Meet Our Team
Our staff of former public defenders have honed their narrative skills in the trenches of the legal system and developed policy and research tools working at media outlets, on campaigns, and in organizing.
Jessica Brand, Founder
Jessica Brand is a criminal justice expert with significant experience in policy and political communications. Previously, she served as the Legal Director at The Justice Collaborative, heading a team of attorneys, researchers, journalists, and media strategists that worked to reduce the harm caused by the deeply flawed criminal justice system. In that job, she advised elected officials across the country as they tried to proactively implement meaningful change, while leading communication strategies to roll out policies to safely shrink incarceration levels and supervision in their jurisdiction. She also led teams in responding to crisis situations, and worked with media to soften the groundwork for criminal justice reform.
Jessica previously worked at the Texas Defender Service in the capital trial project, where she consulted with trial teams in death penalty cases across the state of Texas and conducted state-wide trainings on understanding mental health and performing capital defense investigation. Prior to that, Jessica was a staff attorney in the appellate division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. She also served as a member of the forensic practice group, and she continues to train lawyers across the country on litigating the admissibility of forensic evidence. Following law school, she clerked for Judge Michael McConnell on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Jessica has been published in Slate, CNN, and The Appeal, and been featured on NPR and CSPAN.
Jessica graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2007, and summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Defender Service and the University of Pennsylvania Platt House Performing Arts Alumni Council.
Jessica Brand, Founder
Jessica Brand is a criminal justice expert with significant experience in policy and political communications. Previously, she served as the Legal Director at The Justice Collaborative, heading a team of attorneys, researchers, journalists, and media strategists that worked to reduce the harm caused by the deeply flawed criminal justice system. In that job, she advised elected officials across the country as they tried to proactively implement meaningful change, while leading communication strategies to roll out policies to safely shrink incarceration levels and supervision in their jurisdiction. She also led teams in responding to crisis situations, and worked with media to soften the groundwork for criminal justice reform.
Jessica previously worked at the Texas Defender Service in the capital trial project, where she consulted with trial teams in death penalty cases across the state of Texas and conducted state-wide trainings on understanding mental health and performing capital defense investigation. Prior to that, Jessica was a staff attorney in the appellate division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. She also served as a member of the forensic practice group, and she continues to train lawyers across the country on litigating the admissibility of forensic evidence. Following law school, she clerked for Judge Michael McConnell on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Jessica has been published in Slate, CNN, and The Appeal, and been featured on NPR and CSPAN.
Jessica graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 2007, and summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2004. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Texas Defender Service and the University of Pennsylvania Platt House Performing Arts Alumni Council.
Rebecca Silber, Chief Operating Officer
Becky has worked in philanthropy, policy and law for nearly 20 years. As a national policy expert at the Vera Institute of Justice, she led criminal justice policy development and reform implementation projects in Georgia, South Dakota, Tennessee, Oklahoma and New York, focusing on issues such as pretrial detention, jail population reduction, sentencing and community supervision reform, and compassionate release. At the philanthropy Arnold Ventures, she designed, developed and executed funding strategies to drive policy change in the areas of public defense, pretrial justice and prosecution. Becky began her career as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
Becky received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Fordham Law School. She serves on the boards of the Medical Justice Alliance and Flatbush Jewish Center; on the Steering and Advocacy Committees of the New York Jewish Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform; and as a 2023 92nd Street Y Women In Power fellow.
Rebecca Silber, Chief Operating Officer
Becky has worked in philanthropy, policy and law for nearly 20 years. As a national policy expert at the Vera Institute of Justice, she led criminal justice policy development and reform implementation projects in Georgia, South Dakota, Tennessee, Oklahoma and New York, focusing on issues such as pretrial detention, jail population reduction, sentencing and community supervision reform, and compassionate release. At the philanthropy Arnold Ventures, she designed, developed and executed funding strategies to drive policy change in the areas of public defense, pretrial justice and prosecution. Becky began her career as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore.
Becky received a B.A. from Yale University and a J.D. from Fordham Law School. She serves on the boards of the Medical Justice Alliance and Flatbush Jewish Center; on the Steering and Advocacy Committees of the New York Jewish Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform; and as a 2023 92nd Street Y Women In Power fellow.
