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Richard Bourke is the director of the LCAC. He graduated
from the Melbourne University School of Law in Australia where
he also gained a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Psychology and
Criminology. Richard came to New Orleans to volunteer and then
worked at the LCAC after pursuing a successful career as a
criminal barrister in Australia. Richard is certified as
capital trial lead counsel in Louisiana and also represents
defendants in state and federal capital post-conviction
proceedings in Texas and Mississippi. In 2007 Richard was
awarded the Sam Dalton Capital Defense Award by the Louisiana
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Before his legal
career, Richard worked as a youth counselor and social worker
with adolescent victims of physical and sexual abuse. Richard is
licensed in Louisiana, Texas, federal court and the United
States Supreme Court.
Kim
Watts is the LCAC's Office Manager, Personnel Director and
Financial Manager. Kim manages an array of duties ranging from
managing the daily affairs of the office to financial planning.
Kim also deals with staff needs such as health plans, leave,
work environment and equipment. Kim earned a degree in
Political Science from Xavier University while working her way
through school. She has worked to organize a student forum on
racism and campaigned for several political candidates. While at
Xavier, Kim undertook an internship with the Loyola Death
Penalty Resource Center and was later employed by it as a
research assistant. Prior to her arrival at the LCAC, Kim was a
legal secretary/paralegal for Loyola's Post-Conviction Defender
Organization.
Linda
Cortez is
the Director of Litigation Support at the LCAC. Linda is
responsible for litigation support services in the office,
including supervision of LCAC’s interns and volunteers. Prior
to coming to LCAC, Linda worked as a social worker in child
abuse and neglect cases. After obtaining a law degree from West
Virginia University, she worked as an attorney in Maryland in
the areas of administrative law and employment law. Linda has
also held numerous academic positions including a faculty
position at Johns Hopkins University for many years where she
developed and taught law-related courses.
Jim Craig
is senior capital attorney at the LCAC. Jim graduated first in
his class at the Mississippi College School of Law, where he was
Editor-in-Chief of the Mississippi College Law Review. He began
representing clients in capital cases in 1986. From 1989-1995
Jim was Executive Director of the Mississippi Capital Defense
Resource Center, a non-profit law office which represented
defendants in capital trials, appeals, post-conviction
proceedings, and federal habeas corpus cases, and which provided
assistance to capital lawyers in their cases. He was a member
of the Mississippi Public Defender Commission and is a Life
Member of the Mississippi Public Defender Association. Jim
practiced law as a partner in the Jackson Mississippi office of
Phelps Dunbar LLP from 1995-2010; during this time he
represented several defendants in death penalty cases and was
also lead counsel in civil challenges to Mississippi’s procedure
for lethal injection and its capital post-conviction system. As
an adjunct professor at the Mississippi College School of Law,
he taught a regularly offered seminar in Capital Punishment Law
and was named to the American Law Institute’s study group
revising the sentencing portions of the Model Penal Code. Jim
came to the LCAC in 2011. He is licensed in Louisiana,
Mississippi, Federal Court, and the United States Supreme Court
Suzette Ermler is
a mitigation specialist with the LCAC. She graduated from Smith
College with a degree in Latin American Studies. Suzette worked
for several years in Austin, Texas with undocumented immigrants
at Austin Travis County Integral Care and as an Assistant
Director at Posada Esperanza, in collaboration with Casa
Marianella. Suzette also worked in nature immersion projects for
inner city and underserved youth at Austin Youth River Watch and
El Ranchito/Shield Foundation.
Drew Flood is a John
Gardner Public Service Fellow at the LCAC. He is a graduate of
the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in History
and a minor in Global Poverty and Practice. Prior to working at
the LCAC, Drew worked in summer investigative internships at the
Georgetown University Law Center and the Public Defender
Service.
Al
Grandoit is a mitigation specialist with the LCAC. He is a
graduate of University of South Florida, with a degree in
Political Science and minor in Public Administration. After
receiving his undergraduate degree, he worked with Florida’s
Department of Children and Families and Office of the Attorney
General and conducted child abuse investigations and assisted in
coordinating protective services. Al later moved to
Massachusetts to pursue his Masters in Government at Harvard
University. While in Massachusetts, Al continued working with at
risk youth and families for various family support and community
outreach programs, and volunteered as a community court
mediator.
