On April 2, 2024, Mitigation Specialist Maria Diaz Sommer attended a Criminal Justice Speakers Series panel discussion organized by the University of Saint Joseph. Maria Díaz Sommer was on the panel, along with a Superior Court Judge, Deputy Director for the Office of Victim Services, a State Attorney, a Family Relations Officer for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, and, a U.S. Supervisory Probation Officer. The panel spoke about their involvement in restorative justice practices, the significance of restorative justice in modern day courts, and where restorative justice was effectively practiced in their cases.

On February 8, 2023, First Assistant Federal Defender Kelly Barrett spoke to the Yale Law School Defenders Society.  The discussion focused on how bail and pre-trial motions work in federal criminal practice, as well as on developing pathways to practice federal criminal defense.  

On February 9, 2024, Assistant Federal Defender Carly Levenson participated in a panel discussion at Def Con 2024, a public defense conference at Yale Law School. As part of the panel “Why Public Defense, and Why Now?,” Carly spoke to law students about what makes public defense such a rewarding and important line of work.

The Federal Defender Office has been collaborating with the Mental Health Justice Clinic at Yale Law School since 2022.  Kelly Barrett co-supervises with Professor Marisol Orihuela  students working on mental health justice projects.  MHJC’s representation model is holistic, client-centered, and disability informed.  

On October 12, 2023, Mitigation Specialist Maria Diaz Sommer and members of the Federal Defender Office attended a panel discussion with community members organized by the Law and Racial Justice Center at Yale Law School. Maria Diaz Sommer was on the panel, along with Senior United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill, AUSA Bill Brown, Joshua Bentz, a participant in Bridgeport’s Support Court restorative justice pilot workshop, and Clarissa Turner, a victim survivor/restorative justice practitioner from the District of MA.  The panel spoke about the success of Support Court’s pilot workshop, their involvement with restorative justice from their role in the criminal legal system, restorative justice as an alternative to punishment, efforts to continue restorative justice and why more the district should follow suit

On February 23, 2023, First Assistant Federal Defender Kelly Barrett testified at the United States Sentencing Commission in Washington, DC on behalf of the Federal Defender national program in support of the Commission’s proposed amendments to the Reduction in Sentence Guidelines.  On April 5, 2023, the Commission voted to adopt most of the proposed amendments. 

The Federal Defender Office has been collaborating with the Challenging Mass Incarceration Clinic (CMIC) at Yale Law School since 2016.  Kelly Barrett and Carly Levenson co-teach CMIC with Professor Miriam Gohara and co-supervise students working on federal sentencing, reduction in sentence, and pre-trial cases.  CMIC’s representation model is holistic, client-centered, and mitigation driven.  We explore the foundations of building an effective working rapport with clients and of assembling the tools necessary to provide comprehensive, meaningful representation. These include: interviewing clients and relevant witnesses; conducting a broad-based, thorough fact investigation; developing a case theory; working with experts; organizing and managing cases; researching relevant legal doctrine; and written and oral advocacy.  Throughout the semester, we gather evidence of, study, and present in our advocacy the historical, racial, sociological, and economic structures that contextualize our clients’ contact with the criminal legal system. We also investigate and gather evidence of our clients’ own social histories and life circumstances in order to persuade decisionmakers to reconsider lengthy prison sentences or to persuade judges not to impose prison sentences in the first instance.

For more information on FDO’s collaboration with CMIC, please listen to Professor Miriam Gohara’s interview at https://soundcloud.com/yaleuniversity/episode-three-miriam-gohara.

On December 5, 2022, June 2023, and December 18, 2023, the Federal Defender Office hosted its biannual training sessions on Vicarious Traumatization.  Yale School of Medicine Law and Psychiatry Fellows and Dr. Kathryn Thomas led the office in a discussion of what vicarious traumatization is as well as strategies to implement to prevent burn-out and compassion fatigue. 

If you are interested in the Office’s work on vicarious traumatization, please contact Kelly Barrett at Kelly_barrett@fd.org or 203-498-4200.

Call for Applications 

2025-2026 Curtis-Liman Fellowship at Yale Law School

The Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law at Yale Law School invites applications for the Curtis-Liman Fellowship. The Fellow will spend a year based both at Yale Law School and at the Federal Public Defender Office (FDO) in New Haven, Connecticut. The Curtis-Liman Fellow will work on behalf of clients of the FDO and join in teaching through an academic appointment at Yale Law School.

