Brief of Amici Curiae the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation, Due Process Institute, R Street Institute, and Americans for Prosperity Foundation in Support of Defendant/Cross-Appellee.

Brief of Amici Curiae the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Center for Legal and Evidence-Based Practices in Support of Appellant Julio Cesar Ortega Campoverde.

Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support of Appellant (in support of petition for rehearing en banc).

Letter with the American Civil Liberties Union to members of the U.S. House regarding a proposed amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the next fiscal year addressing beneficial ownership reporting (Corporate Transparency Act of 2019, H.R. 2513).

Coalition letter from Free to Drive to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators regarding the need to limit driver's license suspensions and refusals to renew for reasons not related to unsafe driving during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coalition letter from the Free to Drive campaign to Senate leadership regarding efforts to end the suspension of driver's licenses due to unpaid fines and fees, including through the Driving for Opportunity Act of 2020 (S. 4186).

Attorney-client communications case law and legislation in District of Columbia

Attorney-client communications case law and legislation in Kansas

Attorney-client communications case law and legislation in California

The First Step Act was signed into law on Dec. 21, 2018. NACDL and its members have long pressed to fix the unjustly severe federal sentencing regime, advocating for much more sweeping changes than are included in the First Step Act. Although the law does not go nearly as far as NACDL would like, it will benefit many prisoners and has important implications for practitioners. In these members-only webinars, leading experts examine the intricacies of the First Step Act.

A key pillar of the First Step Act, a bipartisan federal criminal reform bill signed into law in December 2018, was the creation of a risk and needs assessment tool for federal prisoners.  In July 2019, the Department of Justice first published this tool, the Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs (“PATTERN”) and began using it to place prisoners in recidivism reduction programming and award certain benefits. This webinar discusses the origins of PATTERN as well as the many questions that remain about its design and implementation, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Updates and information about applying for compassionate release for your client. Topic-specific segments are listed below. Presented by Mira Baylson, member, Cozen O'Connor; Elizabeth Blackwood, Counsel & Project Director, First Step Act Resource Center, NACDL; Justine Harris, partner, Sher Tremonte; Lisa Mathewson, Law Offices of Lisa A. Mathewson; JaneAnne Murray, Professor of Practice, University of Minnesota Law School; Shazzie Naseem, partner, Berkowitz Oliver; Avery Pollard, associate, Zuckerman Spaeder; Marjorie Peerce, partner, Ballard Spahr; and Mary Price, General Counsel, FAMM.

Because the full implications of First Step Act measures may not be immediately apparent, NACDL hosted a live webinar on January 29, 2019. Sentencing expert Amy Baron-Evans discussed the ins and outs of the new law, with emphasis on potentially overlooked aspects of the most significant provisions. Amy is the Sentencing Resource Counsel for the Federal Public and Community Defenders, and the go-to lawyer among federal defenders for difficult sentencing questions.

Long underused and unfairly applied by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, federal compassionate release is seeing a revival under the First Step Act. That law not only corrected many of the flaws in the way the BOP handled compassionate release requests, but allows prisoners direct access to the courts. The new law clarifies the broad range of circumstances related to age, illness, and family circumstances that might trigger eligibility for relief and further opens up exciting new opportunities to seek reconsideration of sentences that are no longer appropriate for a variety of other reasons.

Brief of National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, University of Nevada, Las Vegas Immigration Clinic, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Washington Defender Association, Brooklyn Defender Services, Bronx Defenders, and Immigrant Defense Project as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees and Cross-Appellants Gerardo Gonzalez, et al.