This program is eligible for 6 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 7.2 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.
Overview
Use this page to register for Day One of the Criminal Law Symposium 2025.
Use this link to register for Day Two ONLY.
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Celebrate 42 Years of Excellence at PBI’s Criminal Law Symposium 2025!
Join us at the Hilton Harrisburg for PBI's Criminal Law Symposium, featuring unparalleled CLE for criminal law professionals provided by esteemed faculty from across the state. In addition to top tier learning, the Symposium offers excellent networking opportunities during meals and breaks.
Exclusive Hotel Rates at Hilton Harrisburg
Book your stay at our special rate of $174/night plus tax. Click here to reserve or call 1-800-HILTONS (group code 92U). Book before Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 to receive the special rate.
Build Meaningful Connections with Peers and Speakers
Raise a glass at our Happy Hour Reception on June 5, a time dedicated to professional networking and collaboration. Generously sponsored by the PBA Criminal Justice Section.
Earn Up to 10 Substantive and 2 Ethics Credits
Craft your personalized schedule, selecting from up to four consecutive sessions each hour. Attend both days to satisfy your CLE compliance requirement for the year! Stay tuned for a complete schedule!
Special Thanks to our Exceptional Planning Team:
Gary N. Asteak, Esq., Asteak Law Offices
Marian G. Braccia, Esq., Temple University Beasley School of Law
Steven F. Fairlie, Esq., Fairlie & Lippy PC
Honorable Robert A. Graci, Esq. (Ret.), Saxton & Stump LLC
Troy H. Wilson, Esq., Wilson Law Office
Brian J. Zeiger, Esq., Levin & Zeiger LLP
This program is co-sponsored with the Criminal Justice Section. Not a member? Join today!
Faculty
Jonathan P. Vallano, PhD
Jonathan P. Vallano holds a doctorate in Psychology with a specialization in Legal Psychology from Florida International University. He is currently an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, where he teaches and conducts research, along with teaching a Psychology and Law course within the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. His scholarly and applied interests encompass the broad areas of eyewitness memory and identification, police interviewing tactics, and juror decision-making. He has published articles on these topics in peer-reviewed journals, along with consulting on legal cases, including serving as an expert witness on eyewitness memory/identification.
Brian J. Zeiger, Esq.
Mr. Zeiger is a partner at the Philadelphia firm of Levin & Zeiger LLP. Mr. Zeiger handles criminal and civil rights matters. He serves as a Council Member on the Pennsylvania Bar Association Criminal Justice Section. Mr. Zeiger has handled thousands of criminal cases including many appeals. He has argued before the Pennsylvania Superior Court, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2013, Mr. Zeiger was published in the Texas Journal on Civil Liberties & Civil Rights. 18 TEX. J. C.L. & C.R. 181-A Change to Relation Back. Mr. Zeiger received his JD from Temple University, his MBA from Temple University, and his BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis.
Troy H. Wilson, Esq.
Mr. Wilson is a founding partner at the Philadelphia law firm of Wilson & Wilson. He heads his firm’s litigation department. Mr. Wilson served on the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Board of Governors and was a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Judicial Review Commission. He also served as chair-person of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section and on the executive board of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute-Philadelphia Bar Education Center. He is an active member of the Pennsylvania Association for Justice and is a founder, and past president of the Concerned Black Lawyers Association, which provided pro bono legal advice to the Philadelphia community for over eight years. Mr. Wilson has been a moderator, course planner and speaker for various CLE courses including, but not limited to, Juvenile Practice and Procedures, The Nuts and Bolts of Criminal Practice in Philadelphia, How to Defend a Drug Case in Philadelphia County and Civil Consequences of Criminal Proceedings. He has taught as an adjunct professor of law at the Widener University School of Law. Mr. Wilson and his law partner/wife Sharon Wilson, Esquire, wrote a newspaper advice column entitled, “The Law and You,” for the Philadelphia Tribune. Mr. Wilson now frequently appears on Philadelphia Fox 29 television as a legal contributor to their newscasts on both civil and criminal matters. He received his juris doctorate from Temple University School of Law and graduated from Brown University with a B.A. honors degree in Urban Studies.