Christine Lehmann
is a staff attorney at the LCAC. Christine graduated from Yale
Law School after previously completing a Masters in Theology at
Harvard. Christine is certified as capital trial associate
counsel in Louisiana and is on the federal CJA capital panel in
the Eastern District of Louisiana. She clerked in the Federal
Second Circuit Court of Appeals before beginning work as a staff
attorney at the LCAC in 2002. In October 2006, Christine left
the office temporarily to help reform the Orleans indigent
defender program. She became director of the Orleans Public
Defenders in April 2007, and remained at that position through
August 2008, during which time she oversaw tremendous structural
reform. She returned to the LCAC in September 2008. Christine
has a particular expertise in working with clients with mental
illness and intellectual disabilities. Christine is licensed to
practice in Louisiana and in federal court.
Hannah Lommers-Johnson
is a staff attorney at LCAC. She graduated from Stanford Law
School, where she participated in the Criminal Defense Clinic,
the Three Strikes Project, and the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.
During law school Hannah interned at the Southern Center for
Human Rights and the California Office of the State Public
Defender. Hannah is a graduate of University of Washington,
where she majored in Political Science and Economics. Prior to
law school Hannah studied Human Rights Law and Transitional
Justice at the University of Cape Town.
Rachel Meriwether is
a mitigation specialist with the LCAC and holds an MSW from
DePaul University in Chicago, IL. She began her career in legal
social work as an intern at Northwestern University School of
Law Bluhm Legal Clinic, primarily in Juvenile Justice Reform and
Wrongful Convictions, and was previously in private practice in
Chicago before joining the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center.
Steve Merlan is a
mitigation specialist with the LCAC. He holds a Master’s degree
in Public Health from Tulane University. He is also involved in
Louisiana Books 2 Prisoners, the annual Nola to Angola Bicycle
solidarity ride, and plays in a country folk band called The
Tintypes. Steve is a graduate of Grinnell College with a degree
in Spanish. Before coming to LCAC full-time, he worked on
studies of Latino migrant health in the New Orleans area, began
the process of helping to restore a house in the 7th
ward, and volunteered as a mitigation support intern at LCAC.
Ada
Phleger is a staff attorney at LCAC. She earned her law
degree from New York University, where she participated in the
capital defender clinic, in Montgomery, Alabama with the Equal
Justice Initiative. While at EJI she worked with clients on
Alabama’s death row, and assisted in the organization’s
litigation of the landmark Supreme Court case Graham v.
Florida, which ended the practice of sentencing juveniles to
life without parole for non-homicide crimes. During law school
she also interned with the ACLU Drug Law Reform Project, and the
New Jersey Institute for Social Justice. Before her legal
career, Ada worked for the Speaker of the California State
Assembly. She is licensed to practice law in Louisiana.
Danalynn Recer is of counsel with the LCAC. She graduated
from the University of Texas School of Law. Danalynn has
represented capital defendants at all stages of the process,
primarily in Louisiana and Texas. Previous employment includes a
position as an investigator with the celebrated Texas Resource
Center in 1992, and after in 1993, she became a Law Fellow with
the agency. Danalynn is currently directing the
Gulf Region Advocacy Center (GRACE), in Houston, Texas,
which aims to tackle the grave problems facing indigent defense
and capital defendants across the border.
Emily Washington
is staff attorney with LCAC. She came to LCAC as an Arthur
Liman Public Interest Fellow and her fellowship project focused
on a critical review of the use of forensic evidence in criminal
trials in Louisiana. Emily is a graduate of Yale Law School,
where she participated in the Complex Federal Litigation and
Capital Punishment clinics. Prior to law school, Emily worked as
a contractor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. She is
a graduate of Brown University, where she concentrated in
Biology and International Relations. Emily is admitted to
practice law in Louisiana.
Carol
Zikmund is the receptionist for the LCAC. She graduated
from the University of New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts and
before joining the LCAC served as a legal secretary, legal
assistant and office manager in a number of law offices for over
a decade.
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