Louisiana Capital Assistance Center

 



 Louisiana
 Capital
 Assistance
 Center
  A Non-Profit Law Office


 
 
636 Baronne Street
 New Orleans La 70113  USA
 Ph. +1 (504) 558 9867
 Fax. +1 (504) 558 0378
 
info@thejusticecenter.org

 

 

 

   

LCAC Staff

   
  

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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