David Rudovsky, Esq.
Mr. Rudovsky, one of the nation’s leading civil rights and criminal defense attorneys, practices public interest law with the firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin. He is a Senior Fellow at Penn Law in 1988 and teaches courses in Criminal Law, Constitutional Criminal Procedure and Evidence. He is co-author (with Michael Avery, Karen Blum and Jennifer Laurin) of “Police Misconduct: Law and Litigation” (West, 2023, 3rd ed.) and “The Law of Arrest, Search, and Seizure in Pennsylvania” (11th ed. 2020, PBI Press). In the classroom, Mr. Rudovsky integrates doctrine and practice to give his students a comprehensive understanding of legal principles and their role and application in the courts. His awards include a MacArthur Foundation Award for Excellence in Criminal Justice, the ACLU Civil Liberties Award, and the Harvey Levin Award for Excellence in Teaching at the Law School.
Ryan Meyers
Ryan S. Meyers is the Senior Deputy Director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. In this role, he provides leadership, executive direction, and oversight for the Commission’s education collaborations and partnerships. Previously, Ryan held positions as Deputy Director (Administration and Outreach), Manager (Education and Outreach), and Sentencing Policy Specialist for the Commission. His work has focused on developing and delivering educational and outreach opportunities to criminal justice stakeholders; policy development, support, and implementation; and promoting best practices to ensure data quality. As a result, he frequently engages with legislative members and their staff, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and court staff (court administration and probation) to accomplish the Commission’s various legislative mandates and duties. Mr. Meyers is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at The Pennsylvania State University, where he teaches undergraduate courses in criminology and sentencing. Additionally, Ryan is a field instructor at Duquesne University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law, instructing an elective course on Sanctions, Sentencing, and Corrections. Prior to the Commission, Mr. Meyers served as DUI Court Program Coordinator and Probation Officer for the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County (PA), and as a Youth Development Aide for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Mr. Meyers received a B.A. degree in Crime, Law, and Justice and a Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from The Pennsylvania State University.
Joseph K. Kelly, Esq.
Mr. Kelly is a sole practitioner in Philadelphia with over 20 years of experience in transportation related law. His practice concentrates in the areas of motor vehicle law, Title 75, DUI defense, license suspensions and license restoration. He represents thousands of union members from Local 107, Local 500, Local 628, Local 1201 and numerous other members and their families. He also represents hundreds of defendants each year in DUI arrests and thousands of defendants in motor vehicle violations in Philadelphia and surrounding counties. Mr. Kelly has tried thousands of DUIs and was responsible for uncovering the Philadelphia Police Department’s calibration debacle. He has helped to resolve license suspensions in Pennsylvania due to violations such as reckless driving, speeding, DUI, DUI refusal, driving unlicensed, driving under suspension, child support suspensions and drug conviction suspensions. He has filed appeals in Common Pleas Court, the Commonwealth Court and the Superior Court in reference to convictions and suspensions.
Hon. Robert A. Graci (Ret.)
