the JustPod The Criminal Justice Section of the ABA

Our guest is Professor Lucian Dervan, the founding Director of the Plea Bargaining Institute and a Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Justice Studies at Belmont University College of Law in Nashville, TN.  Professor Dervan is co-chair of the ABA's Criminal Justice Section Plea Bargaining Taskforce and co-author of the forthcoming book, "The Cost of Bargains: Reflections and Recommendations" from the Section's Plea Bargaining Task Force.

Read the Fourteen Principles and a Path Forward for Plea Bargaining Reform, by Lucian E. Dervan here

Read the ABA CJS Plea Bargaining Task Force Report here

Larry Krasner is a former criminal defense and civil rights lawyer who has become one of the most high profile inner city District Attorneys to lead the city prosecutor’s office of any major city. He has made waves for his controversial—and some would say progressive—policy positions on hot button issues like mass incarceration, decriminalization of minor drug possession, police misconduct, and wrongful convictions. He was first elected as District Attorney for Philadelphia in 2017 and re-elected in 2021, after running his own criminal defense firm, where he brought over 75 civil suits against law enforcement for misconduct. Even earlier in his career he worked as a public defender.

It takes about 3 hours to drive from Greenwich, Connecticut to the Federal Correctional Institution,  Allenwood Low in Pennsylvania. Jeffery D. Grant knows this because he took that drive on an Easter Sunday in 2006. A lawyer whose life has taken a wrong turn on  the road to addiction, Jeff Grant left the upscale life he had cultivated in Connecticut to enter what would be his new home for the duration of his 18-month Federal criminal sentence. The story of his rise, fall, and redemption is recounted in an article by Evan Osnos in The New Yorker. Jeff Grant has also been featured in Forbes, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Greenwich Magazine, and Business Insider. Jeff was released from custody in 2007 and was able to recover from addiction, obtain a divinity degree, start a law firm, and start a number of non-profit support groups focused on reentry to society in support of defendants and their families.

Read The New Yorker article here

Read Jeff's CJS Magazine article, "A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: Progressive Diversion and Reentry, 'Problem-to-Pardon' Case Management" here

Our guests have spent their careers advocating for some of the most vulnerable citizens in our country's legal system-our nation's children. Kristin Henning is the Blume Professor of Law and Director of the Juvenile Justice Clinic Initiative at Georgetown Law School and the author of "The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth". Marsha Levick is the co-founder and Chief Legal Officer of the Juvenile Law Center, which has been advocating for young people's rights for nearly 50 years. 

In this episode, Joe Whitley and Lynsey Barron discuss corporate monitorships with Ling-Ling Nie,  who is the Deputy General Counsel, Chief Compliance & ESG Officer, Head of Government Affairs at Aura and Scott Marrah, Partner at White Collar Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations  at Kilpatrick Townsend. 

Gurbir Grewal has been the Director of the Enforcement Division at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission since 2001.  Prior to that, he had the distinction of being the first Sikh American to be Attorney General in any of the fifty states, and only the second South Asian to hold such an office after the former Attorney General of California, Kamala Harris.  Gurbir was the Chief Prosecutor of Bergen County in New Jersey, and before that the Head of the Economic Crimes Unit in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey.  Justin and Gurbir sat down for a “fireside chat” at the annual White Collar Conference of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL).  The episode was recorded in front of a live audience, with PACDL’s permission.