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

 

 

 

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Staff

    
        To e-mail our staff members, simply click on their photo.
     
     

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.  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 single-handedly manages an array of duties ranging from reception 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.

 

 
           
     

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.

 

 
           
     

Eleni Antonopoulos is the lead investigator and mitigation specialist for LCAC. Eleni graduated from the Monash University Law School after having previously completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in Politics.  A former intern of the LCAC, Eleni returned from her native Australia to take her current position.  In addition to her work for clients in Louisiana, Eleni has worked on a number of complex and difficult death penalty cases in Texas and Singapore. In 2005, Eleni was awarded the inaugural Reprieve Capital Defense Fellowship.  Before moving to America, Eleni worked as a personal care assistant for terminally-ill patients, and donated her energies to numerous charities, including ReprieveAustralia and Amnesty International. 

 
           
 

 

 

 

   

Rachel Jones is a staff attorney at the LCAC. She graduated from NYU Law School and during her time there participated in a capital defender clinic, working with attorneys from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on capital cases in Mississippi and Louisiana.  Prior to joining the LCAC, Rachel worked as a public defender in Brooklyn, New York representing indigent criminal defendants.  Rachel is admitted to practice in state and federal court in Louisiana as well as in New York State and is certified as capital trial associate counsel in Louisiana. Before her legal career, Rachel taught third grade reading at an alternative public elementary school in Harlem.

 
       
      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 admitted to practice in Louisiana and certified as capital trial associate counsel in this state.  She clerked in the Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals before beginning work as a staff attorney at the LCAC in 2002. Over the next few years she developed a particular expertise in working with clients with mental retardation.  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.

 

 
           
     

Annie Preziosi is a staff investigator for LCAC. She completed a BA with honors at NYU, where she double majored in Fine Arts and Anthropology, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She completed her Masters in Education in 2007, with a concentration in Special Education. Prior to joining the LCAC, Annie was teaching special needs children in Brooklyn. She taught children labeled with severe emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, speech impairments and developmental delays. As an undergraduate, she worked and interned at Creative Time, a not-for-profit that presents temporary public art projects, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

 
           
     

Ashley Cusick is a staff investigator for LCAC.  She earned a BA in Sociology and Women's Studies at Bowdoin College. While an undergraduate, she completed a year-long study on the preparation process for prisoners about to reenter rural and urban communities in Maine. Ashley moved to New Orleans in 2005 as a member of Teach for America. When Hurricane Katrina caused her school to close, she worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist hurricane victims in attaining access to relief funds and other disaster services. Prior to coming to the LCAC, Ashley had resumed teaching as a seventh grade math and social studies instructor at Samuel J. Green Charter Middle School.

 

 
           
      Cormac Boyle is a staff investigator for LCAC. He is a graduate of Fordham University, with a degree in Philosophy and Art History.  Prior to coming to the LCAC, he worked at the Queens and Kings county offices of the Legal Aid Society in New York City, assisting on juvenile delinquency and child protective proceedings. Before working on legal matters for the indigent, Cormac taught at numerous schools throughout New York City as well as on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

 

 
           
     

Kirstin Ramsay is a staff attorney at the LCAC.  She graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law, where she served as the Membership Manager and a Staff Writer for the Connecticut Law Review and was awarded the Public Interest Law Group Fellowship for excellence in and commitment to public service.  During law school, she interned with the Federal Defender and the Capital Habeas Unit for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Kirstin also participated in the Indigent Criminal Trial Clinic, the Juvenile Clinic and the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic.  Before her legal career, Kirstin was an investigator at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. 

 

 
           
     

Jennifer Sullivan is a staff investigator for LCAC.  She completed a BA in Psychology at UW-Milwaukee and went on to complete her MA in Criminal Justice at UI-Chicago. As an undergraduate, she completed training and became certified as a registered diplomate with the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. While a graduate, she participated in the Chicago Area Study, assessing the impacts of gentrification on Chicago’s historic North Lawndale community.  Prior to working for LCAC, Jennifer worked as a therapist for children at the Center for Autism Intervention.

 

 
           
     

Al Grandoit is a staff investigator for 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.

 

 
 

 
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