To see
staff biographies and contact information click on the names below.
Click here
for a list of YAP's Professional Affiliations and
Memberships.
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Julie Bowden, Esq., Staff Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8122 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: jbowden@publiccounsel.net
Julie joined YAP in September 2007 as a staff attorney after two years as a trial attorney
in the Worcester Trial Unit of CPCS. She earned her B.A. in Latin American and American Studies
from Barnard College in 1996 and her J.D. from Northeastern School of Law in 2004. After
graduating, she worked as a clerk for the Justices of the Superior Court. Prior to attending
law school, Julie worked for several years as a paralegal and translator, helping immigrants
petition for legal status in the United States.
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Eva Chan, Operations Manager
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8130 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: echan@publiccounsel.net
Eva joined YAP in April 2008 as the operations maganger. She earned
her B.A. in International Business from Northeastern University in 2004.
Also, she speaks, reads and writes fluent Chinese. Prior to working at
YAP, Eva was a restaruant manager on Nantucket Island for over two
years.
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John DeSerio, EdLaw Project, AmeriCorps
VISTA
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8144 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email:
jdeserio.edlaw@gmail.com
John joined YAP in August 2008 as a full-time volunteer with the
AmeriCorps VISTA program. He is the Intake and Training Coordinator
at YAP's EdLaw Project. In 2008 John graduated from Columbia
University cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science. Prior to
working with YAP John had various roles in the Political Science and Marketing
departments at his alma mater. Before earning his degree, John was a professional ballet
dancer for seven years. His work with the EdLaw Project will allow him to pursue his interest in student rights protections.
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Joshua M. Dohan, Esq., Youth Advocacy Project Director
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8117 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: jdohan@publiccounsel.net
Joshua Dohan became a public defender in 1988 and joined the Youth
Advocacy Project at its inception, as its first staff attorney in 1992
and assumed the role of Director in 1999. Josh is a returned Peace Corps
volunteer, Ghana (1982-84). He is a graduate of Harvard College (1980)
and Northeastern University School of Law (1988). He was also the 1998
recipient of the Access to Justice Award from the Massachusetts Bar
Association. Josh is on the Board of Directors of Citizens for Juvenile
Justice and is President of the Board for the Youth Advocacy Foundation.
He is a founding Member of the Equal Justice Partnership, a member of
the LeadBoston class of 2001, a member of the Institutional Review Board
of both Children's Hospital and Tufts University, and a member of the
Community Advisory Board of the Institute on Race and Justice. In 2001,
the Youth Advocacy Project became the first Juvenile Defender
organization to win the Clara Shortridge Foltz award for outstanding
achievement from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
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Priscilla Duffy, Esq., Program Manager
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8125 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: pduffy@publiccounsel.net
Priscilla joined YAP in 2003 as Program Manager. In 2008, Priscilla
was recognized by Lawyers Weekly as one of its inaugural "Women of
Justice." Previously, she was a trial
attorney for seven years in the Brockton Office of the Committee for Public Counsel
Services. While there, she specialized in Youthful Offender cases. In addition, Priscilla
has marketing and development experience at both a nonprofit company and a major
corporation. Priscilla graduated from Brown University in 1983 and received her J.D.,
with honors, from
Boston College Law School in 1992.
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Theresa Flaherty, Administrative Assistant
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8112 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: tflaherty@publiccounsel.net
Theresa joined YAP in 2007. Prior to working at YAP, Theresa worked for the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office as a support to the
Framingham and Cambridge District Court teams. There she provided administrative and paralegal support to the
ADA’s and Regional and Juvenile Court Supervisors. She graduated with a B.A. from Boston University majoring in Sociology.
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Susan Flood, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8145 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: sflood@publiccounsel.net
Susan started at YAP in June 2005. She is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist, who earned her
Master’s degree in Community Social Psychology from the University of Lowell in 1988 and a Ph.D.
in Clinical Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1997. Susan did a
pre-doctoral internship at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City and a post-doctoral
fellowship with the Children and the Law Program in the Dept. of Psychiatry of Mass. General
Hospital and Harvard Medical School where she stayed on as an advanced fellow and then joined the
staff and was a Clinical Associate with Harvard Medical School from 1999-2005. Susan has worked in
the Suffolk, Norfolk and Middlesex County Juvenile Court Clinics and has worked on a Department of
Mental Health child inpatient hospital unit and in residential treatment.
