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NAPD 2026 We The Defenders
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Tuesday, October 6
 

9:00am EDT

Welcome and Opening Remarks
Tuesday October 6, 2026 9:00am - 9:15am EDT
Tuesday October 6, 2026 9:00am - 9:15am EDT
Auditorium

9:15am EDT

Deep Forgiveness - Opening Plenary
Tuesday October 6, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am EDT
Tuesday October 6, 2026 9:15am - 10:15am EDT
Auditorium

10:30am EDT

An Introduction to Mitigation Writing: Journalistic and Social Justice for Results
Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
*This session is eligible for NASW CEU Credit

Mitigation development must find a work product, and mitigation writing is a naturally compelling and persuasive product...but only if used in conjunction with social justice advocacy and journalistic style. This session will introduce attendees to the ways in which mitigation writing can be journalistic writing, compelling the finder of fact to care about the story. Mitigation development that highlights the experiences of those who have been marginalized, experienced oppressive systems, and articulates meaning, context, power, history, and possibility (the Just Practice social work framework) can lead to advocacy in writing a person's mitigation story in a meaningful way.

Learners will:
(1) Develop an understanding of the Just Practice framework as it lends itself to mitigation development;
(2) Learn about journalistic writing as a compelling format to expand on the biopsychosocial; and
(3) Practice self-reflection of their own experience and imposition of place and space on a client's story before beginning mitigation writing. 
Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
East Wing Wabash Hall Conference Room 1, 2

10:30am EDT

The Evolution of Criminal Defense Mitigation through the Voice of Practitioners: An Exploratory Research Study.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
*This session is eligible for NASW CEU Credit

Criminal defense mitigation and its main occupational outlet, the Mitigation Specialist, have evolved and expanded since Gideon v. Wainwright.  Employed by various names such as Forensic Social Worker, Dispositional Advisor, Mitigation Specialist, and more, these unique professionals and their roles are vital to the traditional operation and understanding of criminal defense. Despite its impact and growth, this occupation is often misunderstood and lacks foundation and research compared to other necessary criminal justice and legal roles inside and outside public defense. This session is based on a study that takes on this issue through a conducted exploratory study and purposive case study of 95 Mitigation Specialists from all over the United States.  The findings give depth to the positions amazing strengths, foundational gaps, and encourages dialogue toward a contemporary and evolved understanding of mitigation and the Mitigation Specialist profession.

Learning Objectives:
  • Attendees will learn about the history of the Mitigation Specialist.
  • Attendees will learn the evolved and various definitions of the Mitigation Specialist.
  • Attendees will understand what national practitioners define and describe the Mitigation Specialist position as.
  • Attendees will be enlightened about the common national struggles of the Mitigation Specialist, its common duties, and takeaways towards its positive future.

Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
West Wing Harrison Hall Conference 19

10:30am EDT

Facing the Algorithm: AI Police Reports and Machine-Generated Evidence
Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
Machines are now helping write the record. We will start with AI-assisted police narratives: how they are made, how to spot them when they land on your desk, and how to defend against them today (what to demand: drafts, versions, prompts, logs; how to dissect raw media versus polished text). Then we will widen to other machine-generated evidence and close with a court-facing framework for a single Rule 104(a) reliability hearing consistent with the proposed Rule 707.



Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
West Wing Harrison Hall Conference 22

10:30am EDT

The Defender's Toolbox for Public Speaking
Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
Explore your potential as a confident and effective speaker with "The Defender's Toolbox for Public Speaking." This is a lively, interactive session that will utilize exercises and approaches to performance that are designed to boost your public speaking skills in a supportive, playful environment.

Whether you're gearing up to testify, leading your team, or just looking to spice up your communication abilities, this session is crafted to fit your needs. You'll walk away with useful tools for a variety of speaking settings, a boost to your confidence, and new perspectives on public speaking.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
Auditorium

10:30am EDT

Trial-Ready: Skills-Based Strategies for Public Defense Paralegals
Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
This skills-based session is designed for paralegals serving in public defense environments, with a focus on the critical role they play in preparing cases for trial. Attendees will explore practical strategies for supporting attorneys through the drafting of pretrial motions, organizing and managing case files, preparing exhibits, coordinating discovery, and anticipating trial needs. The session will highlight the unique challenges and responsibilities faced by paralegals in indigent defense, where limited resources demand adaptability, precision, and strong teamwork. Whether you're new to litigation support or seeking to deepen your trial-readiness skills, this session will offer concrete tools to increase your effectiveness both inside and outside the courtroom.


