A-B-C-D | E-F-G | H-I-J-K-L | M-N-O-P | R-S | T-U-V-W-Z

Daniel-Paul Alva is a criminal defense attorney in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and a recognized expert in the Art of Cross Examination. Having practiced for over 37 years, and tried well over 3,000 cases, Mr. Alva is recognized as one of the "Dean's of The Bar" in Pennsylvania. Additionally, for the last 12 years he has been an adjunct professor at Temple University's Beasley School of Law teaching Trial Advocacy. Temple has been rated #1 nationally in Trial Advocacy for the last 9 years by U.S. News and World Report. Mr. Alva was elected by the members of the Philadelphia Bar Association in 2003 to a 3 year term on the Board of Governors and served in 2006 as the Chair of The Board. Finally, Mr. Alva was selected by the Honorable John F. Street, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, as a member of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee (composed of all law enforcement chiefs, President Judges, Chief Defender, etc.) as the sole representative of the City's Private Bar.

Paul Armentano is the Deputy Director of NORML and the NORML Foundation. Mr. Armentano is an expert in the field of marijuana policy, health, and pharmacology, and has served as a consultant for Health Canada and the Canadian Public Health Association. He has spoken at numerous national conferences and legal seminars, testified before state legislatures and federal agencies, and assisted dozens of criminal defense attorneys in cases pertaining to the use of medicinal cannabis, drug testing, and drugged driving. He has appeared as an expert witness in federal court on issues pertaining to the proper interpretation of drug testing examinations. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, and has appeared Fox News. He is a faculty member at Oaksterdam University in Oakland, where he lectures on the medicinal properties of cannabinoids, as well as on issues pertaining to workplace drug testing.

Mr. Armentano is a prolific writer on the subject of marijuana and marijuana policy. His work has appeared in over 500 publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor. His writing has been featured in more than a dozen textbooks and anthologies, and he is a frequent contributor to AlterNet, High Times, The Huffington Post, and the Washington, D.C. newspaper The Hill. Mr. Armentano is a 2008 recipient of the 'Project Censored Real News Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism.'

In 2009, Mr. Armentano co-authored the book Marijuana is Safer: So Why Are We Driving People to Drink? (2009, Chelsea Green), which reached #14 on Amazon.com's best-sellers list and was recently selected by Publishers Weekly as one of "20 titles from independent presses that show big promise."

Keith Belzer As a trial attorney and trial consultant, Keith Belzer is well known for bringing creative presentation ideas and storytelling techniques into the courtroom. He is also a nationally recognized lecturer and teacher on criminal defense issues, trial techniques and strategies. In addition to his position on the faculty at the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia, and the Wisconsin Trial Skills Academy, Keith has lectured or taught for over 50 criminal defense groups or conferences. He has given presentations for the Israeli National Public Defender, the Puerto Rican CJA panel and The People's Republic of China. Mr. Belzer is a frequent commentator on national, statewide and local legal issues and has appeared on such nationally syndicated shows as Good Morning America, The O'Reilly Factor and Geraldo at Large. In 2005, 2006 and 2007 Milwaukee Magazine named him as one of the top criminal defense lawyers in the State of Wisconsin. In 2006 the Wisconsin Law Journal named Mr. Belzer as one of 12 statewide Leaders in the Law. One of Mr. Belzer's cases, the retrial and exoneration of Evan Zimmerman, a man previously falsely convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a homicide that he did not commit, was the subject of a feature length documentary, Facing Life, the Retrial of Evan Zimmerman, which can be seen on the Arts and Entertainment Network and the Biography Channel.

Leland Berger practices from his home in Portland, Oregon. His practice emphasizes the representation of therapeutic cannabis patients and their caregivers statewide. He assisted in drafting the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act, and has also worked on its implementation, including impact litigation. His practice includes non-cannabis related criminal defense state court trial work, along with a broad array of appellate work. He also occasionally assists in the pro bono representation of people arrested during protests. He is a frequent lecturer on legal issues relating the defense of medical cannabis patients, and has spoken on these issues at Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association CLEs, at a NACDL Annual Conference and at the NORML Legal Committee's Annual Conference. He serves on the Oregon Department of Human Services' Medical Marijuana Advisory Committee and on the Americans for Safe Access' Board of Legal Advisers.

Paul Brunton has been practicing criminal law for over 30 years. He's a graduate of the University of Oklahoma (B.A.) and the University of Oklahoma (J.D.), and received his L.L.M. from the University of Arkansas. He has been the Chief Public Defender in Tulsa County, and also served in the Oklahoma legislature for 6 years. He is an active member of various bar associations, criminal defense lawyers associations, trial lawyers associations, and the American Inns of Court. He was in private practice from 1974 until July 2001 when he was appointed by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals as the Federal Public Defender for the Northern and Eastern Districts ofOklahoma.

