Jonathan Rapping is the President and Founder of Gideon’s Promise. Jon is the Director of the Honors Program in Criminal Justice at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, where he also teaches criminal law and criminal procedure. He is also a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School where he helps to run its prestigious Trial Advocacy Workshop.  He is the former Training Director of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), an office nationally known for its training program.  Following his tenure at PDS, in 2004 Jon became the first Training Director of Georgia’s new state-wide public defender system. In that capacity he was responsible for designing training programs for both legal and non-legal staff statewide. Jon then became the Director of Training and Recruitment for the Orleans Public Defenders, where he was integral in the efforts to rebuild the public defender system in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Less than two months ago, The University of Chicago Law School announced that it is joining forces with the Gideon’s Promise Law School Partnership Project (LSPP) to help strengthen under-resourced public defender offices across the South. As part of this alliance, the Law School will begin funding post-graduate fellowships for placement among the nine Gideon’s Promise partner offices dedicated to indigent defense reform. The Law School will provide funding for a post-graduate fellowship with one of the public defender offices working with Gideon’s Promise, and the office will guarantee the student a full time job after completion of the fellowship.

Cosponsored by Defenders, Spring Break of Service, and Criminal Law Society. Lunch will be provided.