Director Rachel Rossi of the Office for Access to Justice provided remarks April 14 at the American Bar Association’s 2023 Public Defense Summit. At the event and according to an announcement from the Department of Justice, Rossi named Nikhil Ramnaney as the Office for Access to Justice senior counsel.
Ramnaney will support state and local public defense in the new role. According to the DOJ announcement, Ramnaney brings more than a decade of experience as a former county public defender and expert on public defense policy, and most recently served in the DOJ’s civil rights division.
In March, the Office for Access to Justice was joined by DOJ senior officials to launch a National Public Defense Day Tour in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, which held criminal defendants are entitled to counsel.
According to the announcement, the tour included stops in Miami; Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Muscogee (Creek) Nation; Nashville, Tennessee; Las Vegas; and Des Moines, Iowa, where Rossi was joined by Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. According to the announcement, Gupta at the Des Moines listening session announced the creation of this new attorney position in the ATJ dedicated to supporting, collaborating with and engaging the state and local public defense community.