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Leor Galil, Community Notebooks,
AmeriCorps VISTA
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8129 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: leorgalilyap@gmail.com
Leor joined the Youth Advocacy Project in August 2008. As a volunteer
through the AmeriCorps VISTA program, he works on the Community
Notebooks Project as part of the YAP team. Leor graduated from Brandeis
University in May 2008 with a B.A. in American Studies and a minor in
Journalism. Leor is excited to apply his college community experiences
and previous journalistic work to his year of volunteering as an
AmeriCorps VISTA.
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Duci Goncalves, Esq., Staff Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8124 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: dgoncalves@publiccounsel.net
Duci joined YAP in September 2005. She grew up in Roxbury and graduated from Boston University with a B.S.
in Rehabilitation and Human Services in 2002. During college, Duci spent a year as an intern with the EdLaw
Project. She received her J.D from Northeastern University School of Law in 2005. While at Northeastern, she
completed a three month internship with YAP and also competed in the Frederick Douglass Moot Court Competition,
coming in first place at both the regional competition as well as the national competition, which was held in
Colorado.
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Penny Haney, Ph.D., Staff Psychologist
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8142 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: phaney@publiccounsel.net
Penny is a clinical and forensic psychologist who joined
YAP in May 2005. She has worked in the juvenile courts
since 1998, and has both Designated Forensic Professional (DFP) and
Certified Juvenile Court Clinician II (CJCC II) certifications in
Massachusetts. In addition to her work at YAP,
Penny is also a Visiting Clinical Assistant Professor at
Boston College,
in the Counseling Psychology program at the Lynch School of Education.
Penny’s specialty areas of practice include working with children,
adolescents, and families who are court involved, and/or who have
experienced traumatic events or other adverse life circumstances. Penny
earned her Ph.D. from Loyola University Chicago, and completed her
internship at Cook
County Hospital
in Chicago and postdoctoral fellowship at
Massachusetts General Hospital,
Children and the Law Program.
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Ziyad Hopkins, Esq., Staff Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8123 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: zhopkins@publiccounsel.net
Ziyad has been with CPCS since graduating from Northeastern University School of Law in
1998. Before joining YAP in 2003 he was a trial attorney in the Boston Trial Unit, where
he represented adults accused of committing felonies. Ziyad grew up in Cairo, Egypt and is
an alumnus of Oberlin College (1992). During college he spent six months in occupied Palestine
working with the Mandela Institute, a prisoner's rights group advocating for Palestinians
held in Israeli detention. He also lived in India for two years on a post-graduate fellowship, and lived there
for much of 2006-2007 as well.
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Charles Israel, Forensic Case Manager
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8138 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: cisrael@publiccounsel.net
A native of Boston, Charles joined YAP as a Forensic Case Manager in
2008. He received his B.A. in Sociology/Criminal Justice from Curry
College and went on to work for the Department of Youth Services for six
years in a variety of roles. Before coming to YAP, Charles was employed
as the Program Director for North Charles where he worked with
adult males with mental health disorders. Charles is currently enrolled
in UMass Boston's Forensic Services Certificate program.
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Liz Murdock, JDN Program Associate, Americorps VISTA
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8153 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: emurdock@publiccounsel.net
Liz is a full-time volunteer with the Juvenile Defense Network through the AmeriCorps VISTA program.
She began her term of service in January, 2008. Liz earned her B.A. in English and Art History from
American University in May, 2003. Before working at the Youth Advocacy Project, Liz worked as a paralegal at a law firm in Washington, D.C.
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Elizabeth J. Pimentel, Community Outreach Coordinator,
Massachusetts Promise Fellowship
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8148 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email:
eliatyap@gmail.com
Elizabeth joined the Youth Advocacy Project in August
2008 as the Community Outreach Coordinator after a year as the
AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer at the Children's Law Center of
Massachusetts. She earned her B.A. in Government combined with African
Studies and Spanish from St. Lawrence University in 2007. During her
time at St. Lawrence she spent a semester abroad in Spain and another in
Kenya where she competed an internship with UN-HABITAT. Elizabeth is
excited to be serving for a second year towards positive youth and
community development.
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Scott Rankin, Esq., Staff Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8114 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: srankin@publiccounsel.net
Scott joined YAP as a staff attorney in April 2007. He graduated from New York University School of Law
in 2000 where he participated in a year long Juvenile Rights Clinic. Before coming to YAP, Scott was a staff
attorney with the New Hampshire Public Defender handling adult and juvenile cases and providing program wide
juvenile litigation support. Before law school, Scott worked as a paralegal with the Legal Aid Society in Brooklyn
focusing on housing and public benefits matters. He received a B.A. in English from Swarthmore College in 1994.
