Aug. 5, 2011

On July 30, legal professionals gathered at the offices of the Los Angeles County Bar Association to take part in Parole Hearing Boot Camp, a program aimed to “prepare lawyers for parole hearings with a special emphasis on working with incarcerated military veterans.” The event was hosted by the newly established Armed Forces Committee, created by LACBA in order to identify opportunities to provide legal assistance to active military personnel, veterans and members of the reserve. “This program isn’t necessarily targeted for criminal justice practitioners,” said Stephen Morgan, vice chair of the Armed Forces Committee, captain in the U.S. Army and veteran of the Iraq war, “We are hoping to recruit lawyers who might be unfamiliar with the territory but are interested in doing pro bono work on behalf of incarcerated veterans.” The boot camp program covered all aspects of the parole process and featured expert speakers from within the field, making it especially helpful to those attendees who had little to no formal training in criminal defense. The first speaker to give a presentation at the boot camp was Dylan Sullivan of Sullivan Law Office, who lectured on the topic of “Representing Lifers.” Though Sullivan has past experience in practicing criminal defense and civil litigation, she now works for the California Parole Authority as a deputy commissioner, reviewing early discharge applications and adjudicates parole revocation and parole suitability cases. The second lecture topic was “Writs, Appeals, and Revocations,” which was presented by Bruce Zucker and Randy Kravis of Zucker Law Offices. Zucker, a professor in the College of Business and Economics at California State University, Northridge, is also co-founder and director of the California Association of Parole Defense Attorneys. Kravis, who began his legal career in the Navy JAG Corps, where he served for four years as a lieutenant, dedicates his practice exclusively to helping defendants appeal their convictions in the federal and state courts. “I’m honored to see how many attorneys came to this program to help incarcerated veterans.  Many combat veterans have been in prison since the Vietnam era, long before Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was recognized as a major factor in homelessness and criminal behavior.  This brings together the training and the volunteers to give these veterans a voice that can be heard outside the prison walls,” said Adam Siegler, veteran of the Iraq war and chair of the Armed Forces Committee —David McAfee