Executive Director, Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing

Mark Bergstrom has been Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing since April 1998. He serves as the Commission’s liaison with the General Assembly, the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, the Governor’s Office, other state and local agencies, and the various administrative units of The Pennsylvania State University, where the Commission is based. Mr. Bergstrom is a Senior Lecturer in Crime, Law and Justice at The Pennsylvania State University, an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Duquesne University School of Law, and a State Sentencing & Corrections Associate with the Vera Institute of Justice. He previously served as Associate Director of the Commission; as an Intermediate Punishment Specialist, a position jointly funded by the Commission on Sentencing and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency; and as a Probation Officer and as Director of the Office of Volunteer and Community Services for the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County (PA). He received a B.A. degree in Psychology from Millersville University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from the Pennsylvania State University.

Policy Analyst, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

Julie A. Fernandes is the Senior Policy Analyst and Special Counsel for the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund. Prior to her position with LCCR, Ms. Fernandes worked for the U.S. Department of Justice where she served as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division and as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Bill Lann Lee. In that position, Ms. Fernandes worked primarily on legal and policy issues related to voting rights, international human rights, and police misconduct, including racial profiling. Ms. Fernandes also served as Special Assistant to President Bill Clinton at the White House Domestic Policy Council. There, her work focused on the development of policy in the areas of immigration, race relations, and civil rights. Ms. Fernandes received both her J.D. and A.B. degrees from the University of Chicago. After law school, she was the Karpatkin Fellow in the National Legal Department of the American Civil Liberties Union, where she focused on race and poverty issues, and clerked for the Honorable Diane P. Wood at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

Judge Friedman was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in August 1994. He graduated from Cornell University in 1965 and received a J.D. from the School of Law of the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1968. Following law school, Judge Friedman clerked for Judge Aubrey E. Robinson, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and for Judge Roger Robb of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1970 to 1974, and as an Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States from 1974 to 1976. Judge Friedman practiced law as an associate and partner with White & Case from 1976 until 1994. He served as President of the District of Columbia Bar from 1986 to 1987, and as Associate Independent Counsel for the Iran-Contra Investigation from 1987 to 1988. He is a member of the Council of the American Law Institute.

Vice President, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

Carmen Hernandez is a criminal defense attorney in Washington, DC and is a nationally recognized expert on the federal sentencing guidelines. Throughout her career she has handled a wide range of federal criminal cases ranging from drug trafficking to fraud offenses to bank robberies. Ms. Hernandez has taught as an adjunct professor at the Maryland School of Law and the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University. She co-chairs the Federal Sentencing Committee of NACDL, is a member of NACDL’s board of directors, and has received its most prestigious award, the Robert C. Heeney Award.

State’s Attorney, Prince George’s County, Maryland

Glenn Ivey was elected and is currently serving as State’s Attorney for Prince George’s County, Maryland. Originally from North Carolina and Virginia, Mr. Ivey earned his college degree from Princeton University, graduating with honors; and his law degree from Harvard Law School. Following graduation from law school, he joined the litigation department at the prestigious Baltimore law firm of Gordon, Feinblatt. Mr. Ivey served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia from 1990-1994, handling numerous criminal jury trials, appeals, and grand jury investigations. Because of Glenn's expertise in criminal law, he was selected to be an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Maryland School of Law, and has made numerous television appearances as a legal commentator. Prior to his work as a federal prosecutor, Mr. Ivey worked extensively on Capitol Hill, serving as the Chief Counsel to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, as Paul Sarbanes’ counsel to the Senate Whitewater Committee, and as Congressman John Conyers' senior legislative assistant.

Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia

A.J. Kramer has been the Federal Public Defender for the District of Columbia since 1990. A highly experienced career public defender, he served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in San Francisco and as Chief Assistant Federal Public Defender in Sacramento prior to his current position. He received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and his law degree from Boalt Hall School of Law at U.C. Berkeley. Mr. Kramer is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and is a member of the permanent faculty of the National Criminal Defense College and the Western Trial Advocacy Institute. He clerked for the Honorable Procter Hug, Jr., on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Director of Practice Groups, the Federalist Society

Dean Reuter is Director of the Practice Groups of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy. He has served in two federal government agency Offices of the Inspector General, as Counsel to the Inspector General and Deputy Inspector General, responsible for policing the legal use of federal funds granted and contracted through those agencies. As such, he helped conduct and oversee criminal investigations across the country. He is a graduate of Hood College (BA with Honors) and the University of Maryland School of Law. He is licensed to practice in Maryland, Virginia and Illinois.

Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division, Department of Justice; ex officio representative of DOJ to the U.S. Sentencing Commission

Deborah Rhodes is Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the United States Department of Justice. She serves as the Department’s ex officio Commissioner on the United States Sentencing Commission and as its representative on the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Criminal Rules. She also supervises the Office of Policy and Legislation. Previously, Ms. Rhodes was an Assistant United States Attorney in San Diego where she served as Acting Chief of the Appellate Section and Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Enforcement Section, successfully prosecuting large drug organizations and returning the first indictments against the Arellano-Felix brothers, leaders of the Tijuana cartel. As a Trial Attorney with the Department’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, Philadelphia Strike Force, she tried high profile organized crime cases involving the Scarfo crime family and others in federal courts in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Delaware. Ms. Rhodes clerked for the Honorable J. William Ditter, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and was editor-in-chief of the Rutgers Law Journal.

Wallace and Beverley Woodbury University Professor, George Washington University School of Law

Stephen A. Saltzburg joined the law faculty at George Washington University in 1990. Professor Saltzburg served as reporter for, and later a member of, the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure; and as a member of the Advisory Committee on the Federal Rules of Evidence. He was also the reporter for the Civil Justice Reform Act Committee for the District of Columbia District Court before he assumed the chair of that Committee. Professor Saltzburg’s public service includes serving as associate independent counsel in the Iran-Contra investigation; as deputy assistant attorney general in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, and as the Attorney General’s ex-officio representative on the U.S. Sentencing Commission; and as director of the Tax Refund Fraud Task Force, appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury. He serves as the chair of the ABA Justice Kennedy Commission, and is a member of the ABA House of Delegates from the Criminal Justice Section. Professor Saltzburg is the author of numerous books and articles on evidence, procedure, and litigation.

Zuckerman Spaeder, LLP
Facilitator

Ronald H. Weich joined Zuckerman Spaeder as a partner in March 1997 after 14 years of service in state and federal government. A native New Yorker, Mr. Weich began his legal career as an Assistant District Attorney in New York County. In 1987 he joined the staff of the U.S. Sentencing Commission as Special Counsel and has since published extensively in and served as an Advisory Board member of the Federal Sentencing Reporter. From 1989 to 1997, Mr. Weich held a series of senior staff positions in the U.S. Senate, notably as General Counsel to the Labor and Human Resources Committee and as Chief Counsel to Senator Kennedy on the Judiciary Committee. His areas of expertise included health law, criminal justice, regulatory reform, and legislative practice and procedure. Mr. Weich's work in Congress led the National Law Journal to name him one of the 105 most influential lawyers in the United States in 1994. The following year he lectured on legislative procedure as an adjunct professor of law at Emory University. As a member of Zuckerman Spaeder's Litigation Department, Mr. Weich counsels clients on legislative strategy, public policy, congressional investigations, and related enforcement actions.

Max Schmertz Distinguished Professor, Hofstra University School of Law (Reporter for the Constitution Project’s Sentencing Initiative)

David Yellen is a former Dean and the Max Schmertz Distinguished Professor at Hofstra University School of Law. He is currently the Reuschlein Distinguished Visiting Professor at Villanova Law School. He has been involved in sentencing reform for almost two decades. Currently he is serving as co-reporter for the Constitution Project's Sentencing Initiative. He has been co-author of a leading treatise on federal sentencing law, and has written numerous articles for law reviews and other publications. He has been active in providing pro bono legal representation to indigent defendants, including before the U.S. Supreme Court, and also serves as an adviser to Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM). Before coming to Hofstra, Professor Yellen was staff counsel to the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. He received his B.A. from Princeton University, and his J.D. from Cornell University.