The Fellowship

Established in 2020 to honor Professor Dennis Curtis, a co-founder of Yale Law School’s clinical program, the Curtis-Liman Fellowship focuses on alternatives to incarceration and the impact of fines, fees, and other costs associated with criminal law enforcement. The Fellowship is co-hosted by the FDO of Connecticut, the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization (LSO), and the Arthur Liman Center for Public Interest Law (Liman Center). The Curtis-Liman Fellow is supervised by attorneys at the FDO, and legal faculty at the LSO and at the Liman Center. 

Work involves a mix of client representation, clinical supervision, and directed research.  In 2023, more than 90% of federal defendants who were sentenced to prison were also sentenced to a term of supervised release. At the FDO, the Fellow is assigned a specialized caseload, with a focus on individuals subjected to supervision after conviction. This assignment aims to support clients returning from incarceration, identify the costs associated with post-release supervision, and challenge, when needed, any conditions of community release that impose undue burdens or present obstacles to living and working in the community. 

Prior Curtis-Liman Fellows developed an inventory of programs that provide substance use and mental health treatment for FDO clients. They also researched the conditions imposed by federal district court judges on people serving sentences with supervised release. The 2025-2026 Curtis-Liman Fellow will engage in ongoing client representation and further develop these projects.  The Fellow also helps supervise cases in collaboration with the LSO, co-teaches the Liman spring seminar, and works with a team of students enrolled in the Liman Center’s directed research. 

Qualifications

The Curtis-Liman Fellow is based at Yale Law School and the Federal Defender’s Office of Connecticut, both located in New Haven, Connecticut. As employees of Yale Law School, Fellows receive a competitive salary commensurate with experience and full employment benefits. The position will begin in August 2025 and successful candidates will be required to work on-site. 

Applicants should be law school graduates, preferably with post-graduate experience. Individuals who have held other fellowships, including those sponsored by the Liman Center, are eligible to apply. Desired qualifications include:

• experience using law to further the public interest in a variety of settings, including public service organizations, government service, education (including law school clinics), or the private sector
• knowledge of criminal law, criminal defense, incarceration and its many impacts, and/or social services and treatment provision
• ability to work with others, listen to communities, clients, colleagues, and potential adversaries, and work creatively
• demonstrated commitment to social justice and public service
• interest in working with the Federal Defender Office of Connecticut and assisting clients at various stages of prosecution, incarceration, or release
• interest in being in relationship with law students, the Liman Center, and YLS clinical programs

How to Apply

Interested applicants must first contact FDO with application materials by October 11, 2024. Individuals seeking to apply should email a cover letter, a resume, a writing sample that demonstrates research skills, a list of references, and a law school transcript to Carly Levenson (carly_levenson@fd.org) and Kelly Barrett (Kelly_barrett@fd.org). 

Once FDO has agreed to serve as a host organization, sponsored individuals will be informed about submitting applications for the 2025-2026 Curtis-Liman Fellowship to the Liman Center. The Liman Center will accept applications thereafter; the application closes on February 3, 2025. 

To learn more, please contact Liman Center Executive Director Kate Braner as well as current or former Curtis-Liman Fellows. The Liman Center’s website contains more information.

On January 18 and 19, 2024, Federal Defender Office Mitigation Specialist Maria Diaz Sommer facilitated the District of Connecticut’s second restorative justice workshop in conjunction with the Bridgeport Support Court. The workshop was attended by seven participants and observers of the Support Court program, two community members, a national colleague from the Federal Defender of Maryland who participated as a victim survivor, and AUSA Bill Brown.

Native American and indigenous communities have long used restorative justice practices to resolve harms. Currently, there is a nascent, but growing movement to use restorative justice in pockets of the United States within the traditional criminal justice system or as an adjunct to it. On August 3-4, 2020, the American Bar Association adopted a resolution urging judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and probation officers to consider using restorative justice practices in response to crime.

If you are interested in our Office’s restorative justice work, please contact Maria Diaz Sommer at maria_sommer@fd.org or 203-498-4200.