William H. Buckman is a Certified Criminal Trial Attorney in the State of New Jersey where he was admitted to the Bar in 1978 and is also admitted to the bars of Pa., NY, VT and the US Supreme Court. Bill is in private practice in Moorestown, New Jersey, specializing in the areas of criminal defense and civil rights. Bill has been active in cases attacking racial profiling, the practice of law enforcement stopping and or detaining citizens based partially on their race or ethnic background. In this area Mr. Buckman has obtained rulings in numerous courts finding the existence of this unconstitutional practice. In particular he participated in one of the first cases in the nation to prove the existence of the practice. In State v. Soto, Bill joined with other attorneys to prove that the New Jersey State Police were wrongfully stopping and searching thousands of innocent minority citizens on the New Jersey Turnpike, one of the busiest highways in the nation. After Soto, Bill and his colleagues successfully established the fact that profiling was an unconstitutional policy practiced by the New Jersey State Police throughout the statefor two decades which set the stage for hundreds of victims of State Police bias to have their cases dismissed or their convictions vacated. Additionally, Bill was one of a successful team of ACLU attorneys who sued the New Jersey State Police for the ACLU on behalf of minority motorists who had been victimized by the practice of racial profiling. On a related note, Mr. Buckman presently represents numerous New Jersey State Police troopers who have suffered retaliation after speaking out about misconduct within the ranks of the State Police. Bill serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and is President Elect of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey. He is a former Vice President of the ACLU of N.J. where he still serves on the Board. Mr. Buckman is a past recipient of the 1992 Presidential Award for Furthering the Cause of Civil Rights, Southern Gloucester County Chapter of NAACP; 2001 Professional Lawyer of the Year Award from the Burlington County Bar Association and the New Jersey Commission on Professionalism in the Law; 2001 Mary Philbrook Award for Public Interest Work from Rutgers Law School - Camden Women's Law Caucus; as well as a recipient of the 2002, Justice Award, Black Ministers' Council of New Jersey and in 2005 Bill received the Roger Baldwin Civil Liberties Award from the ACLU of New Jersey. Bill has written and taught extensively for the benefit of criminal defense lawyers nationwide in areas such as attacking racial profiles, understanding law enforcement agencies, discovery techniques in criminal matters as well as cross examination techniques.

Rick Collins [www.rickcollins.com] is a principal in the law firm of Collins, McDonald & Gann, P.C. [www.cmgesq.com], with offices on Long Island and in downtown New York City. He is nationally recognized as a legal authority on anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing substances, and has testified in federal court as an expert witness on the subject. He is the legal advisor to professional bodybuilding as an organization (IFBB) and to the International Society of Sports Nutrition. He has degrees in psychology and law, and is a nationally Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (NSCA-CSCS). His practice and career have been profiled in diverse periodicals, and he has been interviewed as a legal expert on national television talk and news shows, in talk radio interviews, and the Washington Post, and in the documentary film, "Bigger, Stronger, Faster*" (2008). He received his undergraduate degree from Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, and his law degree from Hofstra School of Law, where he attended on a full academic scholarship and served on the Law Review. He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1985 and served as an assistant district attorney for five years. He is also admitted to practice in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, the District of Columbia, and various federal courts.

Anne M. Davis, Esq. is the Executive Director of NORML New Jersey (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws); is a member of the National NORML Legal Committee, a founding member of the NORML Women’s Alliance. She has taught several semesters as an Adjunct Professor for Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Paralegal Program.

Anne has ten years of litigation experience. Immediately upon graduating from Seton Hall University School of Law in 2000, she served as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Thomas E. O’Brien, P.J.S.C., in both the Civil and Family Law Divisions. She then spent a year working with the fierce and respected trial attorney, Michael Wilbert, formerly of Wilbert, Montenegro & Thompson who taught her the art of conducting jury trials.

Since 2002, she has managed her own law firm and helped hundreds of clients with a variety of backgrounds and problems. Though the majority of her practice is specialized in family law, she has litigation and trial experience in areas of civil law, personal injury, real estate, and business law. For the past three years she has dedicated her time and talent to NORML, speaking out on behalf of women and mothers to end prohibition.

Anna Durbin's practice, located in Ardmore, Pa., focuses on criminal defense, primarily federal. She also represents students on local alcohol and drug charges. She litigates civil rights cases, obtaining a significant settlement for women raped by a guard while in federal detention. Ms. Durbin earned her AB at Stanford and received her law degree from Yale. She supervised students in the criminal defense clinic at the University of Connecticut's law school, clerked for U.S. District Judge Norma Shapiro (E.D.Pa.), then served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender. Ms. Durbin received advanced training at the National College for Criminal Defense and at the Trial Lawyers College founded by Gerry Spence. She has won jury trials and appeals in extortion, mail fraud, false statements, drug conspiracy, and weapons cases. Her advocacy frequently secures sentences less than expected under the Sentencing Guidelines. She has been repeatedly selected by her peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers in America® and in Pennsylvania SuperLawyers.

