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An On the Ground View from Advocates
Racial profiling is the use of an individual's race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement (e.g. stop and search or arrest). Some argue that this strategy is a useful tool in the arsenal available to police and sheriffs, TSA officers, border control agents and others — and that the ends justify the means. We will hear from experts and advocates about community perspectives on and the impacts of racial profiling across racial, ethnic, and religious groups as well as insights about the new 2014 Department of Justice Guidance for federal agencies. Join us for an informative and important conversation with three leading experts in the field.
Diane Chin will moderate.
Panelists:
- Glenn Katon, Muslim Advocates
- Jayashri Srikantiah, Stanford Law School
- Brendon Woods, Alameda County Public Defender
Panelist biographies:
Glenn Katon serves as legal director at Muslim Advocates. Mr. Katon has over 20 years of legal experience and served previously at the ACLU of Florida, where he was Senior Attorney and Director of the statewide Religious Freedom Project.
During his years at the ACLU, Mr. Katon litigated a wide variety of religious freedom and other civil liberties issues, including immigrants’ rights and free speech cases. Mr. Katon has tried over 15 cases in federal and state courts throughout the country and handled appeals in the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits and the Florida District Courts of Appeal. He is admitted to practice in California, Florida, New York, and Texas.
Before shifting his focus to civil rights full time, Mr. Katon practiced commercial litigation as a shareholder with Bush Ross, P.A. in Tampa, Florida, and as an associate in the Dallas, Texas, office of what is now Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP. He also served as Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, receiving the Tax Division’s Outstanding Attorney Award in 2001. Mr. Katon began his career as a law clerk to the Honorable Terry R. Means, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas.
Mr. Katon received a B.A. in Government from George Mason University and a J.D. from St. John’s University, where he graduated on the Dean’s List and was on the Board of Editors of the Journal of Legal Commentary.
An experienced clinical teacher and litigator, Jayashri Srikantiah is the founding director of the law school’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic. Under her direction, students in the clinic have represented scores of immigrants facing deportation, including asylum-seekers, immigrants with prior criminal convictions, immigrant survivors of crime, and undocumented migrants with longstanding ties to the United States. Professor Srikantiah and clinic students have litigated cases in the immigration courts, the federal district courts, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Professor Srikantiah’s litigation successes include challenging the federal government’s immigration detention practices, uncovering the federal government’s use of processes to deport individuals without hearings, and limiting the immigration consequences of prior criminal convictions. In recognition of her work on behalf of immigrants’ rights, California Lawyer magazine named Professor Srikantiah one of its 2014 Attorneys of the Year.
Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 2004, Professor Srikantiah was the associate legal director of the ACLU of Northern California and a staff attorney at the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. Professor Srikantiah has also worked as an associate at the law firm of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin, and was a law clerk to Judge David R. Thompson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Brendon Woods
Brendon Woods’ career in criminal defense began as a law student at the University of San Francisco. While at the USF, Woods interned at the State Public Defenders Office and the San Francisco Superior Court’s Criminal Division. Upon graduation from USF in 1996, Woods worked as a post-bar clerk in the Alameda County Public Defenders office until he was hired as an Associate Deputy Public Defender in 1998. Throughout his eighteen year career with the public defenders office, Mr. Woods has represented thousands of individuals accused of every possible crime. To date he has represented three clients facing the death penalty and none have resulted in a death verdict.
In September 2009, He was selected to be on the Alameda County Bar Association, Judicial Evaluation Committee. The committee interviews, evaluates and recommends judicial candidates to the governor. That same month he was appointed by former California Chief Justice Ronald George to the Administrative Office of the Courts, Criminal Law Advisory Committee. That committee makes recommendations for improving the administration of justice in criminal proceedings by reviewing issues in court administration, proposing changes to rules of court and by reviewing and recommending legislation.
He has served as a Senior Assistant Public Defender, Felony trial Staff supervisor, Fremont Branch Supervisor, and Recruitment, Hiring and Diversity Officer for his office. On December 17, 2012 he was unanimously appointed by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors as the Public Defender for Alameda County. As an Alameda County Department Head, his office provides legal defense for all within the county who require counsel at public expense. He directs the public law office operating in five branches with 100 attorneys, 18 field investigators and numerous support staff. He oversees more than 3,300 new caseloads each month.
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