NATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE
FACULTY DIRECTORY
For a list of NCDC faculty who have taught in prior years, please click here.
B
Jerilyn Bell
Georgia Capital Defenders
Notes
Recent Teaching History
D
Sam Dennis
Trial lawyer, Sam Dennis Law
Biography
Sam Dennis is the owner and founder of Sam D. Dennis, P.C. in Valdosta, Georgia, a law firm representing injured people and citizens under attack by their government.
Sam is a lifetime resident of Valdosta, attending St. John Catholic School and Lowndes County High School. Sam graduated from Valdosta State University with a BS in Criminal Justice and a Masters in Public Administration. He also studied at the world-renowned Magdalene College in Oxford, England. He received his JD from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Sam began practicing law in 1995 and founded his law practice in 2001. He has won hundreds of cases for his clients, earning a reputation as one of Georgia’s top lawyers. He is passionately committed to justice and public safety.
Sam served as the President of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (GACDL) for two consecutive years 2014 and 2015. He has served as the Vice President of the GACDL off and on for many years and he is a Life Member of the association. Sam is also a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and Georgia Trial Lawyers Association (GTLA). Sam has served as former Chairman of the Judicial Council of Georgia, Board of Court Reporting. He is a board member of the Board of Directors for the Community Defender Organization for the Eleventh Circuit District Court.
In addition to teaching with the Bill Daniel Program since its creation, Sam has been a member of the National Criminal Defense College faculty since 1998 and has lectured and taught nationally and internationally on the topics of Cross Examination, Impeachment, Voir Dire, Opening Statements, Scientific Evidence, Expert Testimony, and all aspects of trial advocacy.
Sam lives in Valdosta with his wife and four children. He is an avid hunter, angler, gun collector, and model airplane enthusiast. He is an active member at St. John’s Catholic Church.
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Recent Teaching History
Millie Dunn
Federal Defender Program, Inc
Biography
Mildred “Millie” Geckler Dunn has passionately represented indigent clients accused of federal crimes as a staff attorney with the Federal Defender Program, Inc. since April 1993. Millie has tried more than 30 cases and has successfully represented death row inmates in habeas corpus. Millie handles a variety of federal cases, ranging from racketeering offenses, drug distribution, bank and Hobb’s Act robbery cases, carjacking cases, firearms and explosives crimes, fraud and financial crimes, child pornography and enticement crimes, and immigration offenses. Millie continues her representation through sentencing and at appeal, proudly continuing her advocacy for her clients.
Millie was born and raised in Carol City, Florida. She earned a BA in English with High Honors in 1986 from the University of Florida, and a J.D. with honors from the University of Florida’s College of Law. While studying law, Millie clerked for Judge Robert Cates and was a research assistant for three professors. After graduation, Millie joined Vincent, Corey, Taylor and Feil’s complex commercial litigation section in Atlanta. Millie is on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College and has taught at numerous CLE programs, covering diverse topics such as cross-examination, ethical considerations in white collar crime cases, Constitutional challenges, the Rules of Evidence, guideline issues, challenging sentencing enhancements, and effective trial techniques.
Millie has also spent many years advocating for children, through her positions on the North Atlanta High School Local School Counsel, the NAHS Arts Counsel, and her service of the board of a local non-profit Theatre Conservatory. Millie is married to Tom Dunn, who has been a JAG Corps Officer, Executive Director of the Georgia Resource Center, and First Assistant Capital Defender for Western New York. Tom currently teaches Law and Social Justice at South Atlanta High School, as well as leading the Mock Trial Program, Skills USA Program, and Boys Making History mentorship program. Together Tom and Millie have 7 wonderful children and there is never a dull moment.
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Recent Teaching History
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Christine Koehler
Christine A. Koehler, Atty. at Law
Biography
Since graduating cum laude from Georgia State University College of Law in 1995, Christine has dedicated her career to vigorously defending people accused of crimes. Her unyielding dedication to her clients led to the three month halt of jury trials in Gwinnett County, Georgia, after she successfully challenged the compilation of Gwinnett’s jury system in a death penalty case.
For 17 years Christine’s peers have voted her a Georgia Super Lawyer. She has been named “Best of Gwinnett” by Gwinnett Magazine, multiple times. Christine is a founding member of the Georgia Innocence Project and a life member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Christine is the past President of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Stonewall Bar Association. She is the past Chair of the Investigative Panel of the State Bar of Georgia. She served on the State Bar Investigative Panel for eight years. Christine is a member of the Defense of Drinking Drivers Network of Georgia and she is a founding member of The DUI Defense Lawyers Association.