Nikki Baszynski
Nikki Baszynski is a lawyer and writer with over ten years of criminal justice experience. Most recently, Nikki worked at the Ohio Justice & Policy Center as a senior attorney representing clients in post-sentencing matters including clemency, record sealing, parole, and registration.
Prior to joining OJPC, Nikki served as a managing editor for The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to exposing the harms of the U.S. criminal legal system. Nikki also served as senior legal counsel at The Justice Collaborative, a national policy and media organization that worked in partnership with organizers, elected officials, academics, and reporters to help local communities understand the policies, practices, and people responsible for mass incarceration.
Nikki began her legal career as the Greif Fellow in Juvenile Human Trafficking and then joined the Ohio Public Defender’s Appeals and Postconviction Department. While at OPD, Nikki founded the office’s Racial Justice Initiative, an agency-based team focused on identifying racially discriminatory practices and collaborating across departments to address them. Her work in the initiative centered around the criminalization of poverty and municipal court reform.
Nikki is also an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where she has taught courses on appellate advocacy and reimagining public safety. She received her B.A. from Loyola University Chicago, and her J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
Nikki Baszynski
Nikki Baszynski is a lawyer and writer with over ten years of criminal justice experience. Most recently, Nikki worked at the Ohio Justice & Policy Center as a senior attorney representing clients in post-sentencing matters including clemency, record sealing, parole, and registration.
Prior to joining OJPC, Nikki served as a managing editor for The Appeal, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to exposing the harms of the U.S. criminal legal system. Nikki also served as senior legal counsel at The Justice Collaborative, a national policy and media organization that worked in partnership with organizers, elected officials, academics, and reporters to help local communities understand the policies, practices, and people responsible for mass incarceration.
Nikki began her legal career as the Greif Fellow in Juvenile Human Trafficking and then joined the Ohio Public Defender’s Appeals and Postconviction Department. While at OPD, Nikki founded the office’s Racial Justice Initiative, an agency-based team focused on identifying racially discriminatory practices and collaborating across departments to address them. Her work in the initiative centered around the criminalization of poverty and municipal court reform.
Nikki is also an adjunct professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where she has taught courses on appellate advocacy and reimagining public safety. She received her B.A. from Loyola University Chicago, and her J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law.
Julia Brown
Julia Brown is an experienced attorney with a background in criminal law and immigration policy. Before joining the Wren Collective, she directed advocacy for the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Maine's only nonprofit provider of immigration legal aid. Her achievements included passing legislation that opened up a pathway to a green card for Maine noncitizen youth, leading state-wide public education and advocacy efforts in response to anti-immigrant federal policies, and spearheading the organization's media and communications strategies.
Prior to her move to Maine, Julia was an attorney at the Georgia Resource Center, where she represented death-sentenced clients in their state and federal habeas post-conviction cases. She litigated these cases in state and federal courts, including appellate courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Julia also built up clemency cases, talking with victims’ family members, jurors, community members, and expert witnesses, in order to advocate for her clients’ lives. She has a deep understanding of the criminal legal system, and all its failures and injustices, from this work.
Julia obtained a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. After law school, she clerked for Justice Brian Morris of the Montana Supreme Court.
Julia Brown
Julia Brown is an experienced attorney with a background in criminal law and immigration policy. Before joining the Wren Collective, she directed advocacy for the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Maine's only nonprofit provider of immigration legal aid. Her achievements included passing legislation that opened up a pathway to a green card for Maine noncitizen youth, leading state-wide public education and advocacy efforts in response to anti-immigrant federal policies, and spearheading the organization's media and communications strategies.
Prior to her move to Maine, Julia was an attorney at the Georgia Resource Center, where she represented death-sentenced clients in their state and federal habeas post-conviction cases. She litigated these cases in state and federal courts, including appellate courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. Julia also built up clemency cases, talking with victims’ family members, jurors, community members, and expert witnesses, in order to advocate for her clients’ lives. She has a deep understanding of the criminal legal system, and all its failures and injustices, from this work.
Julia obtained a B.A. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. After law school, she clerked for Justice Brian Morris of the Montana Supreme Court.
