Washington, DC (August 18, 2015) – Washington, DC, attorney Pat Cresta Savage was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) at the Association's 58th annual meeting in Denver, CO, on July 26. Ms. Cresta Savage has been a member of NACDL since 2000, and has been active in the Association's seminars and conferences. In March 2014, she spoke at NACDL's Collateral Consequences Seminar in New Orleans addressing members regarding her recent victory in the State of Maryland Court of Appeals (Doe v. Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services, 430 Md. 535, 62 A.3d 123 (2013)), which found that the ex post facto application of the 2010 Sex Offender Registration Law violated the Maryland Constitution. As a result of that decision, over 800 individuals have been voluntary taken off the sex offender registry by the State of Maryland.
In 2000, Ms. Cresta Savage joined NACDL's local affiliate, the DC Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (DCACDL) as a member. She was elected to the board and then became Vice President, and in 2007, was elected President, a post she held for seven years until 2014. While there, she managed the topic and speaker planning and emcee duties for the Association’s well-received yearly "Rights of Spring" seminar series which brings together 100+ criminal defense attorneys for advanced training in pretrial, trial, and appellate practice skills. She also was responsible for organizing and staffing the DCACDL "Annual Appellate Review," another seminar that covers updates and significant opinions in federal and DC courts including Supreme Court appellate law.
Ms. Cresta Savage has been an active member of the Criminal Bar since 1998. After finishing law school, she opened her own firm as a solo practitioner, as a member of the DC Bar, and began taking court-appointed adult criminal cases soon thereafter. She served as Vice President of the DC Superior Court Trial Lawyers Association, successfully leading advocacy in Congress with a few others for long-overdue pay increases for Criminal Justice Act lawyers in the D.C. Superior Court.
Continuing as a CJA panel member in Superior Court since 1998, she handles well over 100 court-appointed felony and misdemeanor criminal matters each year, including as a sole Defense Counsel in a number of murder trials and other serious Felony charges. She also handles white-collar civil matters and practices employment, small business law and security clearance litigation.
Contacts
Ezra Dunkle-Polier, NACDL Public Affairs & Communications Assistant, (202) 465-7656 or edunkle-polier@nacdl.org for more information.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal justice system.