Charles J. Ogletree, Chairman of the Board 

Harvard Law School, Cambridge, MA

Charles J. Ogletree is the Jesse Climenko Professor of Law and Executive Director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute of Race and Justice. He has been a member of the Harvard Law School faculty for over twenty years. Additionally, he handled cases in the District of Columbia during the early stages of his career, having represented clients in adult and juvenile proceedings in the local superior court and federal courts, as well as the courts of appeals. Mr. Ogletree has also argued cases before various state supreme courts and circuit courts, as well as the United States Supreme Court. At Harvard Law School, he teaches the subjects of Criminal Law and Procedure, Professional Responsibility, and a host of clinical courses involving trial practice. In addition, he has provided testimony, written articles and books, and addressed matters of constitutional significance on a variety of occasions. Mr. Ogletree earned a B.A. in Political Science (with distinction) and a M.A. in Political Science from Stanford University (1974 and 1975 respectively), and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, 1978.

Betsy Biben-Seligman

Public Defender Service, Washington, DC

A Forensic and Clinical Social Worker, Betsy Biben-Seligman serves as the Chief of the Offender Rehabilitation Division for Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia where she has been employed since 1982 and the head of the division since 20002.  She has prepared sentencing reports and/or testimony before courts in Washington, D.C. (local and federal), Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama and has trained judges, attorneys, law and social work students on a national and local basis since 1976.  She is a founding member of National Alliance of Sentencing Advocates and Mitigation Specialists (NASAMS, formerly named National Association of Sentencing Advocates (NASA) and a former consultant for The Sentencing Project and the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA).  Betsy is a former chair of the NLADA Social Service Section.  She has been a board member of the Southern Center for Human Rights since 1992 and a member of the board for Visitors Services Center since 2003.  She has worked in the criminal justice system since 1974.  Betsy received her Masters in Social Work from the University of Connecticut in 1982, and a postgraduate certificate from the Washington School of Psychiatry in 1986.  She is a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW) and is a licensed social worker in D.C. (LICSW) and Maryland (LCSW).  Betsy, who co-chairs the Frederick Douglass Awards Dinner with Ginny Sloan, is currently on the Development Committee of the Board.

Mary Broderick 

Los Angeles, CA

Mary Broderick works as a consultant for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) assessing indigent defense systems around the country.  She was executive director of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. She also served as director of NLADA's defender division, where she conceived and edited NLADA's Standards for the Appointment and Performance of Counsel in Death Penalty Cases, and designed and launched NLADA's Life in the Balance death penalty defense training.  In addition to serving on Southern Center for Human Rights’ Board, she is on the board of Death Penalty Focus.

Gregory Camp 

Attorney at Law, New York, NY

Gregory Camp, who had a limited run this year for Manhattan District Attorney as the Republican and Liberal Party anti-death penalty candidate, is a graduate of Yale University where he received his BA, law, and business degrees. He was an investment banker for 11 years, a prosecutor for 7 years, and deputy director of criminal justice for New York State. Greg serves on the Finance Committee of the Board.

Angela Jordan Davis 

American University Washington College of Law, Washington, DC

Angela J. Davis, professor of law at American University's Washington College of Law, is an expert in criminal law and procedure with a specific focus on racism in the criminal justice system and prosecutorial power. Davis previously served as director of the D.C. Public Defender Service, where she began as a staff attorney representing indigent juveniles and adults. She also served as executive director of the National Rainbow Coalition Davis. Davis is a former law clerk of the Honorable Theodore R. Newman, the former Chief Judge of the D.C. Court of Appeals. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Peter M. Cicchino Social Justice Foundation, the Frederick Douglas Jordan Scholarship Board, the Southern Center for Human Rights, and the Sentencing Project. Davis was a reporter for the ABA Justice Kennedy Commission and is a member of the ABA Commission for Effective Criminal Sanctions. She also serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the Vera Institute of Justice Prosecution and Racial Justice Project. Davis teaches Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Criminal Defense: Theory and Practice. Davis won the American University Faculty Award for Outstanding Teaching in a Full-Time Appointment in 2002 and the University Award for Outstanding Scholarship, Research, Creative Activity, and Other Professional Contributions in 2009.   Her latest book, Arbitrary Justice:  The Power of the American Prosecutor (Oxford University Press 2007, 2009), won the Association of American Publishers 2007 Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division Award for Excellence in the Law and Legal Studies Division.