Mark Edwards began his legal career as a public defender. After serving for eight years in that position in both Florida and North Carolina, he entered private practice in Durham, North Carolina, where for the past 15 years he has represented individuals charged in both state and federal courts with white collar, blue collar, and "no collar" crimes. Board certified by the NC Bar as a specialist in federal and state criminal law, his practice consists primarily of trial and post-conviction work. From November 21, 2000 to January 10, 2003, he represented three men on North Carolina's death row. All three came within hours of execution. These men are alive today as a result of Mr. Edwards' relentless efforts that helped convince the Governor to grant two men clemency, while the third saw his sentence vacated by the state court. Mr. Edwards has appeared numerous times as a guest commentator on CourtTV, MSNBC, ABC News, and local television affiliates.

Omar Figueroa is a young lawyer in San Francisco who specializes in defending medical marijuana, cannabis cultivation, and cybercrime cases. Trained by legendary radical trial lawyer J. Tony Serra, Omar has defended cannabis cases in more than thirty California counties and has gotten dozens of cases and scores of felony charges dismissed since he started practicing law in 1998. He recently represented marijuana cultivation expert and author Ed Rosenthal in San Francisco federal court, and helped get tax and money laundering charges dismissed for vindictive prosecution. Omar's pro bono clients include political activists, protesters, treesitters, and medical cannabis patients, including cannabis minister Rev. Eddy Lepp, accused copkiller Bear Lincoln, notorious superhacker Kevin Mitnick, Native American Church elder and peyote shaman Skyhorse Durant, patriotic hacker The Deceptive Duo, and computer security researcher Eric McCarty. Omar is a graduate of Yale University (where he infiltrated a secret society), Stanford Law School (where he was voted "Most Likely to Fail Senate Confirmation Hearing"), and the Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming (where he was knighted by Gerry Spence).

Vincent J. Flynn is a memeber of the Federal Witness Protection Program. He is a graduate of Yale Law School where he inhaled the joint a collegue named Bill LNU refused. His proudest achievemnet in life is not being indicted. He had never lost a traffic case. For the past ten years he has specialized in arraignments (also known as " arrangements") and has successfully arranged scores of federal defendants.He has lectured extensively on Motions For Return of Property and co authored " Getting Your Clients Driver License Back After His or Her First Degree Murder Conviction" He is semi retired and lives at a secret undisclosed location in Miami.

Gordon S. Friedman has been practicing criminal law in Cleveland, Ohio for more than 30 years in both state and federal courts. A graduate of Miami University and The George Washington University Law School, Friedman initially worked as a public defender and then as an associate professor of law at Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Since 1976, he has been in private practice in the firm of Friedman & Gilbert, specializing in criminal and civil rights litigation in state and federal courts. His practice ranges from state capital murder defense to federal white collar crime. He teaches as an adjunct professor at Cleveland-Marshall. Friedman has been heavily involved nationally in lecturing on topics as diverse as jury selection in criminal cases to Section 1983 litigation for plaintiffs. Friedman presently serves on the Cuyahoga County Public Defender Commission and is a Trustee of the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.

Peter Goldberger is the founder and principal of a three-lawyer firm, located near Philadelphia, which for more than 20 years has focused its practice on the post-conviction aspects of federal criminal cases, especially sentencing and appeals. Admitted to appear before every Circuit, Peter has briefed and/or argued nearly 200 federal appeals. He has also been appointed twice for cases on the merits, and has argued, before the Supreme Court of the United States, both appointments being in cases raising issues concerning sentencing in drug cases.* Chair of the Litigation Advisory Board of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Goldberger was the first winner, in 2001, of FAMM's "Cesare Beccaria Defender of Justice" Award. He also co-chairs NACDL's Committee on Rules of Procedure and serves as a vice-chair of its Amicus Committee. In that connection he supervises at least one Supreme Court amicus brief each year, and more in the Circuits, usually on sentencing issues. He is also a Board member of the Pennsylvania state and Philadelphia regional ACLU affiliates, and of the Pennsylvania Ass'n of Criminal Defense Lawyers. A founding member of the Board of Governors of the Third Circuit Bar Association, Peter was elected in 2007 to the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

Peter has been named repeatedly as one of Pennsylvania's "SuperLawyers" by Philadelphia Magazine, and has been listed for more than a decade in Best Lawyers in America. Working for over ten years under a CJA appointment, Goldberger was part of the team that won the first DNA exoneration from Pennsylvania's death row, in 2003.