Robert A. Graci, former Pennsylvania Superior Court Judge and retired Chief Counsel to the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania, brings more than 40 years of diverse judicial and legal experience to Saxton & Stump’s clients. He is Chair of the firm’s Attorney and Judicial Ethics and Discipline practice. He also serves in the firm’s Appellate and Post-trial Advocacy and Investigations and Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations groups. Judge Graci also serves as a Mediator and Arbitrator for the firm’s partner organization, Optimal Dispute Resolutions. Between his experience as an appellate judge, his service as Chief Counsel to the Judicial Conduct Board and his work for the Attorney General’s Office, Judge Graci has seen some of the most complex issues. As Chief Counsel to the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania, Judge Graci was Chief Legal Adviser to the Board and was responsible for supervision of the Board’s staff, the conduct of its investigations, and the Board’s prosecutions before the Court of Judicial Discipline. Judge Graci served on the Superior Court from 2002 to 2004 before becoming a Member in the Harrisburg office of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC, focusing his practice on appeals, white collar criminal defense, general litigation, regulatory and administrative law and governmental relations. Drawing on his many years as an appellate litigator and judge, he chaired the firm’s Appellate Practice Group, further refining his brief-writing and appellate advocacy skills. Prior to his appointment to the bench in 2002, Judge Graci was the Assistant Executive Deputy Attorney General for Law and Appeals of the Criminal Law Division of the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. As a Deputy Attorney General for almost 18 years, he briefed and argued cases in each of the state and federal appellate courts in Pennsylvania, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. Judge Graci has lectured for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, the Minor Judiciary Education Board, Pennsylvania District Attorneys Institute, Delaware State Bar Association and other forums. He has authored several articles and CLE course materials and has been recognized for his accomplishments by the PBA.
Ian M. Comisky, Esq.
Ian has more than 35 years of experience representing corporations and individuals in civil and criminal tax litigation, white-collar criminal defense, and complex corporate and commercial disputes. His experience includes: tax controversy work such as IRS administrative and grand jury investigations, Tax Court, Claims Court and District Court trials and appeals, jeopardy and termination assessments, responsible officer penalty and collection matters; corporate compliance matters involving the Bank Secrecy Act and USA PATRIOT Act and FATCA issues for financial institutions including banks, broker-dealers and mutual funds; commercial litigation focused on accounting and legal malpractice cases as well as securities and class action matters, all involving tax and related accounting issues; and corporate internal investigations for financial institutions and other entities, including claims under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Prior to joining Fox, Ian was co-chair of the white-collar practice at Blank Rome for more than three decades. Before that, he was an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia County, a special assistant U.S. attorney and an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Florida. Ian serves as special projects chair of the American Bar Association Tax Section. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the Florida Bar, where he serves as chair of the Investment Committee. Ian also serves on the boards of directors of the Citizens Crime Commission of the Delaware Valley, Historic Philadelphia, Inc. and the Madlyn and Leonard Abramson Center for Jewish Life. He is also the secretary and a member of the board of directors of the Mann Center for the Performing Arts. Additionally, Ian is a member of the Brandeis Society, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Franklin Institute, among other local organizations. Ian is the co-author of the two-volume treatise Tax Fraud and Evasion, has appeared on CNBC’s Money Talk and CNN and is called upon frequently to comment on tax issues. He was elected in 1995 to the American College of Tax Counsel and is an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Ben-Zion Datika, Esq.
Ben Datika, Esquire is a skilled Trial Attorney specializing in criminal defense cases. Mr. Datika has a genuine passion for protecting the Constitutional rights of his clients in both the State and Federal Courts – while ensuring they have the best personalized representation in Court and the strongest performance during trial. He has extensive experience in the Trial Courts as well as the Appellate Courts all throughout Pennsylvania – specifically handling courtroom and trial representation, while making the best of his clients’ individual circumstances.
Steven F. Fairlie, Esq.
Mr. Fairlie is the Managing Partner of Fairlie & Lippy, P.C. in North Wales, Montgomery County. Previously, he was a Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney, where he served on the Major Crimes and Narcotics Teams. He has chaired the Montgomery Bar Association’s Criminal Defense Committee since 2001. He is also a member of the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Judiciary Committee, Bench/Bar Committee and Managing Partners’ Committee, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and an associate member of the Philadelphia and Bucks County Bar Associations. Mr. Fairlie has presented numerous seminars on various criminal law topics for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Montgomery and Bucks County Bar Associations over the last decade. He has been recognized by ALM as a Top 100 SuperLawyer for the State of Pennsylvania. Mr. Fairlie is a holder of Martindale-Hubbell’s prestigious AV rating and was recognized as one of The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Attorneys and the National Advocacy for DUI Defense Top 100 Driving Under the Influence Attorneys. He has received many other awards and his qualifications are more fully presented at www.fairlielaw.net.
