Staff Attorney
nfennell@fairdefense.org
Show BioNathan's work focuses on improving representation for Texans who get arrested and cannot afford a lawyer, including by challenging illegal and ineffective indigent defense systems, advocating for improved defense provision, and helping people who have been mistreated or ignored by their local provider. Because this type of work is always a team effort, he also provides advice and legal representation to advocates, attorneys, and organizers seeking to improve their local indigent defense systems. Before moving to Texas, Nathan coordinated intake, appointment of counsel, and post-sentencing services at the Orleans Public Defenders. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School, the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas - Austin, and the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill.
Interim Co-Executive Director
chsu@fairdefense.org
Show BioCamilla serves as the Interim Co-Executive Director and develops and manages TFDP's litigation program, which aims to support the shared goals of TFDP and its community partners in the fight against the criminalization of poverty. Before TFDP, Camilla was an appellate public defender at the Center for Appellate Litigation in New York City, where she brought challenges to debilitating enmeshed consequences of conviction alongside her direct representation work; a trial-level public defender at The Bronx Defenders; and an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she represented clients charged with misdemeanors and felonies, supervised students representing their own clients, and taught in the Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and summa cum laude from Yale University.
Interim Co-Executive Director & Policy Director
sjennings@fairdefense.org
Show BioSarah Mae Jennings serves as the Interim Co-Executive Director and Policy Director. In her role as Policy Director, Sarah Mae advocates for state and local policy changes to address the systemic injustices TFDP has identified through its direct representation work. Sarah Mae joined TFDP as a Staff Attorney in 2020, building out TFDP’s criminal record clearing program and working with the Clean Slate Texas Coalition to advocate for policy changes to increase access to criminal record clearing in Texas. In 2021, Sarah Mae became TFDP’s Bono Program Director, training and supervising pro bono attorneys assisting low-income Texans in their communities with criminal record clearing and Class C misdemeanor cases; and recruiting pro bono attorneys to join TFDP in the fight to end the criminalization of poverty. In 2021-2022, Sarah Mae served as a faculty member for the Texas Justice Courts Training Center’s Core Curriculum, training Justice of the Peace Court judges across the state in a course entitled “Clearing Your Docket While Helping Your Community.” Before joining TFDP, Sarah Mae worked as a trial attorney at the Orleans Public Defenders, where she defended hundreds of clients from arrest through post-conviction. As a law student in Austin, Sarah Mae managed both the UT Law Expunction and Driver’s License Recovery pro bono clinics. Sarah Mae is admitted to practice law in the State of Texas and in the State of Louisiana.
Operations Manager
kkis@fairdefense.org
Show BioKatie Kis is the Operations Manager at Texas Fair Defense Project. She joined TFDP in 2020 to help build internal systems and processes, as well as to support new and existing programs. Prior to joining TFDP she managed an Austin-area AmeriCorps program. She received a B.S. and a graduate certificate from the University of Oregon in 2013.
Accountability Project Director
mle@fairdefense.org
Show BioMy Le is the Accountability Project Director at Texas Fair Defense Project. My’s work at TFDP centers communities who are entrenched in the policing and carceral systems and takes lead from the movements challenging these systems. Through creative advocacy, litigation, and movement support strategies, My works to hold system actors accountable or abolish their abusive policies and practices. Prior to joining TFDP, My was a holistic public defender in the criminal defense practice at The Bronx Defenders, where they collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of advocates to defend Bronx residents from pre-arrest through post-conviction. During law school, My completed the Creating Law Enforcement Accountability & Responsibility (CLEAR) and Immigrant and Non-Citizens Rights Clinics, and interned with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, Outten & Golden, LLP, and the East Bay Community Law Center. My is a graduate of the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law, where My was a National Fred T. Korematsu Fellow and a Sorensen Center for International Peace and Justice Fellow. Prior to law school, My organized with grassroots movements and other directly impacted folks in San Antonio and nationally to end immigration criminalization, detention, and deportation through popular education, movement-building, and direct actions.
Interim Director of Client Services
ylondon@fairdefense.org
Show BioYvonne M. London’s work includes providing direct representation and pro se assistance with clearing criminal records. Yvonne also is working with the Clean Slate Texas Coalition to advocate for policy changes that would increase access to criminal record clearing services in Texas. Prior to joining TFDP, Yvonne worked as a Staff Attorney at the Earl Carl Institute for Legal & Social Policy, Inc. with their Juvenile Justice Project (JJP). At the Earl Carl Institute, Yvonne provided direct legal representation and advocacy in the areas of juvenile justice, special education, and school discipline. Yvonne also provided direct representation in both adult and juvenile record clearing cases. Additionally, Yvonne worked as an Agency Attorney for the City of New York, handling child protective and special education cases. Yvonne earned her Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from Rutgers University and her Doctor of Jurisprudence from Wayne State University. Yvonne is a member of the State Bar of Texas and the State Bar of New York.
Pro Bono Program Legal Assistant
hmaverick@fairdefense.org
Show BioHans is a long-time Texas resident and a recent graduate of Austin Community College with an Associate degree in Paralegal Studies. He joined TFDP in April 2022 as a Pro Bono Program Legal Assistant. In that role, he is helping expand TFDP's capacity to provide direct criminal legal services, including record clearing and driver’s license reinstatement, to low-income Texans. Prior to joining TFDP, Hans worked as legal assistant for The Law Office of Mark W. Smith, PLLC. He also has extensive experience in volunteer criminal legal system reform advocacy with Grassroots Leadership, American Ethical Union, and other groups, as well as professional experience in customer service and information technology support.
Development Associate
sorgan@fairdefense.org
Show BioSandra Organ is the Development Associate for Texas Fair Defense Project, hired in 2022 to assist the organization in increasing its base of operational support though grantmaking and fundraising efforts. Having founded a diverse non-profit dance company in Houston, TX, after a successful career as a classical ballerina there, she has expanded her experience in dancemaking and writing, as advocate and activist, utilizing storytelling to facilitate communities in their understanding of their neighbor. Ms. Organ earned her degree in Human Services Administration from Antioch College in 2017, and has taught at UT and Texas State, among many conservatories and academies across Southeast Texas.
Systems Navigator
lportillo@fairdefense.org
Show BioLulu Portillo is the Systems Navigator at TFDP. She joined the TFDP team in May 2022 to assist the Client Services team in providing additional advocacy and support to our clients with their non-legal issues. Previously, Lulu served 5.5 years as the Foster Youth Specialist of the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project. Before that, she was a Bilingual Survivor Advocate at the SAFE Alliance, working with survivors of domestic violence and abuse. Lulu is an alumnus of Saint Edward's University in Austin, Texas.
Senior Legal Assistant
aprado@fairdefense.org
Show BioAna Prado is the Legal Assistant at Texas Fair Defense Project. She joined in 2021 to help support direct services and complete intakes for new potential clients. Prior to joining TFDP, she was a Litigation Clerk at Cleveland | Terrazas PLLC, intern at Grassroots Leadership, a field research assistant for PROJECT SEED at UT, and a research assistant for Dr. William Kelly at UT. She received her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin in Philosophy.