NATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE FACULTY

As a former federal defender, Yasmin Cader has tried more than thirty criminal cases to resolution before juries and judges in state and federal courts in Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. At the Offices of the Federal Public Defender in the Southern District of New York and Los Angeles, Yasmin represented witnesses and individuals facing a variety of federal criminal charges, including complex white-collar criminal and regulatory matters. Yasmin also served as the Chief of Training in Los Angeles, a position in which she developed and executed substantive legal and trial skills training programs for attorneys in Los Angeles and across the country. While representing individuals in Washington D.C. with the Public Defender Service, she defended juveniles and adults facing the most serious felony charges in Superior Court.
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Yasmin is also an experienced civil litigator. She began her career as an Honors Program Trial Lawyer with the Employment Litigation Section of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, where she litigated individual and class-action claims of sexual and racial harassment and discrimination. Prior to that, she served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.
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In private practice, Yasmin continues to teach trial skills to practicing lawyers and law students alike. She is a member of the faculty at Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop and the National Criminal Defense College. She has served as a guest lecturer at local and national bar associations across the country, as well as at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, New York University School of Law, UCLA School of Law and Loyola Law School. She currently serves on the Yale Law School Executive Committee and is also on the board of a national non-profit dedicated to effective messaging for social justice issues.

Jeff Chapdelaine, JD, LICSW is an Attorney, Forensic Social Worker, and Forensic Drama Therapist based in Boston Massachusetts.  He represents clients in both criminal and plaintiff’s civil cases. He consults nationally on plaintiff’s civil cases and on cases where people are accused of committing crime, working with lawyers and on trial strategy, jury selection and trauma informed client focused case preparation.  His consulting company trains both lawyers and mental health professionals on areas where legal systems and mental health systems intersect.

He serves on the Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) Criminal Curriculum Advisory Committee and as faculty locally for MCLE and Committee for Public Counsel Service, and nationally for the National Criminal Defense College in Macon Georgia, the Trial Lawyers College in Dubois Wyoming, several state systems and at other training programs.

Kaushiki is committed to the elevation of and excellence in indigent defense. She is a career defender in both the criminal legal and family policing system. Most recently, Kaushiki was the head of the family defense practice at Still She Rises, Tulsa, a legal nonprofit dedicated to the representation of indigent mothers in the criminal and civil legal systems in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Kaushiki joined Still She Rises during its inception year as a senior criminal defense staff attorney and quickly became a part of the leadership team. Building upon her experience as a trial lawyer, she led the development of the criminal defense practice. For the last year, she was tasked with leading the continued development of the family defense practice. As a practice leader, she ensured clients received creative, excellent, and client centered advocacy within both the criminal legal and family policing system. Prior to joining Still She Rises, Kaushiki was a deputy state public defender in Golden, Colorado, for six years. She primarily litigated felony cases from child abuse to sex offenses to murder. Kaushiki has been invited to lead trainings and presentations on various topics to include client centered representation, litigation skills, and holistic practices for community members, bar associations, law schools, public defender offices, and national organizations. She is a faculty member of the Deryl Dantzler Trial College. Kaushiki received her Bachelor of Arts from The University of Texas at Austin and her Juris Doctorate from The University of Cincinnati.