After graduating from Yale Law School (1975), Goldberger served as law clerk to then-U.S. District Judge (later Chief Circuit Judge) Edward R. Becker (deceased, 2006). Following his clerkship, Peter served two years as an Assistant Federal Public Defender. Goldberger is a former professor at the Villanova University and Whittier College Law Schools, where he taught criminal law and procedure, corporate and white collar crime, and other subjects. He has presented many well-received CLE programs, and is the co-author of a two-volume Practice Guide for Federal Appellate Procedure in the Third Circuit (1997, out of print). More recently, Peter co-authored a 100-page chapter on criminal appeals in the Third Circuit Appellate Practice Manual (Penna. Bar Inst. 2007, revised 2010), and is a contributing author for Collier on Bankruptcy, responsible for the chapter on Fifth Amendment privilege and immunity. He has also designed and occasionally teaches a course on Law and Morality at Haverford College, his undergraduate alma mater. The father of three daughters, Peter lives in Ardmore, Pa., with his wife of 34+ years, fellow Best Lawyer Anna M. Durbin.

Gerald "Gerry" Harris Goldstein is a nationally known and respected defense lawyer and Past President of both the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He has served as amicus curiae for NACDL in many high-profile cases, including CNN v. Manuel Noriega and Joe Does v. United States, arguing that lawyers should not be required to disclose the identity of cash-paying clients on IRS forms. His forceful Congressional testimony during the 1996 House Waco hearings is credited with helping to turn the tide against further suppression of citizens' rights in America. More recently, he represented Dr. Al-Badr Al Hazmi, a fifth-year radiology resident in San Antonio who was arrested on September 12, 2001. Subsequently, Goldstein testified before Congress on his client's request to speak with counsel.

Gerry is listed in The Best Lawyers in America and Texas Lawyer's Legal Legends, has been profiled in numerous publications, has served as an adjunct professor of law at University of Texas School of Law in Austin and at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, and is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. He is also Board Certified in Criminal Law. In his role as an adjunct professor, Gerry teaches a course titled: Advanced Criminal Law (Defense of a Complex Federal Prosecution). Other topics/seminar papers that Gerry speaks about are: 2008 Supreme Court Update; Crawford & the Current State of the Hearsay Rule; Crossing the Double Crosser; Federal Appeals - What will the next 50 years look like?; Hot New Trends from the Supremes; Motions to Suppress; Notable Recent and Pending Federal and TX Crim Cases; Tenth Circuit Standards of Review.

Gerry is received a certification in Criminal Law in 1975 from the State Bar of Texas. He holds the following bar admissions: Texas (1968), Colorado (1989), U.S. District Court Western District of Texas (1970), U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit (1982), U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit (1970), U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit (1983), U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit (1979), U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit (1983), U.S. Court of Appeals 11th Circuit (1981), U.S. Supreme Court (1975).

Gerry's education background is as follows: The University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas, 1968 LL.B.; Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1965, B.A., Major: Business Administration.

His published works include: Grand Jury Practice; Pretrial Release; Indictment [Joinder/Severance/Transfer]; Pretrial Motions; Suppression of Evidence; Jury Selection; Trial [Evidence]; Examination of Witnesses; Jury Instructions; Closing Arguments; Creative Trial Techniques; Criminal Issues - Civil Cases; Jury Arguments [Closings to Remember]; Search and Seizure; Life and Hearsay - Post Crawford Era; Federal Appeals; Supreme Court Review.

He has received the following honors and awards: Best Lawyers in America, 1987 – Present; Texas Monthly - Texas Super Lawyers; Top 100 Texas Super Lawyers; Top 50 Central and West Texas Region Super Lawyers, Criminal Defense: White Collar, 2003 – 2007; Scene in SA Monthly - San Antonio's Best Attorneys, San Antonio Law, Top Ten Lawyers, 2004 – 2008; Texas Lawyer Legal Legends, 100 Best Lawyers over Last 100 years (100 Year Anniversary of State Bar of Texas), 2000; Fellow, State Bar Foundation, 1976 – Present; Recipient, Robert C. Heeney Memorial Award [Outstanding Criminal Defense Attorney in the United States] from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 1991; Recipient, Outstanding Criminal Defense Lawyer in Texas from the State Bar of Texas, 1991; Justice Albert Tate, Jr. Award [Outstanding Contribution to Criminal Advocacy] from the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 1993; Recipient, John Henry Faulk Civil Libertarian of the Year Award from the American Civil Liberties Union; Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Hall of Fame, 2002; Marquis Who's Who, Who's Who in American Law, 14th Edition, 2006 – 2007.

He is a member of the following professional associations: National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Past President (1994 – 1995); Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Past President (1992 – 1993); Fellow, International Academy of Trial Lawyers, 1997 – Present; Fellow, American College of Trial Lawyers, 1991 – Present; American Board of Criminal Lawyers, 1987 – Present; American Board of Trial Advocates, President (1997 – Present); Dean's Round Table, University of Texas School of Law, 1989 – Present; Texas Civil Liberties Union, General Counsel (1979 – 1985); San Antonio Bar Association, Board of Directors (1977 – 1978); American Bar Association, 1968 – Present; Texas Trial Lawyers Association.

