Board of Directors

Samiyyah Ali

Samiyyah Ali is an attorney for Google, on the Alphabet Regulatory Response, Investigations and Strategy team. She formerly served as Deputy Associate White House Counsel, where she provided legal and strategic advice to the Biden Administration. Samiyyah also was a trial lawyer at two litigation firms, where she worked on pro bono IRAA matters, alongside a variety of civil, criminal, and appellate litigation matters. She clerked for Justice Sonia Sotomayor of the United States Supreme Court, Judge Sri Srinivasan on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Judge Amul Thapar on the Eastern District of Kentucky. 

David Bailey

David Bailey is a Credible Messenger through the Department of Youth Rehabilitative Service, a community violence intervention specialist, and one of the first people to be granted relief under IRAA.

Ameen Beale

Ameen Beale is currently a Violent Reduction Program Analyst, helping oversee the Cure The Streets community program for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General. He previously helped manage and facilitate the Office's restorative justice diversion program. 

Premal Dharia

Premal Dharia is the inaugural Executive Director of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration at Harvard Law School. She is also the Founder and Director of the Defender Impact Initiative, and formerly worked at the D.C. Public Defender Service, as a Federal Public Defender, and as the Director of Litigation for the Civil Rights Corps.

Sheila Dugan

Sheila Dugan is an Account Manager for Mapbox, and was most recently the Director of Cities for the Johns Hopkins Center for Government Excellence.

Deb Golden

Deb Golden is a prisoners' rights attorney and has previously served as an attorney for the Human Rights Defense Center and as Director for the DC Prisoners Project.

Rakesh Kilaru

Rakesh Kilaru is a partner at Wilkinson Stekloff LLP, where he has played a central role in the firm's successful litigation of several IRAA cases. Before joining Wilkinson Stekloff, Rakesh clerked for Justice Elena Kagan on the United States Supreme Court, and served as a Special Assistant to the President and Associate Counsel in the Office of White House Counsel under President Barack Obama.

Abbe Smith

Abbe Smith is a career-long indigent defense practitioner and currently a professor at Georgetown Law and director of Georgetown's Criminal Defense and Prisoner Advocacy Clinic.

James Zeigler

James Zeigler is the founder and Executive Director of The Second Look Project.