Jay Jenkins
Prior to joining Wren, Jay worked as the Harris County Project Attorney at the Texas Center for Justice & Equity. At TCJE, Jay researched and pursued reforms related to over-policing and prosecution, while also reimagining the local bail system and supporting indigent defense. Working with a local data firm, he developed a first-of-its-kind data dashboard that visualized more than one million criminal case outcomes in Harris, Dallas, Bexar, and Travis Counties. Jay’s work for TCJE in Houston also included advising stakeholders and elected officials on policy matters and exposing corruption in the indigent defense and juvenile justice systems.
Jay’s work on corruption in Harris County’s indigent defense system includes co-authoring Pay to Play: Campaign Finance and the Incentive Gap in the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel, an analysis of the corruption in Harris County’s indigent defense system published in the Duke Law Journal in 2021. Jay has also previously published reports on the inefficacy of Texas drug policy and inaccurate coverage of the justice system in local media. His writing has also been featured in Houston Lawyer Magazine and the Houston Chronicle.
In addition to supervising internships for interested local high school students, Jay has had college students from across the country serve as interns, including students from North Carolina A&T University. At Rice University, Jay has taught students in Rice’s legal practicum program since 2016 and led multiple research projects while partnering with Rice’s Center for Civic Leadership. Since 2022, Jay has been the lead community partner on two yearlong social policy analysis projects with Rice’s Political Science department, each focusing on inequities in Harris County’s bail system. Lastly, Jay has partnered with Rice’s Leadership Rice Mentorship Experience (LRME) Program to mentor summer interns from Rice for the past four years.
Jay presently serves as President of the Convict Leasing and Labor Project, which he co-founded with the late Reginald Moore in 2018 to expose the local history of the convict leasing system and its connection to modern prison slavery. He previously served on the Board of Directors for L.I.F.E. Houston, a nonprofit dedicated to providing formula and other supplies for infants and families in need.
Jay received his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude and receiving the Public Service Honor Roll Award in 2009. Jay graduated from Wake Forest University in 2005, majoring in Biology and Classical Languages.
Jay Jenkins
Prior to joining Wren, Jay worked as the Harris County Project Attorney at the Texas Center for Justice & Equity. At TCJE, Jay researched and pursued reforms related to over-policing and prosecution, while also reimagining the local bail system and supporting indigent defense. Working with a local data firm, he developed a first-of-its-kind data dashboard that visualized more than one million criminal case outcomes in Harris, Dallas, Bexar, and Travis Counties. Jay’s work for TCJE in Houston also included advising stakeholders and elected officials on policy matters and exposing corruption in the indigent defense and juvenile justice systems.
Jay’s work on corruption in Harris County’s indigent defense system includes co-authoring Pay to Play: Campaign Finance and the Incentive Gap in the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel, an analysis of the corruption in Harris County’s indigent defense system published in the Duke Law Journal in 2021. Jay has also previously published reports on the inefficacy of Texas drug policy and inaccurate coverage of the justice system in local media. His writing has also been featured in Houston Lawyer Magazine and the Houston Chronicle.
In addition to supervising internships for interested local high school students, Jay has had college students from across the country serve as interns, including students from North Carolina A&T University. At Rice University, Jay has taught students in Rice’s legal practicum program since 2016 and led multiple research projects while partnering with Rice’s Center for Civic Leadership. Since 2022, Jay has been the lead community partner on two yearlong social policy analysis projects with Rice’s Political Science department, each focusing on inequities in Harris County’s bail system. Lastly, Jay has partnered with Rice’s Leadership Rice Mentorship Experience (LRME) Program to mentor summer interns from Rice for the past four years.
Jay presently serves as President of the Convict Leasing and Labor Project, which he co-founded with the late Reginald Moore in 2018 to expose the local history of the convict leasing system and its connection to modern prison slavery. He previously served on the Board of Directors for L.I.F.E. Houston, a nonprofit dedicated to providing formula and other supplies for infants and families in need.
Jay received his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude and receiving the Public Service Honor Roll Award in 2009. Jay graduated from Wake Forest University in 2005, majoring in Biology and Classical Languages.