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Kathryn Ratey, Forensic Case Manager
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8126 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: kratey@publiccounsel.net
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Cecely Reardon, Esq., Supervising Attorney
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8131 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: creardon@publiccounsel.net
Cecely Reardon is the Supervising
Attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services Youth Advocacy
Project. Cecely first joined the Brockton Superior Court Office of the
Committee in1997, after receiving her Juris Doctor and a Masters in
Social Work from Boston College. Cecely then joined the Youth Advocacy
Project in the fall of 2000, and currently represents juveniles in
delinquency and youthful offender matters in the Boston Juvenile
Courts. Cecely also serves as the Vice Chair of Massachusetts’ Juvenile
Justice Advisory Committee (JJAC) and is the Massachusetts delegate to
the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice. Cecely was the 2007
recipient of the Boston Bar Association’s Brooks’ Award for outstanding
public service and is a frequent lecturer and participant in a variety
of training programs statewide.
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Marlies Spanjaard, Esq., EdLaw Project
Coordinator
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8150 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: mspanjaard@publiccounsel.net
Marlies Spanjaard joined the EdLaw Project in August, 2001 where she has
represented students in school disciplinary hearings, special education
team meetings, and administrative hearings before the Bureau of Special
Education appeals. Marlies has trained extensively
on education related issues throughout the state and before a wide
variety of audiences including parents, youth workers, students and
lawyers. In 2007, Marlies began teaching at Wheelock
College as an adjunct instructor in the college's Juvenile Justice and
Youth Advocacy Concentration. She earned her J.D.
and her M.S.W. at Washington University Law School and George Warren
Brown School of Social Work in St. Louis, MO.
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Bryna G. Williams, Esq., EdLaw Attorney
Mailing Address: 10 Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8152 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: bwilliams@publiccounsel.net
Bryna joined the EdLaw Project in August, 2006. She has gained vaulable experience in
client advocacy through internships with the Public Guardian of Cook County in Chicago
and the Citizen Advocacy Center in Elmhurst, Illinois, and as a student clinician at the
Loyola Civitas ChildLaw Clinic. Additionally, she served as the managing editor of the
Children's Legal Rights Journal, as the president of her law school's Public Interest
Law Society and as a volunteer teaching students about their legal rights in the Chicago
Public Schools and at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center. She earned her A.B. from
Washington University in St. Louis and her J.D. from Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Wendy Wolf, Esq., Juvenile Defense Network Coordinator
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8127 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email: wwolf@publiccounsel.net
Wendy Wolf, Esq. has been a trial attorney with
the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS) since 1985. She began
her practice representing adults accused of felonies and was also a
Supervising Attorney in the
Cambridge
office of CPCS. In 1996 Wendy joined the Youth Advocacy Project (YAP) of
CPCS as the Supervising Attorney. In 2002 Wendy started the Juvenile
Defense Network, an initiative of YAP
and CPCS which provides training and support to attorneys in delinquency
and youthful offender cases. She is currently the co-chair of the
Juvenile and Child Welfare Section of the Massachusetts Bar Association,
a board member of the Massachusetts Juvenile Bar Association and the
New England Juvenile
Defender Center,
and on the Juvenile Justice Center Advisory Board of Barry University
Law School. She is the 2007 recipient of the Massachusetts Bar
Association Defender Award. Ms. Wolf earned her B.S in Social Work from
the University of
Vermont
and her J.D. from Suffolk
University
Law
School.
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Esther Yoo, Development, AmeriCorps VISTA
Mailing Address: Ten Malcolm X Boulevard, Roxbury, MA 02119
Telephone: (617) 989-8100 x8129 Fax: (617) 541-0904
Email:
estheryoo@post.harvard.edu
Esther joined the Youth Advocacy Project in August 2008 as an
AmeriCorps VISTA. Prior to becoming a part of YAP, she worked first in
education outreach for the University of California and then as an
assistant editor of an academic journal. Esther also earned her A.B. in
Social Studies from Harvard in 2003. She is excited and thankful to be
actively involved again in public service, especially in creating more
opportunities for youth.
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PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS & MEMBERSHIPS
American Bar
Association Juvenile Justice Center
American Psychological Association
American Psychology-Law Society
Boston Bar Association
Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Massachusetts Association of Criminal
Defense Attorneys
Massachusetts Bar Association
Massachusetts Citizens Against the
Death Penalty
National Association of Criminal Defense
Attorneys
National Juvenile Defender Center
National Lawyers Guild,
Massachusetts Chapter
National Youth Justice Alliance
New England Juvenile Defender Center
National Legal Aid and Defender Association
The Sentencing Project
Vera Institute of Justice
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