Tuesday October 6, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
East Wing Wabash Hall Conference 4, 5

11:30am EDT

Lunch Break (on your own)
Tuesday October 6, 2026 11:30am - 1:00pm EDT
Tuesday October 6, 2026 11:30am - 1:00pm EDT

1:00pm EDT

Social Worker Plenary: Telling A Mitigation Story You Can Feel
Tuesday October 6, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
*This session is eligible for NASW CEU Credit

Stories activate the parts of the human brain that would be used if we were actually experiencing the story. How we tell our clients' stories impacts how the listeners experience and understand the information. In this session, we will discuss strategies for turning the facts of a case into stories that paint a picture decision-makers can feel.

Learning Objectives:
1. understand the difference between stating facts and telling a story
2. apply trauma-informed interviewing techniques that can help elicit descriptive language
3. practice telling a story by turning a list of facts into a descriptive story

Tuesday October 6, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Auditorium

1:00pm EDT

Employee Bill of Rights
Tuesday October 6, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
R. E. S. P. E. C. T.
A Discussion for & about Core Staff in Public Defense Offices

Office dynamics, especially between attorney and non-attorney staff members, can be a challenging topic to address.  Join this workshop where we identify standards and basic rights for the workplace and have a candid  and constructive conversation about the realities of the Core Staff experience.  Participants will leave this session with a clearer vision of a healthy workplace as well as metrics to assess successes and failures.  The objectives of this session are to provide a framework to define success, identify practical steps forward, and approach the topic of workplace inequities in an action oriented manner with a focus on shared values and team cohesion

Tuesday October 6, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
West Wing Harrison Hall Conference 19

1:00pm EDT

1:00pm EDT

Interviewing and Safety For Investigators
Tuesday October 6, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
This course provides practical, field-tested strategies to help public defense investigators conduct effective interviews while staying safe in unpredictable environments. Participants will learn techniques for building rapport, assessing risk, maintaining situational awareness, and navigating challenging subjects
Tuesday October 6, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
East Wing Wabash Hall Conference 4, 5

1:00pm EDT

The Gideon Blueprint 2.0: Building AI the Judiciary Can Trust
Tuesday October 6, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
This session tells the inside story of how one federal defender office built and governed its own AI system—fully on-premises, never in the cloud—and what that journey revealed about the future of AI in the courts. We’ll walk through how “practice-first” experimentation (Gideon 1.0) evolved into a “policy-first” governance model (Blueprint 2.0) that now informs judiciary-wide standards for fairness, transparency, and human oversight. You’ll see how role-specific guardrails, context control, and pilots turned into enforceable ethics, and why “humans in the loop” is not just a safeguard but the foundation of judicial integrity in an AI age.


Tuesday October 6, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
West Wing Harrison Hall Conference 22

2:15pm EDT

Refueling the Leader Inside Because Leadership Fatigue is Real
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
*This session is eligible for NASW CEU Credit

This session recognizes and validates the sleepless nights, the doubts, and yes those feelings of loneliness and isolation that leaders may face. How do we maintain our compassion satisfaction and sustainability while working in unjust and oppressive systems, acknowledging high levels of stress, feelings of burnout, inadequacy, and limited resources for our staff?". We know our job as leaders is the maintenance of hope, motivation and inspiration for our employees. This session is designed to help re-frame, re-fresh, and re-fuel the leader inside. We will validate our leadership vulnerabilities, and strategize relevant and actionable strategies to ease our challenges in order to maintain motivation, and lead more effectively.

Learning Objectives: In this session, participant Leaders will: 1. Establish common ground about the definition of leadership; 2. Explore theoretical knowledge on common emotional experiences and why self-validation as leaders is essential for sustainability; 3. Examine the need to practice self compassion that encourages leaders to treat themselves with kindness and understanding during emotional challenges; 4. Formulate specific skill enhancement techniques to prepare leaders for emotionally charged interpersonal interactions.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
East Wing Wabash Hall Conference 4, 5

2:15pm EDT

Writing Workshop: Journalistic Tools for Mitigation Storytelling
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
*This session is eligible for NASW CEU Credit

This one‑hour workshop equips mitigation specialists with practical writing tools grounded in the Just Practice framework and journalistic techniques. Participants will learn to distill complex client narratives into clear, compelling stories that emphasize resilience while maintaining ethical integrity. Through structured prompts, they will practice crafting headlines and leads, designing open‑ended interview questions, reflecting on ethical storytelling, and constructing cohesive narratives. The session balances hands‑on writing practice with guided reflection, ensuring participants leave with actionable strategies to strengthen their reports and advocacy.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
  1. Apply journalistic writing techniques such as headlines, leads, and narrative clarity to frame client stories in ways that highlight adversity, resilience, power differentials, and humanize context.
  2. Develop and refine interview questions that elicit detailed, unbiased information from clients and collateral sources, supporting accurate and ethically grounded storytelling based on a client’s biopsychosocial history.
  3. Integrate ethical reflection into narrative construction by identifying potential risks of harm, articulating guiding principles, and producing client-centered narratives that balance advocacy with accuracy.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
Auditorium