John Wesley Hall, Little Rock criminal defense attorney, is a Past President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Hall received the organization's prestigious Robert C. Heeney Award in 2002 for service to the criminal defense bar. He was chair of the NACDL Ethics Advisory Committee from 1990-2005, and on the International Criminal Court's Disciplinary Appeals Tribunal. He has tried 250+ jury trials and handled 250+ appeals, including three in the U.S. Supreme Court. He is the author of Search and Seizure (3d ed., 4th ed. forthcoming), Professional Responsibility in Criminal Defense Practice (3d ed.), Trial Handbook for Arkansas Lawyers (4th ed.), and numerous articles. He has done CLEs in 38 states, 3 provinces, and The Hague.

Carmen Hernandez is a criminal defense attorney in Washington, DC and is a nationally recognized expert on the federal sentencing guidelines. Throughout her career she has handled a full range of federal criminal cases ranging from drug trafficking to fraud offenses to bank robberies. She has taught as an adjunct professor at the Maryland School of Law and the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University. She co-chairs the Federal Sentencing Committee of NACDL, is a member of NACDL's board of directors, and has received its most prestigious award, the Robert C. Heeney Award.

Ira Kurzban is a partner in the law firm of Kurzban, Kurzban, Weinger, Tetzeli and Pratt, P.A., of Miami, Florida.Ira Kurzban, has argued several cases in the United States Supreme Court and has been recognized by Newsweek, Time and Esquire Magazines, as well as the National Law Journal and the American Lawyer for his work on behalf of immigrants and refugees. He is the author of Kurzban's Immigration Law Sourcebook, the most widely used one-volume immigration source in the United States.

Brian Leininger is a sole practitioner in Leawood, KS and defends persons accused of DUI, driving under the influence of drugs (DUID), and DUI-related batteries and homicides. He was formerly General Counsel to the Kansas Highway Patrol and a state and municipal prosecutor. He is certified in the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and is a trained operator of the Intoxilyzer. Brian is one of the few lawyers in the world to have completed the full police training as a Drug Recognition Expert, which is the training used to detect DUID drivers. Brian is a member of the NORML Legal Committee , the National College for DUI Defense, and the National, Kansas and Missouri Associations of Criminal Defense Lawyers. As a former prosecutor, he is also a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

Philip M. Levin has been practicing U.S. Immigration and Nationality law for over twenty years. From May 1985 to December 1990, Mr. Levin served as an Associate at Lawler and Lawler, where he specialized in family and business immigration and litigated cases on behalf of clients before the U.S. Federal District Court in San Francisco, California. Since 1990, Mr. Levin has been a Certified Specialist in Immigration Law by the State Bar of California.

Thomas Loeb has been licensed to practice law in the State of Michigan since 1976. He worked at the Defender's Office in Detroit, trying felony cases, and thereafter became an associate in a law firm. He has been a sole practitioner since 1982, and a member of NORML's Legal Committee since the late 1970s. His current areas of concentration include criminal defense, plaintiff's federal civil rights litigation, professional responsibility and grievance defense, and family law and divorce. Mr. Loeb is a member of the Criminal Law and Family Law Sections of the State Bar of Michigan, the Michigan Trial Lawyers Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, and of course NORML's Legal Committee. He has lectured extensively to both lawyers and police officers for such groups as Michigan's Institute For Continuing Legal Education (ICLE), Michigan Trial Lawyers Association(MTLA), and the Macomb County Criminal Justice Training Center, on issues concerning police misconduct lawsuits, trial practice, criminal procedure, and 42 USC §1983. He has handled over 100 §1983 cases in federal court, and most recently obtained a $2.5 Million judgment on behalf of two women who were falsely arrested, maliciously prosecuted, and denied a fair trial (Brady violation) by detectives in the Detroit Police Department's Armed Robbery Unit.

NLC member Mark Mahoney, with the firm of Harrington & Mahoney in Buffalo, NY, is a past president of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and currently a NACDL Board Member. He has always been a criminal defense lawyer, handling trials and appeals and post-conviction matters. He is a recipient of the "Outstanding Practitioner" award from both the Criminal Justice Section of the New York State Bar Association and the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Among his several publications is the monograph "The Right to Present a Defense" which had been widely circulated within the defense bar, and updated continuously, since 1980. This November marks the 40th Anniversary of the "Notre Dame Ten," of which Mark was a member - the only students ever suspended from the University of Notre Dame for political protesting. He has been on the defense of a wide variety of political/criminal cases, including those involving various anti-war and anti-armament protests, the "Attica trials," artistic freedom protests, and the defense of Critical Mass participants. More recently his client was the only defendant acquitted in USA v. Rigas, et al., the 6-month long "Adelphia" multi-billion-dollar corporate fraud trial, in New York City, in 2004.

