Julie Bowden, Esq., Staff Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x122 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: jbowden@publiccounsel.net

Julie joined YAP in September 2007 as a staff attorney after two years as a trial attorney in the Worcester Trial Unit of CPCS. She earned her B.A. in Latin American and American Studies from Barnard College in 1996 and her J.D. from Northeastern School of Law in 2004. After graduating, she worked as a clerk for the Justices of the Superior Court. Prior to attending law school, Julie worked for several years as a paralegal and translator, helping immigrants petition for legal status in the United States.

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Eva Chan, Operations Manager
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x130 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: echan@publiccounsel.net

Eva joined YAP in April 2008 as the operations maganger. She earned her B.A. in International Business from Northeastern University in 2004. Also, she speaks, reads and writes fluent Chinese. Prior to working at YAP, Eva was a restaruant manager on Nantucket Island for over two years. 

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Karen Clawson, Community Notebooks Coordinator
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x143 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: kclawson@publiccounsel.net

Karen joined YAP as the Community Notebook Coordinator in March 2007. She earned her B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 2003 and will soon hold an M.A. from the Department of History at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Before coming to YAP, she worked in non-profit development in Pittsburgh, PA, and in teaching, researching, and student services during her graduate studies in Australia.

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John DeSerio, EdLaw Project, AmeriCorps VISTA
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x144 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: jdeserio.edlaw@gmail.com

John joined YAP in August 2008 as a full-time volunteer with the AmeriCorps VISTA program. He is the Intake and Training Coordinator at YAP's EdLaw Project. In 2008 John graduated from Columbia University cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science. Prior to working with YAP John had various roles in the Political Science and Marketing departments at his alma mater. Before earning his degree, John was a professional ballet dancer for seven years. His work with the EdLaw Project will allow him to pursue his interest in student rights protections.

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Joshua M. Dohan, Esq., Youth Advocacy Project Director
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x117 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: jdohan@publiccounsel.net

Joshua Dohan became a public defender in 1988 and joined the Youth Advocacy Project at its inception, as its first staff attorney in 1992 and assumed the role of Director in 1999. Josh is a returned Peace Corps volunteer, Ghana (1982-84). He is a graduate of Harvard College (1980) and Northeastern University School of Law (1988). He was also the 1998 recipient of the Access to Justice Award from the Massachusetts Bar Association. Josh is on the Board of Directors of Citizens for Juvenile Justice and is President of the Board for the Youth Advocacy Foundation. He is a founding Member of the Equal Justice Partnership, a member of the LeadBoston class of 2001, a member of the Institutional Review Board of both Children's Hospital and Tufts University, and a member of the Community Advisory Board of the Institute on Race and Justice. In 2001, the Youth Advocacy Project became the first Juvenile Defender organization to win the Clara Shortridge Foltz award for outstanding achievement from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

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Priscilla Duffy, Esq., Program Manager
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x125 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: pduffy@publiccounsel.net

Priscilla joined YAP in 2003 as Program Manager. Previously, Priscilla was a trial attorney for seven years in the Brockton Office of the Committee for Public Counsel Services. While there, she specialized in Youthful Offender cases. In addition, Priscilla has marketing and development experience at both a nonprofit company and a major corporation. Priscilla graduated from Brown University in 1983 and received her J.D. from Boston College Law School in 1992.

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Theresa Flaherty, Administrative Assistant
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x112 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: tflaherty@publiccounsel.net

Theresa joined YAP in 2007. Prior to working at YAP, Theresa worked for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office as a support to the Framingham and Cambridge District Court teams. There she provided administrative and paralegal support to the ADA’s and Regional and Juvenile Court Supervisors. She graduated with a B.A. from Boston University majoring in Sociology.