2:15pm EDT

CV Workshop: Psssst…It’s Not a Resume!
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
Have you ever noticed that cops love to talk about their “training and experience”!?! This workshop will discuss the rationale for building a witness’s credibility and apply it to criminal defense investigators and mitigation specialists. You have a lot of training and experience of your own to share. We will identify CV red flags, the elements of a solid CV, and start the process of working up or refreshing your CV. We will also cover some of the credibility building questions that you can expect upon direct examination.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
West Wing Harrison Hall Conference 19

2:15pm EDT

Inside the DUI Process: What the Defense Needs to Know: Part 1
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
Part One focuses on promoting accuracy and integrity in sobriety testing, not discrediting officers. It walks through the phases of a DUI arrest—from observing a vehicle in motion to personal contact and pre-arrest screening—and explains the three main field sobriety tests: Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus, Walk and Turn, and One Leg Stand. Each test’s purpose, common indicators of impairment, and accuracy rates are discussed, along with the importance of following standardized procedures. By the end, attendees understand how these tests build probable cause and how mistakes or deviations from NHTSA standards can affect the reliability of the results.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
West Wing Harrison Hall Conference 22

2:15pm EDT

Systems at Work: Income Inequality and Justice Access
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
This course offers a clear, evidence-informed review of how economic conditions and policy choices shape people’s ability to obtain fair legal representation and navigate the justice system. Participants will examine structural factors, service gaps, and practical responses that affect access to counsel, case outcomes, and client stability, with an emphasis on actionable strategies for public defenders, legal advocates, and system partners.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
East Wing Wabash Hall Conference Room 1, 2

3:30pm EDT

An Introduction to Defense-Victim Outreach (DVO)
Tuesday October 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
*This session is eligible for NASW CEU Credit

For 25 years, defense attorneys in criminal cases have been engaging Defense-Victim Outreach (DVO) specialists to assist in reaching out to family members whose loved ones have been murdered and to survivors of violent crime. This session is an introduction to DVO that covers key concepts and ideas, and offers tools for engaging a DVO in your cases.

Learning Objectives: 
1. Understand what defense-victim outreach is and is not!
2. Understand the role of a DVO Specialist in your case.
3. Develop tools for identifying and engaging a DVO specialist.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Auditorium

3:30pm EDT

Cell Phone Location Mapping
Tuesday October 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Use of cell phone location activity based on proximity to cellular towers is increasingly common in representation of criminal defendants. This presentation will provide an overview of how cellular phones communicate with the network, the way in which this information is retained by the cellular provider, and examples of how this data may translate into mapping for your cases. It will also include strategic litigation ideas for gathering this information independent of prosecutorial involvement to assess potential alibis as well as examples of various mapping platforms that you may see depending on your jurisdiction.


Tuesday October 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
West Wing Harrison Hall Conference 19

3:30pm EDT

Give 'Em the Old Razzle Dazzle: Lessons on Communication and Project Management from Costuming Musicals
Tuesday October 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Bring your jazz hands and sequins while we dive into the world of musical theatre to uncover valuable lessons in event management and communication. Whether it's conferences, an office party, or other group gatherings, administrative professionals may find themselves at the helm of organizing events or projects and the communications that go alongside them.

This presentation will share creative strategies and practical skills inspired by the art of costuming musical productions and practical ways to apply them to office event organizing. We'll explore how attention to detail, creativity, and adaptability can enhance event planning and communication efforts. Learn how to manage resources efficiently, coordinate with diverse teams, and ensure the details align with the vision of the event ... and that you stay sane while you do it!

Participants will gain actionable insights and resources to elevate their events and communications and share additional resources with one another. Get ready to add a touch of theatrical flair to your professional toolkit!
Tuesday October 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
East Wing Wabash Hall Conference Room 1, 2

3:30pm EDT

Inside the DUI Process: What the Defense Need to Know: Part 2
Tuesday October 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
 Part Two takes a deeper look at the testing conducted by officers. Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) represents the next level of training, building a foundational understanding of drug-related impairment and detection. The Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) program is the final step, providing officers with advanced knowledge of the signs and symptoms of drug impairment. This session helps attorneys understand how these levels of training shape arrest decisions and why properly conducted investigations are essential. It also explains the role of the DRE evaluation and its 12-step process, along with the key legal challenges to consider when these evaluations are introduced in court.
Tuesday October 6, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
West Wing Harrison Hall Conference 22

4:30pm EDT

Shirt Exchange, Additional Merch Purchasing
Tuesday October 6, 2026 4:30pm - 5:15pm EDT
Tuesday October 6, 2026 4:30pm - 5:15pm EDT
Auditorium
 
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