E. X. Martin is both a trial and appellate lawyer. He has been a speaker at criminal defense lawyer and other legal seminars in over forty (40) states lecturing about technologies and software programs that work for criminal defense attorneys. His topics include the computerized trial notebook, defending computer crime cases, preparing and presenting computer generated evidence, and most recently "iPhone For The Defense.

Jeralyn E. Merritt is a Denver attorney in private practice primarily representing persons accused of serious federal drug and financial crimes. She served as one of the principal trial lawyers for Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City Bombing Case. She has been a television legal analyst since 1996, most frequently appearing on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNBC. An expert in using Internet resources in the practice of law, she has created two nationally recognized websites, Crimelynx.com and Talkleft.com, for criminal defense lawyers and journalists covering crime-based news and politics.

Jason Miller, Houston, TX.

Marvin Miller has been defending criminal cases for more than 25 years, including drug defendants, political radicals and government officials. Based in Alexandria, VA, Marvin has represented clients from Maine to Florida, including an alleged ringleader in the Attica prison riot and Joan Little, an African-American woman charged with killing a white jail guard in rural North Carolina.

William H. "Billy" Murphy, Jr. has practiced law for 35 years, including three years as a judge on the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, the highest level Maryland trial court. Mr. Murphy has tried numerous high-profile criminal and civil cases, including some of the most celebrated cases in Maryland history and in the country. In 2004, Mr. Murphy received the Charles Hamilton Houston Award for Lifetime Achievement in Litigation from the University of Baltimore School of Law in "recognition of his career of excellence, innovation and achievement in courtroom advocacy."

William G. Panzer of Oakland, CA has been practicing criminal law in the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Area for seventeen years, specializing in cannabis cases. Mr. Panzer was co-author of California's Prop. 215, "The Compassionate Use Act of 1996," and has represented patients, growers, and medical cannabis dispensaries throughout California in state and federal court, at both the trial and appellate levels. He was the 2002 recipient of the NORML Legal Committee's Al Horn Award, and has been recognized by High Times Magazine as their "Freedom Fighter of the Month."

Randy Sue Pollock, a trial attorney in the San Francisco Bay Area, has handled cases ranging from theft to treason. She started as a public defender in Stockton, CA in 1976 and then was a federal public defender in Los Angeles from 1979-1985. She was active on the Board of Governors of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice for over 10 years and was responsible for organizing their continuing legal education seminars.

William Rittenberg of New Orleans, LA, is a well known civil rights lawyer who has successfully defeated every attempt to restrict a woman's right to an abortion in Louisiana for 30 years. He has also won cases declaring drug testing statutes to be unconstitutional, and protecting the rights of children, minorities, street musicians, marijuana farmers, message parlors, paraphernalia dealers, political groups, school teachers and even a few middle-aged white men. Mr. Rittenberg is a past president of the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Dennis Roberts - Upon graduating from the University of California School of Law at Berkeley in 1964, Dennis Roberts worked with the Law Students Civil Rights Research Council (LSCRRC), an organization of which he was a founding member, and for C. B. King, Esq., a prominent black civil rights attorney in Albany, Georgia, representing members of the Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee (SNCC), Southern Conference Education Fund (SCEF), along with various local civil rights activists and movement groups. In 1966 Roberts became the first staff attorney and administrator of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York City. In 1969, he was awarded a Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship and spent a year with the Legal Aid Society of Alameda County working with black and Chicano community groups on police misconduct issues. In 1973 Roberts opened his own law office in Oakland, where he practices today. Roberts is a past President of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (1980-1981); serves on the Board of Governors of the Center for Constitutional Rights; and served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for 12 years. He is listed in the California Criminal Law section of "The Best Lawyers in America.”

Marjorie P. Russell is a professor of law at Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mi, where she is the chair of the litigation skills department. She is a criminal defense lawyer and trial consultant, specializing in working with lawyers and clients using psychodramatic methods to develop testimony and the story of the case. Professor Russell serves on the faculty of the Trial Lawyers College, based in DuBois, WY, and is the director of training for skills instruction for the Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan, where she also serves on the Board of Directors.

James Shellow has cross-examined prosecution drug analysts for almost fifty years. He graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago with a major in physics and mathematics and continued in a doctoral program in cybernetics. He was the Divisional Honor Scholar and a University Research Fellow. Thereafter he was employed as a servo engineer, systems engineer, research scientist and operations analyst. He taught university courses in instrumentation design, abnormal psychology and Advanced Criminal Procedure and was a consultant to the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Michigan. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Fund for the Behavioral Sciences. He received his law degree from the Marquette University Law School and was a member of its Law Review. He was an Assistant Professor on the faculty of the Medical College of Wisconsin where he conducted a seminar in forensic science for residents in psychiatry and postdoctoral fellows in psychology. He is a Certified Public Accountant and practiced accounting for several years. He is a former president of the National Association of Criminal Defense lawyers, currently President of the Board of Regents and member of the faculty of the National College for Criminal Defense and an elected member of the American Law Institute. He is a former member of Committee on Federal Criminal Jury Instructions of the Seventh Circuit. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers and a member of the Board of Directors, Federal Defender Services of Wisconsin. He has lectured and published extensively in the field of criminal law and is a member of the Editorial Board of Forecite. He practices criminal defense law in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and vacations at his home on the French Riviera.

