EJI, Sarah produced a documentary film about Polish historical memory of the Holocaust.

Jeff Hall, Paralegal, after graduating from Harvard University with a degree in Social Anthropology, joined EJI in 2011 as a Justice Fellow where he is involved in research projects, client management, and educational projects.

Kate Hatheway, Paralegal, after receiving a B.A. in German from Columbia University in 2010, joined EJI in 2011 as a Justice Fellow, where she focuses on client management, death penalty research, and communications. She previously worked for the Justice Policy Institute as a researcher.