Marian G. Braccia, Esq.
Marian Grace Braccia is the Director of the LL.M. in Trial Advocacy and a Practice Professor of Law at Temple University Beasley School of Law, where she brings particular expertise in courtroom technology, e-discovery issues, evidence, and trial skills. Prior to joining the full-time faculty, Professor Braccia taught Introduction to Trial Advocacy and an experiential course in criminal prosecution for several years as an adjunct at Temple Law School, and she served as a coach for Temple’s National Trial Team. Professor Braccia is an accomplished litigator, having served as an Assistant District Attorney in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office from 2006 to 2018 as a trial attorney in Major Trials and the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit. Braccia was appointed to a supervisory position in the District Attorney’s Charging Unit in 2012, and in 2014 launched Philadelphia’s Domestic Violence Diversion Program. In August 2017, she assumed added responsibilities as Director of Information Technology for the DA’s Office. Professor Braccia teaches Evidence to Temple’s JD students. She presents frequently on gender bias in the courtroom, particularly as it impacts transgender and gender-diverse people and cisgender women. Braccia also teaches lawyers in Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru the fundamentals of American trial advocacy through Temple’s Chilean pre-LL.M. program. She also teaches Evidence Law to Chinese legal professionals as part of the Temple-Tsinghua LL.M. degree program.
Stuart Suss
Stuart B. Suss, Esquire is retired after 18 years as a Deputy District Attorney in Chester County and after 8 years as a Senior Deputy Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He is the primary drafter of a benchbook for the Pennsylvania Judiciary regarding the prevention of witness and juror intimidation in Pennsylvania courtrooms. The benchbook is available to all, without charge, at the Judicial Administration/Judicial Education section of the Pa. Courts website. He has been an instructor for the Pennsylvania Conference of State Trial Judges, the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Criminal Law Symposium, the Pennsylvania Minor Judiciary Education Board and at numerous other CLE and CJE certified criminal law courses. He has briefed or argued more than 250 cases, either as lead counsel or as Amicus Curiae, before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania and the United States Court of Appeals. Mr. Suss was appointed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania to serve on the Criminal Procedural Rules Committee from 1996 to 2002. He served from 2005 to 2015 on the PBI committee responsible for drafting the Suggested Standard Criminal Jury Instructions. Mr. Suss currently serves on the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission course development committee. Mr. Suss received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.
Bruce A. Antkowiak, Esq.
Professor Antkowiak currently serves as counsel to the Archabbey and College, Professor of Law, Past Chair of the Department of Criminology, and pre-law advisor at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. In May 2011, Saint Vincent awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree and honored him as commencement speaker for the 2011 graduation ceremony. For nine years prior to coming to Saint Vincent, Professor Antkowiak was a full-time faculty member at Duquesne Law School, where he also advised the law school’s criminal law clinic and coached the law school’s national trial moot court teams. In 2007 and 2011, he received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the graduating class of the law school. In October 2007, he was named the Association of American Law Schools Teacher of the Year at Duquesne Law School. Professor Antkowiak served as Chairperson of the Committee for Proposed Standard Criminal Jury Instructions for 11 years, and has published 11 law review articles in various journals across the country. Professor Antkowiak graduated with high honors from the Harvard Law School in 1977. In 1974, he graduated first in his class from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, which honored him with the Alumnus of Distinction Award in 2002. Over his more than four decades as a practicing lawyer, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and as a private practitioner concentrating his practice in the area of criminal defense in state and federal courts. He has tried a multitude of cases, including homicides, white-collar crime, and narcotics-related offenses. His appellate work includes numerous appearances before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Pennsylvania Supreme and Superior Courts.
Judge Edward M. Marsico, Jr.
