New Jersey JIDAN Team Member Wins Award
Yvonne Smith Segars, New Jersey’s Public Defender since 2002, is the recipient of the 2009 Mary Philbrook Public Interest Award.
A member of the New Jersey JIDAN team, Segars oversees an agency of 1,000 employees, including over 500 staff attorneys and the services of over 500 outside counsel. A defense attorney for 20 years, Segars is a staunch advocate for the poor and disenfranchised.
The Mary Philbrook Public Interest Award is given annually by the Women's Law Caucus and the Association for Public Interest Law (APIL) in recognition of Mary Philbrook, the first woman admitted to the New Jersey Bar. Ms. Philbrook was a prominent leader in the campaign for women's suffrage and the Equal Rights Amendment, and was instrumental in the formation of New Jersey's first statewide legal aid society.
Segars is a member of the Chief Defender Policy Group for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA), Vice-Chair of the NJ State Sentencing Commission, which is charged with the review and reform of NJ’s sentencing scheme and underlying policies; a member of the New Jersey State Criminal Disposition Commission and the NJ Domestic Violence Fatality and Near Fatality Review Board. She also served on the Criminal Justice Subcommittee of New Jersey’s Mental Health Task Force.
She was the 2005 recipient of Kean University’s Doctor of Laws Honorary Degree and received her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law, Newark, and her B.A. in psychology from Kean University.
The award will be presented Thursday, October 1, 2009 - 6 to 9 P.M. at the Camden Campus Center of Rutgers University located at 326 Penn Street.
- Issues
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Juvenile indigent defense
- States
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New Jersey
- Action networks
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Indigent Defense Action Network