Adrienne Johnson
Adrienne Johnson is an experienced attorney and trial advocacy instructor with a background in criminal law. Most recently, she served as a Regional Director at The Bail Project, a national nonprofit focused on combating mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system. Prior to joining The Bail Project, Adrienne served as the Deputy Supervising Attorney at the Law Office of the Public Defender in DeKalb County, GA. There she served as a trial and training attorney representing clients in all phases of criminal proceedings and regularly trained first year public defenders across the state of Georgia.
Adrienne is also an adjunct professor at Emory University School of Law where she teaches trial advocacy to students interested in careers in public service.
Adrienne received a B.A. from Furman University and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Adrienne Johnson
Adrienne Johnson is an experienced attorney and trial advocacy instructor with a background in criminal law. Most recently, she served as a Regional Director at The Bail Project, a national nonprofit focused on combating mass incarceration by disrupting the money bail system. Prior to joining The Bail Project, Adrienne served as the Deputy Supervising Attorney at the Law Office of the Public Defender in DeKalb County, GA. There she served as a trial and training attorney representing clients in all phases of criminal proceedings and regularly trained first year public defenders across the state of Georgia.
Adrienne is also an adjunct professor at Emory University School of Law where she teaches trial advocacy to students interested in careers in public service.
Adrienne received a B.A. from Furman University and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Henna Khan
Henna Khan is an experienced criminal defense attorney and litigator. Prior to joining The Wren Collective, she served as a staff attorney in the criminal defense practice of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, the first community-based, holistic defense office in New York City. Henna successfully tried a variety criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to violent felony offenses, and negotiated hundreds of cases benefiting her clients. In her practice she collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of attorneys, advocates, social workers, investigators, paralegals, and interns who practiced in criminal, civil, immigration, and family courts in Manhattan.
Prior to becoming a public defender, Henna was a Teach for America corps member, and served as a founding middle school special education teacher in Washington, D.C.
Henna received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she concentrated in critical race studies and specialized in the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy. She earned her B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from UC Berkeley.
Henna Khan
Henna Khan is an experienced criminal defense attorney and litigator. Prior to joining The Wren Collective, she served as a staff attorney in the criminal defense practice of the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, the first community-based, holistic defense office in New York City. Henna successfully tried a variety criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to violent felony offenses, and negotiated hundreds of cases benefiting her clients. In her practice she collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of attorneys, advocates, social workers, investigators, paralegals, and interns who practiced in criminal, civil, immigration, and family courts in Manhattan.
Prior to becoming a public defender, Henna was a Teach for America corps member, and served as a founding middle school special education teacher in Washington, D.C.
Henna received her J.D. from UCLA School of Law, where she concentrated in critical race studies and specialized in the David J. Epstein Program in Public Interest Law and Policy. She earned her B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from UC Berkeley.
Candace Mitchell
Candace Mitchell is an experienced defense attorney. Prior to joining the Wren Collective, she served as a public defender at two of the most premier public defender organizations in the country, the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. In both offices, Candace zealously tried, litigated, and negotiated hundreds of criminal cases that involved charges ranging from misdemeanors to violent felony offenses.
Candace received her J.D. from New York University School of Law and her Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. She earned her B.A. in English from Columbia University.
Candace Mitchell
Candace Mitchell is an experienced defense attorney. Prior to joining the Wren Collective, she served as a public defender at two of the most premier public defender organizations in the country, the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. In both offices, Candace zealously tried, litigated, and negotiated hundreds of criminal cases that involved charges ranging from misdemeanors to violent felony offenses.
Candace received her J.D. from New York University School of Law and her Master of Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School. She earned her B.A. in English from Columbia University.
Josh Occhiogrosso-Schwartz
Prior to joining the Wren Collective, Josh was a long-time public defender in New York and Louisiana, handling a wide variety of criminal cases at the trial, appellate, and post-conviction stages. Most recently, Josh was the Deputy Director of the Capital Appeals Project, a non-profit capital defense organization that represents clients facing execution in all phases of litigation. Josh began at CAP managing the office’s Miller/Montgomery cases, where he represented clients arrested as children who were facing life without parole sentences. He also provided strategic litigation advice and appellate assistance to public defenders throughout Louisiana.