Judge Marsico was sworn in as a judge of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas in January 2018. Previously, he was the longest serving District Attorney in Dauphin County history as he held that position from 2000-2018. He first joined the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office in 1988. As the District Attorney for Dauphin County, Judge Marsico implemented a Drug and Veterans Court, created the Dauphin County Crimewatch website, started the Child Abduction Response Team, and oversaw 30 attorneys, 12 detectives, and 22 support staff. Previously an Assistant District Attorney, he handled many homicide and drug prosecutions. Judge Marsico’s trial experience includes approximately 100 jury trials and countless appearances in non-jury proceedings. Judge Marsico served as President of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and received the Pa. District Attorneys Institute’s Distinguished Faculty Award. He also received the Linda K.M. Ludgate CJAB Excellence in Leadership Award as well as the Children’s Resource Center’s Children’s Hero Award. He is an adjunct professor at Widener University School of Law and Harrisburg Area Community College. Judge Marsico received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, and his J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law. Judge Marsico is a member and past president of the Notre Dame Club of Harrisburg and is a member of the Dauphin County Bar Association and past president of that association’s Young Lawyers Division.
Gary N. Asteak, Esq.
Mr. Asteak has been a member of the Northampton County Bar for 50 years and had been an Assistant Public Defender for over 25 years. A graduate of Franklin and Marshall College (1971) and Dickinson School of Law (1974), he is the founder of Asteak Law Offices, a firm focusing on litigation with offices in Easton and Nazareth. Past-President of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, he has formerly served as President of the Northampton County Bar Association, Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania, and Lehigh Valley Legal Services. He has served on the Board of Directors of North Penn Legal Services, as a member of the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission Task Force on Wrongful Convictions and the Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission Advisory Committee on Services to Indigent Criminal Defendants. He is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Pennsylvania Bar Association, and Fellow of Litigation Counsel of America. He currently serves as Solicitor for five municipalities and two regional Councils of Government, and frequently lectures at the state and national level on litigation related topics for such organizations as the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Sentencing Advocates, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association Defender Advocacy Institute at the University of Dayton Law School, Office of Federal Defender Services, and was the Founding Project Director and Lecturer for the Pennsylvania Public Defender Association Annual Appellate Skills Program and Trial Skills Programs sponsored by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency at Dickinson School of Law, highly regarded and innovative programs teaching strategies and techniques for the defense bar in the 21st Century. For many years, he has served on the course planning committee of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute’s Annual Criminal Law Symposium and has served as a member of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Capital Case Standards Committee. Mr. Asteak has appeared as a legal analyst on criminal law topics on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Court TV, on NPR Talk of the Nation and on talk radio stations throughout the country and has been named by Philadelphia Magazine as one of Pennsylvania’s “Super Lawyers” in criminal defense. He has received Martindale-Hubbell’s rating of “AV” and is listed in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. In 2003, he was honored by the Pennsylvania Public Defender Association with the “Gideon Award” for outstanding service as a Public Defender. For more information see www.asteak.com.
Claudia B. Flores, Esq.
Ms. Flores has been practicing indigent criminal defense since graduating from law school in 2011. She spent five years at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, where she represented death row clients on direct appeal and in post-conviction, and three years at the Center for Appellate Litigation in New York, New York, where she worked as a public defender representing clients in their direct appeals from felony convictions in state court. She joined the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2019 as an Assistant Federal Defender in the Non-Capital Habeas Unit. Ms. Flores graduated from New York University in 2006 and received her J.D. from the NYU School of Law in 2011.
Jennifer A. Merrigan, Esq.
Ms. Merrigan is a Stoneleigh Fellow. She has represented people facing sentences of death and life without parole for twenty years. Her training and background are in capital mitigation, and she has been appointed and has consulted in state and federal habeas corpus, pre-authorization, and trial cases as a mitigation specialist and as counsel. She is a former staff attorney and Acting Director of the Death Penalty Litigation Clinic, a non-profit law firm in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ronald L. Greenblatt, Esq.