Alan Silber, a long time member of the NORML Legal Committee and former NORML Board member, has litigated cases in Federal Courts and numerous State Courts across the United States. He has tried not only sophisticated drug cases, but also major white-collar cases involving RICO, bank, securities, telemarketing, health care, wire and mail fraud, as well as significant money laundering cases, kidnapping (representing a police officer), and murder. His practice is concentrated on federal and state complex criminal litigation. Mr. Silber, who will be lecturing on ethics, also represents lawyers in disciplinary cases.

James Silva was admitted to practice in California in 1995; one year before California's historic Prop 215 was placed on the ballot and approved by voters. Immediately upon the enactment of Prop 215 into law, James opened a legal practice in Venice Beach and undertook the representation of individuals and organizations all around the State of California who qualified for the protections of the new state law, but continued to be subject to criminal prosecution.

James took a break from legal practice in 2002 to study Japanese Cuisine and the culinary arts and cooked professionally as a chef with The Ritz Carlton in Marina Del Rey, as well as other notable restaurants and catering establishments in California for several years.

In 2009, James moved to Oakland, California to share an office suite with William G. Panzer and to reopen a legal practice devoted to the defense of patients who use cannabis for medical purposes. James is a guest lecturer at Oaksterdam University in Oakland, where he teaches legal classes pertaining to California's emerging medical cannabis laws under the Compassionate Use and Medical Marijuana Program Acts, as well the continued exposure to criminal liability under state and federal laws.

David D. Smith lives and practices in Norman, Oklahoma. In addition to his private practice, he is the contract indigent defender for his home county. A graduate of Oklahoma University and its College of Law, he was first admitted to the bar in 1982. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association; he is a charter member of the Oklahoma County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and a former charter member of the Tulsa County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. He is a 2004 graduate of the Trial Lawyers College, and has served on the faculty since 2005. In 2006 he received the OCDLA President's Award for Outstanding Advocacy for his pro bono defense of State of Oklahoma v. Glen Gore, a capital murder case. He has spoken and presented on the subjects of jury selection and handling high profile cases.

Jeffrey Steinborn graduated from the Yale Law School in 1968. For the last 35 years he has been defending citizens accused of drug crimes -- mostly marijuana. Jeff's seminal double jeopardy/forfeiture case, United States v. McCaslin, had the government on the run for a few years, but is now an exhibit in the Museum of Short-Lived Legal Anomalies. His victory in State of Washington v. Thein, forced the government to stop using boiler-plate search warrants for the homes of suspected drug traffickers and put an end to the practice of searching the residences of suspected drug dealers based upon conduct occurring outside of the home. Jeff maintains an informational website for pot users - www.potbust.com.

Michael Stepanian has been practicing criminal law for 35 years, specializing in the defense of individuals charges with state and federal crimes. Based in San Francisco, Mr. Stepanian is co-chair of the NORML Legal Committee and is a member of the CJA panel for the Northern District of California. Married for 33 years with two children, he hunts and fishes whenever he can.

Allen St. Pierre was hired by NORML in early 1991 as Communications Director, in 1993 he became the organization's Deputy National Director and he currently serves as the Executive Director of NORML and the NORML Foundation. Mr. St. Pierre's experience is unparalleled in the field of drug policy reform. He has been cited in hundreds of international, national, and local news publications (New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, London Times, Le Monde, Der Speigel, Economist, Newsweek, Time). He has appeared on dozens of nationally televised news programs (ABC, CBS, NBC, C-Span, Fox, PBS) and hundreds of radio shows representing NORML.

Grey Tesh sings and plays guitar in a rock cover band. Oh yeah, and he's also a criminal defense lawyer. He was born in West Palm Beach, Florida and still calls it home. He graduated from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration. While in Jacksonville, he performed with Derek Trucks (slide guitarist for the Allman Brothers Band), members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blue Oyster Cult and even opened for Molly Hatchet twice. He booked Constitutional Criminal Procedure, Pre-Trial Practice and Appellate Brief Writing. As an assistant public defender, he tried over 30 jury trials in one year, breaking all previous records at the Palm Beach Public Defender's Office. Everything he knows is stolen from other people much smarter than him. He has a mortgage to pay, so he's been in private practice since 2004.