Edward T. M. Garland  

Garland, Samuel & Loeb, P.C., Atlanta, GA

Ed Garland is an attorney located in Atlanta, Georgia, who practices the following areas of law: Criminal Trial Practice State & Federal, Criminal Appellate Practice State & Federal, Personal Injury, Product Liability, and Malpractice. Ed has provided pro bono counsel and worked with SCHR legal staff on a number of issues, including indigent defense.  He played a major role in helping to establish Georgia’s Public Defender Standards Board.  Ed attended the University Of Georgia where he received his BA in 1963 and LLB in 1965 from the School of Law.  He is currently on the Development Committee of the Board.   

Stephen F. Hanlon

Holland & Knight LLP, Washington, DC

Steve Hanlon has a long history of handling public interest and civil rights cases. He manages Holland & Knight's Community Services Team, which provides legal representation to individuals and groups otherwise unable to afford it. In 1997, the firm received the ABA Pro Bono Publico Award. The American Lawyer has described Holland and Knight as a "Pro Bono Champion." Mr. Hanlon's major civil rights work has included challenges to high stakes testing, challenges to indigent defense systems, a claims bill in the Florida Legislature for the survivors of the town of Rosewood, housing, employment and AIDS discrimination, death penalty litigation, prisoner rights, and a constitutional challenge to non-consented medical experimentation. In 2006, Steve received the Chesterfield Smith Award from Holland & Knight, the firm’s highest individual recognition.

William E. Hoffman, Jr.

King & Spalding LLC, Atlanta, GA

As Pro Bono partner of King & Spalding, Bill Hoffman has been involved in a number of SCHR’s cases, working closely with staff attorneys. He is currently working with the Impact Unit on indigent defense cases. As Pro Bono Partner and Pro Bono Chair of the Atlanta office, Bill is responsible for the full range of pro bono programs and pro bono litigation of the 1,000 lawyer firm on a full-time basis. His current practice includes issues surrounding International Human Rights, Asylum, Death Penalty, Civil Rights, Prisoner Rights and First Amendment. Bill received his undergraduate degree from the College of William & Mary in 1967, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy, with distinction from University of Georgia in 1971. Bill returned to William & Mary where he served as editor in chief of the William & Mary Law Review. He received his JD in 1977, graduating first in his class. Following law school, Bill clerked for a year for the Honorable Francis L. Van Dusen at the US Court of Appeals Third Circuit and left there in 1978 to practice at Bondurant, Miller & Stephenson until 1985. He became partner at King & Spalding in 1985, focusing on litigation.

Katharine Huffman

The Raben Group, Washington, DC

Katharine Huffman, a Principal at The Raben Group, a DC-based public policy firm founded by former U.S. Assistant Attorney General Robert Raben, began her legal career as a civil rights litigator and Soros Justice Fellow at the Southern Center for Human Rights. Prior to joining The Raben Group, she served as the Director of State Affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, founding the organization’s New Mexico office and managing its state-level work across the country. Katharine currently leads the Constitution and Justice Practice Group at The Raben Group, working with a variety of nonprofit advocacy organizations to identify policy goals, develop short- and long-term strategic plans, and build organizational programming and resources. In 2008, Katharine led SCHR staff in the effort to develop its first 5 year strategic plan. Katharine, a Memphis, Tennessee native, received her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Music from Emory University, where she was a Robert W. Woodruff Scholar; and her law degree from the Yale Law School. Following law school, she clerked for the Honorable Martha Craig Daughtrey on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Katharine was elected to the SCHR board in June 2009.