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Susan Flood, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x145 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: sflood@publiccounsel.net

Susan started at YAP in June 2005. She is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist, who earned her Master’s degree in Community Social Psychology from the University of Lowell in 1988 and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1997. Susan did a pre-doctoral internship at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City and a post-doctoral fellowship with the Children and the Law Program in the Dept. of Psychiatry of Mass. General Hospital and Harvard Medical School where she stayed on as an advanced fellow and then joined the staff and was a Clinical Associate with Harvard Medical School from 1999-2005. Susan has worked in the Suffolk, Norfolk and Middlesex County Juvenile Court Clinics and has worked on a Department of Mental Health child inpatient hospital unit and in residential treatment.

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Leor Galil, Community Notebooks, AmeriCorps VISTA
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x129 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: leorgalilyap@gmail.com

Leor joined the Youth Advocacy Project in August 2008. As a volunteer through the AmeriCorps VISTA program, he works on the Community Notebooks Project as part of the YAP team. Leor graduated from Brandeis University in May 2008 with a B.A. in American Studies and a minor in Journalism. Leor is excited to apply his college community experiences and previous journalistic work to his year of volunteering as an AmeriCorps VISTA.

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Duci Goncalves, Esq., Staff Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x124 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: dgoncalves@publiccounsel.net

Duci joined YAP in September 2005. She grew up in Roxbury and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in Rehabilitation and Human Services in 2002. During college, Duci spent a year as an intern with the EdLaw Project. She received her J.D from Northeastern University School of Law in 2005. While at Northeastern, she completed a three month internship with YAP and also competed in the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition, coming in first place at both the regional competition as well as the national competition, which was held in Colorado.

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Penny Haney, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x142 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: phaney@publiccounsel.net

Penny joined YAP in May 2005, after spending seven years working in the Suffolk County Juvenile Court Clinics. She is a clinical and forensic psychologist, with both Designated Forensic Professional (DFP) and Certified Juvenile Court Clinician II (CJCC II) certification in Massachusetts.  Penny’s specialty areas of practice including working with children, adolescents, and families who are court involved, and/or who have experienced traumatic events or other adverse life circumstances.  Penny currently divides her professional time between YAP and Children’s Hospital Boston, where she is a psychologist on the Child Protection Team at Children’s Hospital Boston and an Instructor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School. Penny earned her Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago, and completed her internship at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Children and the Law Program.

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Ziyad Hopkins, Esq., Staff Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x123 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: zhopkins@publiccounsel.net

Ziyad has been with CPCS since graduating from Northeastern University School of Law in 1998. Before joining YAP in 2003 he was a trial attorney in the Boston Trial Unit, where he represented adults accused of committing felonies. Ziyad grew up in Cairo, Egypt and is an alumnus of Oberlin College (1992). During college he spent six months in occupied Palestine working with the Mandela Institute, a prisoner's rights group advocating for Palestinians held in Israeli detention. He also lived in India for two years on a post-graduate fellowship, and lived there for much of 2006-2007 as well.

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Charles Israel, Forensic Case Manager
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x138 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: cisrael@publiccounsel.net

A native of Boston, Charles joined YAP as a Forensic Case Manager in 2008. He received his B.A. in Sociology/Criminal Justice from Curry College and went on to work for the Department of Youth Services for six years in a variety of roles. Before coming to YAP, Charles was employed as the Program Director for North Charles where he worked with adult males with mental health disorders. Charles is currently enrolled in UMass Boston's Forensic Services Certificate program.

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Liz Murdock, JDN Program Associate, Americorps VISTA
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x153 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: emurdock@publiccounsel.net

Liz is a full-time volunteer with the Juvenile Defense Network through the AmeriCorps VISTA program. She began her term of service in January, 2008. Liz earned her B.A. in English and Art History from American University in May, 2003. Before working at the Youth Advocacy Project, Liz worked as a paralegal at a law firm in Washington, D.C. 

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Elizabeth J. Pimentel, Community Outreach Coordinator, Massachusetts Promise Fellowship
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x148 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: eliatyap@gmail.com

Elizabeth joined the Youth Advocacy Project in August 2008 as the Community Outreach Coordinator after a year as the AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer at the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts. She earned her B.A. in Government combined with African Studies and Spanish from St. Lawrence University in 2007. During her time at St. Lawrence she spent a semester abroad in Spain and another in Kenya where she competed an internship with UN-HABITAT. Elizabeth is excited to be serving for a second year towards positive youth and community development.