Christine has been an instructor with GACDL’s Bill Daniel Trial Advocacy Program since 2000. She is on faculty at the National Criminal Defense College and is a frequent lecturer at criminal defense seminars nationwide.
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L
Christian Lamar
Deputy Director of Litigation of the Georgia Capital Defender
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Mark Loudon-Brown
Senior Attorney, Southern Center for Human Rights
Biography
Mark Loudon-Brown is a senior attorney in the Capital Litigation Unit of the Southern Center for Human Rights, where he represents people facing a death sentence at trial, on appeal, and in post-conviction. Prior to that, Mark was a public defender in the Criminal Defense Practice at The Bronx Defenders. While there, Mark served as a Supervising Attorney for two years and the Forensic Practice Supervisor, overseeing the office’s Forensic Practice Group and consulting on cases involving DNA evidence. After earning his J.D., he completed two years as a Prettyman Fellow at Georgetown Law, representing indigent clients charged with crimes and supervised third-year law students doing the same. He teaches a forensic science seminar at Georgia State College of Law.
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Recent Teaching History
S
Natasha Perdew Silas
Executive Director; Federal Defender Program, Inc.
Biography
Tasha is the Executive Director of the Federal Defender Program in the Northern District of Georgia. She has more than twenty-five years of experience as a trial lawyer with the Federal Defender Program in the Northern District of Georgia, having served as a Senior Litigation Attorney prior to her role as Executive Director.
Tasha credits NCDC with helping her to find her voice and power in the courtroom and she has a passion for helping others in their quests to continually improve courtroom advocacy. Tasha has taught extensively in the State of Georgia, in various other states, and also internationally in the Republic of Georgia. She is a proud member of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. She is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. She has received a number of awards for her work and advocacy including from the Southern Center for Human Rights and the Gate City Bar Association.
Tasha lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two children.
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Recent Teaching History
Ryan Swingle
Attorney, Ryan J. Swingle, Attorney at Law, LLC
Biography
Ryan is a criminal defense attorney based in Athens, Georgia who practices in both federal and state courts. Ryan is a former state public defender and state capital defender. Ryan began his legal career in 2001 as an Athens public defender. For 12 years, Ryan dedicated himself to defending indigent defendants in Athens on cases ranging from disorderly conduct to murder. During his five years as lead attorney for the Northeast Georgia Capital Defender Office, none of the office’s clients were sentenced to death. Ryan’s current private practice focuses 100% on criminal defense. Ryan is an experienced trial lawyer having tried all manner of misdemeanor and felony cases. Ryan is also a faculty member of the National Criminal Defense College Trial Practice Institute.
Notes
Recent Teaching History
2022 Winter Online Cross (January/February 2022)
2021 NCDC Trial Practice Institute (July Session)
2021 Online Cross (February/March 2021)
2020 Online Cross (June Session)
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Brett Willis
Owner, Brett Willis Law LLC
Biography
Brett Willis has defending people since birth. His entire legal career has been dedicated to defending people who are accused of committing crimes. From 2005 to 2022 he worked as a Georgia Public Defender in Hall County. In 2022, he opened his own law firm.
He is a member of the inaugural class of Gideon’s Promise. At present, Brett serves as an instructor for: the Harvard Law School, the Georgia Public Defender Council, and GACDL’s Bill Daniel Program.
He is the author of Georgia’s only practice guide on defending against the charge of failure to register as a sexual offender. In 2008, Brett successfully challenged the constitutionality of the sex offender registration law as applied to homeless persons in Santos v. State, 284 Ga. 514 (2008).
In 2010, Brett was selected as one of ten Georgia lawyers under forty “On the Rise” in a review by The Fulton County Daily Report. In 2011, he was recognized for securing a dismissal for a woman accused of poisoning her husband with arsenic; the case had been slated to appear on TruTV. In 2013, he was featured in the HBO documentary Gideon’s Army. Also in 2013, he was awarded the prestigious Foot Soldier award by Gideon’s Promise. In 2014 Brett was named the Georgia Public Defender of the Year. He earned his J.D. from the University of Georgia (2003) and his Master of Laws from New York University (2004).
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Recent Teaching History