Susan Ten Kwan

Office of the State Public Defender, San Francisco, CA

Susan Ten Kwan is a Senior Deputy at the Office of the California State Public Defender in San Francisco. There, she provides direct representation to indigent defendants sentenced to death in their state post-conviction appeals and related habeas corpus litigation. She has also been a staff attorney at the California Appellate Project in San Francisco where she assisted private counsel appointed to represent death row inmates in their state and federal post-conviction litigation. Susan began her career as a criminal defense attorney in 1982 at the Contra Costa County Public Defender’s Office where she represented both adult and juvenile defendants in trial court proceedings. She is a graduate of University of California, Hastings College of Law. Susan, who hosts an annual fundraiser in San Francisco for SCHR, is a member of the Development Committee.

David Lipman

Lipman and Associates, Miami, FL

David Lipman began his legal career in 1970 in Greenwood, Mississippi litigating civil rights cases involving school desegregation, prison reform, employment discrimination, voting rights and municipal services discrimination. In 1973, David formed the Mississippi Prisoners’ Defense Committee and became its first General Counsel. Thereafter, David formed the Southern Prisoners’ Defense Committee which was later named the Southern Center for Human Rights.

In 1975, David moved to Washington, D.C. with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law continuing his civil rights practice throughout the South. Since 1979, David has been in private practice in Florida representing clients in civil rights and asbestos-cancer products liability law suits.

David graduated from Duquesne University School of Law in 1970. He currently serves on the Board of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and is a founding member and current Board member of the Mississippi Center for Justice. David has served as consulting counsel for the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice; NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Florida ACLU. David, who provided seed money for the Stephen Bright Fellowship to fund a position at SCHR, serves on the Development Committee.

Andrew L. Lipps

Georgetown Day School, Washington, DC

After graduating Stanford Law School in 1974, Andrew Lipps enjoyed a career as a litigator for 24 years in Washington, DC. In 1998, he followed a lifelong passion for mathematics, received a Masters degree in Mathematics from George Washington University and became a math teacher. For the past seven years, Mr. Lipps has taught math at Georgetown Day School in Washington, DC. In addition, he and his wife have been members of Adas Israel since 1979, where he has been a member of the Board of Directors and active on the Personnel Committee for the last ten years, having served as Chair of the Committee. He has taught classes in Hebrew Literacy and on occasion reads Torah during Shabbat services.

Virginia Sloan

The Constitution Project, Washington, DC

Virginia Sloan founded the Constitution Project in 1997 and is now its president and also serves on its Board of Directors. She previously served as Executive Director of the Task Force on Gender, Race and Ethnic Bias of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and as a counsel to the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary. Currently, Ms. Sloan serves as a special counsel to the Council of the American Bar Association's Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities. She also served as chair of the Section's Criminal Justice Committee, which co-sponsored the successful ABA resolution in favor of a death penalty moratorium. Sloan is a member of the Board of Directors of the Southern Center for Human Rights and of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project, as well as the Honorary Board of the Washington Council of Lawyers. She is also a member of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project’s Assessments Project Advisory Board. Ginny, who along with Betsy Biben, has chaired the Frederick Douglass Awards Dinner, SCHR’s major fundraiser, for many years, serves on the Development Committee.

Bryan Stevenson

Equal Justice Initiative, Montgomery, AL

Bryan Stevenson, Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative has won national acclaim for his work challenging bias against the poor and people of color in the criminal justice system. For more than 25 years, he has assisted in securing relief for dozens of condemned prisoners, advocated for poor people and developed community-based reform litigation aimed at improving the administration of criminal justice. He also is on the law faculty at New York University School of Law.

A native of Milton, Delaware and Harvard Law graduate, Bryan was one of the original SCHR attorneys beginning his work as a law student and joining the staff full time after graduating from Harvard Law School and the Harvard School of Government in 1985. Four years later, Bryan established the Alabama Capital Representation Resource Center (now called the Equal Justice Initiative) where he has worked with his staff of five attorneys to get the death sentences of more than 40 Alabama inmates overturned. "What was at the end of the road for the average Harvard lawyer," says Stephen Bright, director of SCHR, "was for Bryan an empty way to spend his life. He's driven by a spiritual feeling to minister to the poorest people in our society." Bryan was elected to the SCHR Board June 2009.