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Scott Rankin, Esq., Staff Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x114 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: srankin@publiccounsel.net

Scott joined YAP as a staff attorney in April 2007. He graduated from New York University School of Law in 2000 where he participated in a year long Juvenile Rights Clinic. Before coming to YAP, Scott was a staff attorney with the New Hampshire Public Defender handling adult and juvenile cases and providing program wide juvenile litigation support. Before law school, Scott worked as a paralegal with the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn focusing on housing and public benefits matters. He received a B.A. in English from Swarthmore College in 1994.

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Kathryn Ratey, Forensic Case Manager
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x126 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: kratey@publiccounsel.net

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Cecely Reardon, Esq., Supervising Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x131 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: creardon@publiccounsel.net

Cecely Reardon is the Supervising Attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services Youth Advocacy Project. Cecely first joined the Brockton Superior Court Office of the Committee in1997, after receiving her Juris Doctor and a Masters in Social Work from Boston College. Cecely then joined the Youth Advocacy Project in the fall of 2000, and currently represents juveniles in delinquency and youthful offender matters in the Boston Juvenile Courts. Cecely also serves as the Vice Chair of Massachusetts’ Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee (JJAC) and is the Massachusetts delegate to the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice. Cecely was the 2007 recipient of the Boston Bar Association’s Brooks’ Award for outstanding public service and is a frequent lecturer and participant in a variety of training programs statewide.

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Marlies Spanjaard, Esq., EdLaw Project Interim Coordinator
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x150 Fax: (617)541-0904
Email: mspanjaard@publiccounsel.net

Marlies Spanjaard joined the EdLaw Project in August, 2001 where she has represented students in school disciplinary hearings, special education team meetings, and administrative hearings before the Bureau of Special Education appeals.  Marlies has trained extensively on education related issues throughout the state and before a wide variety of audiences including parents, youth workers, students and lawyers.  In 2007, Marlies began teaching at Wheelock College as an adjunct instructor in the college's Juvenile Justice and Youth Advocacy Concentration.  She earned her J.D. and her M.S.W. at Washington University Law School and George Warren Brown School of Social Work in St. Louis, MO.

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Bryna G. Williams, Esq., EdLaw Attorney
Mailing Address: 10 Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: 617-445-5640x152 Fax: 617-541-0904
Email: bwilliams@publiccounsel.net

Bryna joined the EdLaw Project in August, 2006. She has gained vaulable experience in client advocacy through internships with the Public Guardian of Cook County in Chicago and the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst, Illinois, and as a student clinician at the Loyola Civitas ChildLaw Clinic. Additionally, she served at the managing editor of the Children's Legal Rights Journal, as the president of her law school's Public Interest Law Society and as a volunteer teaching students about their legal rights in the Chicago Public Schools and at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. She earned her A.B. from Washington University in St. Louis and her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

Wendy Wolf, Esq., Juvenile Defense Network Coordinator
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 445-5640x127 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: wwolf@publiccounsel.net

Wendy joined CPCS in 1985. She started out representing adults accused of felonies in Middlesex and Norfolk Counties and was a Supervising Attorney in the Cambridge office. In 1996 Wendy joined YAP as the Supervising Attorney. While still part of YAP she began taking Youthful Offender cases in Middlesex County in 2000. Returning to the Roxbury offices of YAP in 2003, Wendy is now the coordinator of the Juvenile Defense Network. Wendy earned her B.S.W. from the University of Vermont and her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School.

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PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS

American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center

American Psychological Association

American Psychology-Law Society

Boston Bar Association

Citizens for Juvenile Justice

Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys

Massachusetts Bar Association

Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty

National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys

National Juvenile Defender Center

National Lawyers Guild, Massachusetts Chapter

National Youth Justice Alliance

New England Juvenile Defender Center

The Sentencing Project

Vera Institute of Justice

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