Prior to working at CAP, Josh was a Supervising Trial Attorney and Veterans’ Court Specialist at the Bronx Defenders and worked in the Felony Trials Division of Orleans Public Defenders. Josh received his J.D. from New York University and his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Josh Occhiogrosso-Schwartz
Prior to joining the Wren Collective, Josh was a long-time public defender in New York and Louisiana, handling a wide variety of criminal cases at the trial, appellate, and post-conviction stages. Most recently, Josh was the Deputy Director of the Capital Appeals Project, a non-profit capital defense organization that represents clients facing execution in all phases of litigation. Josh began at CAP managing the office’s Miller/Montgomery cases, where he represented clients arrested as children who were facing life without parole sentences. He also provided strategic litigation advice and appellate assistance to public defenders throughout Louisiana.
Prior to working at CAP, Josh was a Supervising Trial Attorney and Veterans’ Court Specialist at the Bronx Defenders and worked in the Felony Trials Division of Orleans Public Defenders. Josh received his J.D. from New York University and his B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley.
Leon Parker
Leon A. Parker is an experienced criminal defense attorney and litigator. Prior to joining The Wren Collective, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for both the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Michigan and Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Pennsylvania. As an Assistant Defender, Leon tried a variety of federal criminal cases, and engaged in extensive mitigation on behalf of hundreds of clients. In his federal practice, Leon collaborated with a team of attorneys, advocates, mitigation specialists, investigators and paralegals to ensure the best outcome for his clients.
Prior to becoming a public defender, Leon practiced labor and employment law. He currently serves as a mentor for new attorneys in the Federal Defender’s Non-Capital Fellowship Program and has served as a faculty member for several Federal Defender training events regarding the use of mitigation.
Leon received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Leon Parker
Leon A. Parker is an experienced criminal defense attorney and litigator. Prior to joining The Wren Collective, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for both the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Michigan and Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Pennsylvania. As an Assistant Defender, Leon tried a variety of federal criminal cases, and engaged in extensive mitigation on behalf of hundreds of clients. In his federal practice, Leon collaborated with a team of attorneys, advocates, mitigation specialists, investigators and paralegals to ensure the best outcome for his clients.
Prior to becoming a public defender, Leon practiced labor and employment law. He currently serves as a mentor for new attorneys in the Federal Defender’s Non-Capital Fellowship Program and has served as a faculty member for several Federal Defender training events regarding the use of mitigation.
Leon received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.
Cyn Yamashiro
Cyn Yamashiro is a subject matter expert specializing in indigent defense and criminal justice reform. Cyn began his career as a public defender in Los Angeles County where he tried serious felony cases, trained public defenders and supervised the Compton juvenile office. Cyn joined the faculty of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 2004 as the founding director of Loyola’s Center for Juvenile Law and Policy. There, he developed three live client clinics representing youth in the delinquency system, education system and appellate courts. Cyn was a founding board member of the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center. As the founding director of the Los Angeles County Independent Defender Program, he led efforts to reform and elevate the quality of representation in the Los Angeles adult criminal and juvenile delinquency systems. He served in a civilian oversight role as a probation commissioner and led a team that created the Los Angeles County Probation Oversight Commission.
Cyn lives in Los Angeles and is married with two daughters. He serves on the board of Manifest Works. Cyn graduated from UCLA with a degree in economics and received his J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Cyn Yamashiro
Cyn Yamashiro is a subject matter expert specializing in indigent defense and criminal justice reform. Cyn began his career as a public defender in Los Angeles County where he tried serious felony cases, trained public defenders and supervised the Compton juvenile office. Cyn joined the faculty of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles in 2004 as the founding director of Loyola’s Center for Juvenile Law and Policy. There, he developed three live client clinics representing youth in the delinquency system, education system and appellate courts. Cyn was a founding board member of the Pacific Juvenile Defender Center. As the founding director of the Los Angeles County Independent Defender Program, he led efforts to reform and elevate the quality of representation in the Los Angeles adult criminal and juvenile delinquency systems. He served in a civilian oversight role as a probation commissioner and led a team that created the Los Angeles County Probation Oversight Commission.
Cyn lives in Los Angeles and is married with two daughters. He serves on the board of Manifest Works. Cyn graduated from UCLA with a degree in economics and received his J.D. from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.