Robert T. Vaughn is a 1974 graduate of The University of Tennessee, Mr. Vaughn attended The Nashville School of Law and became licensed to practice law in Tennessee courts in October, 1979. Mr. Vaughn has represented clients in 35 state and federal courts. Mr. Vaughn has taught law related courses for 25 years at various institutions including Belmont University, various private companies and for the past 9 years served as an adjunct professor at Tennessee State University. His articles on drugs and drug paraphernalia have been published by the Drug Law Review, High Times Magazine and Headquest Magazine. Mr. Vaughn has been frequently quoted in local and national publications. He has lobbied and assisted in writing laws in Michigan, Ohio, Hawaii and Washington D.C. For over 25 years, Mr. Vaughn has continually, on an un-interrupted basis, published "The Letter of the Law", a monthly update involving the manufacture, sale, and prosecution of drug paraphernalia cases.

Creekmore Wallace inherited his practice in Sapulpa, Creek County, Oklahoma started by grandfather and uncle in 1917. He lectures yearly for Oklahoma Bar CLE courses on everything from search and seizure to cross examination, voir dire, and closing argument. Taught at last year's four day California Public Defenders Association on closing argument in mitigation stage of Capital Case, and gave workshop on representing multiple defendants in Capital Cases. He graduated from University of Tulsa Law School in 1972. He is a member of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers, Tulsa Criminal Defense Lawyers, Creek County Bar Association(past President), Prior Chairman of Oklahoma Bar Association Indigent Defense Committee. He was awarded Lord Thomas Erskine Award 1988(life time achievement award), Clarence Darrow Award 2004 both by Oklahoma Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and selected Oklahoma Super Lawyers in 2006.

Jeffrey Weiner is a former president of NACDL and of the Florida Criminal Defense Attorneys Association. He is a Fellow of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers and is a Board Certified Criminal Trial Advocate certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Jeff has been a practicing criminal defense attorney since 1974. He has argued trials and appeals throughout the country. Many of Jeff's cases are "high profile" in which he represents fellow attorneys, professional athletes and politicians. Jeff argued Florida v. Jimeno before the United States Supreme Court. Jeff also handles many international criminal cases. Jeff is a recipient of NACDL's highest honor, the Robert C. Heeney Award, for his representation of fellow lawyers on behalf of NACDL. Jeff is a former Regent of the National Criminal Defense College and is a popular CLE lecturer. He has authored several articles for "The Champion". Jeff was voted by fellow lawyers as a 2008 "Florida Super Lawyer", a Florida Trend "Legal Elite" lawyer and a South Florida Legal Guide" Top Lawyer".

Calvin Williams has been at it for 28 years, started in general practice but now limited to criminal defense most of that in the drug defense arena. Because of his location on I-70 in western Kansas he does a lot of "mule" cases. This kind of case leads to an interest in profiling, warrantless searches, coerced consent, and the "stand and deliver" forfeiture attitude of the highway robbers calling themselves drug intervention officers.

Lynne Williams, of Bar Harbor, Maine, is a self-described radical lawyer. She specializes in cases that in some way level the playing field between those with power and those without. Much of Lynne's work involves first amendment activity and civil liberties, as well as representation of progressive environmental activists and organizations in Maine. While most of her litigation is in federal court, Lynne represents medical marijuana patients in state courts throughout the state of Maine, and is well-versed on Maine's medical marijuana law as well as the laws in other states. She is the Northeast Regional Vice-President of the National Lawyers Guild, chair of the Maine Chapter of the Guild, a member of the NORML legal panel, a member of the Legal Advisory Board of Americans for Safe Access and a member of the Board of Directors, as well as legal counsel, of the Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative.

Dr. James Woodford of Tennessee is a research chemist who has done chemical analyses of marijuana, alcohol and drugs at New Scotland Yard in London, the U.S. Army Forensic Testing Lab in Wiesbaden, Germany, and state crime labs all over the country. He is author of numerous peer reviewed published articles, and has testified as an expert witness in many court cases. An expert in drug odor chemistry and odor detection, Woodford holds the U.S. Patent on the synthesis for the odor of cocaine, which is used as the standard in odor screening devices and as the scientific standard in drug detection K-9 training and proficiency testing of K-9s.

John Kenneth Zwerling practices law with Zwerling, Leibig & Moseley, P.C. in Alexandria Virginia. For the past 35 years, Mr. Zwerling has been defending individuals and corporations who have run afoul of the law in the trial and appellate courts of state and federal judicial systems. His clients include the famous and the infamous. Rock stars and lawyers, politicians and protesters, the innocent and the not so innocent on charges ranging from murder to misdemeanors, including espionage, terrorism, mail fraud, bribery, cyber sex and unwanted sex. He is a nationally recognized and respected criminal defense attorney. His ability to speak persuasively to prosecutors, judges and juries has yielded the type of success that resulted in his peers evaluating him as one of the Best Lawyers in America, a Pre-eminent Lawyer, and a Super Lawyer. He is sought out on the CLE lecture circuit and well as the national media including The Today Show, Firing Line and the NBC, ABC and CBS evening news.