Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia | Icebreaker

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Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia | Icebreaker

Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia

Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia

It is the mission of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) to provide and promote quality legal representation to indigent adults and children facing a loss of liberty in the District of Columbia, thereby protecting society's interest in the fair administration of justice.

11 members

Contact info

Link

pdsdc.org

Members

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Senior Attorney Recruiting Specialist at Morrison Foerster

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Strategy & Analytics; ex-Meta, Grubhub/Seamless, Kellogg MBA

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Criminal Defense Attorney at New Hampshire Public Defender

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Assistant Public Defender

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Consultant at Deloitte | Top Secret Security Clearance

Olivia Lombardo

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I’m driven by a central question: What does meaningful access to justice look like, and who is still left without it? Across civil and criminal courts, I’ve explored how poverty, race, and geography intersect to determine who receives legal representation and who is forced to go it alone. Whether through research, advocacy, or direct service, my work centers on the overlooked mechanics of the legal system: missed court dates, misunderstood eviction notices, overburdened public defenders. I recently graduated magna cum laude from Yale, where I completed a senior thesis examining patterns of nonappearance in New York City housing court. This summer, supported by the Grand Strategy program, I’m extending that research in Connecticut—investigating how something as simple as distance from the courthouse can shape who shows up to court. I’ll present this work at the American Political Science Association’s annual meeting. Alongside my research, I’ve spent the last six years gaining experience across public defense, political organizing, and legislative advocacy—from delivering a TEDx talk on the civil legal crisis, to working in the Senate and public defender offices, to leading campus-wide initiatives through the Yale College Council and serving as a Research Assistant at Yale Law School’s Liman Center for Public Interest Law. This fall, I’ll continue my work as an MPhil student in Criminology at the University of Cambridge as a Paul Mellon Fellow, committed to reimagining how legal systems can serve the people who move through them.

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J.D. Candidate at Yale Law School

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Investment Analyst at Guggenheim Partners | University of Chicago Class of 2024

Meylakh Barshay

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Medical student @Brown Medical School

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Criminal Defense Attorney