Ronald L. Greenblatt, Esquire Mr. Greenblatt is a founding member and senior partner at Greenblatt, Pierce, Funt and Flores, LLC. He has successfully litigated over one thousand trials on charges ranging from homicide, homicide by vehicle, sexual assault charges, serious drug offenses, fraud and other white collar crime, internet crimes, driving under the influence cases, insanity defense cases and complex civil rights cases. His legal career began in 1987 where he was a member of the Defender Association of Philadelphia. While there, Mr. Greenblatt was one of two lawyers appointed to the prestigious Special Defense Unit (SDU). While in this unit, he received specialized training in forensics, including accident reconstruction, DNA and fingerprint training, forensic training in the defense of sexual assault cases, ballistic training, and training in the use of forensic psychiatry and psychology in the defense of criminal cases. He has also received training in media relations while successfully trying some of the areas highest profile cases. Mr. Greenblatt has been given the prestigious AV rating by the Martindale-Hubbel ratings service. This ranking rates him as one of the preeminent lawyers in his field as judged by lawyers and judges in his field. He has lectured at both Rutgers University and Temple University. In addition, he has chaired seminars in both adult and juvenile criminal law. He serves as the Chairperson of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL). He is on the Board of Trustees for PACDL. Mr. Greenblatt is the Secretary and one of the Founding Masters of the Philadelphia Criminal Law Inn of Court. He is on the Board of Directors and serves as the Treasurer of the Defender Association of Philadelphia Alumni Association. He is a member of the Criminal Justice Committee of the Philadelphia and Camden County Bar Associations, and a Member of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey. He is admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; Federal Court in the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, and the Federal District Court in New Jersey, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
James A. Funt, Esq.
Mr. Funt (Jamie) is a partner at Weir Greenblatt Pierce, specializing in blue collar and white-collar criminal defense. He also handles civil rights; plaintiff’s side employment discrimination matters and student misconduct Title IX matters. Mr. Funt is licensed in state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a twice Chair of the Criminal Justice Section (CJS) of the Philadelphia Bar Association and has served on the Philadelphia Bar Association Board of Governors as well as the Association’s Commission of Judicial Selection and Retention. He has tried numerous cases before judges and juries in state and federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania ranging from complex homicides to kidnappings, aggravated assaults, robberies, sexual assaults, state and federal drug cases, and white-collar crimes including sexual cyber-crimes. His practice includes adult and juvenile matters. Mr. Funt has also been a speaker and course planner for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute (PBI) as well as the Philadelphia Bar Association, where he presents to other lawyers and judges on topics ranging from the fundamental practice of criminal law, effective trial strategy, advanced cross examination techniques, self-defense, sentencing issues, developing case theories, multi-county practices and the ancillary consequences of criminal convictions
Robert B. Dunham, Esq.
Mr. Dunham is Director of the Death Penalty Policy Project and Special Counsel at Phillips Black, a national non-profit legal practice. An internationally recognized expert on capital punishment, he has more than three decades of experience in death penalty policy and practice. From 1994 to 2015, he represented Pennsylvania death-row prisoners at all levels of the Commonwealth’s state and federal courts, including arguing in the U.S. Supreme Court. He was Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Capital Case Resource Center from 1994-1999; Director of Training in the Philadelphia federal defender’s Capital Habeas Unit from 1999-2009; and an assistant federal defender in the capital habeas unit of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Pennsylvania from 2009-2015. In those roles, he was a member of defense teams that overturned dozens of unconstitutional death sentences and helped to exonerate four wrongfully convicted Pennsylvania death-row prisoners. Mr. Dunham made the transition from practice to policy in March 2015 when he was named Executive Director of the national Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C. After eight years in that role, he returned to Pennsylvania and launched the Death Penalty Policy Project, conducting research and providing information and analysis on death-penalty policies and practices. He is also an adjunct professor at the Temple University Beasley School of Law, where he teaches the Death Penalty Seminar.
Sharon M. Dietrich, Esq.
Ms. Dietrich has been an attorney with the Employment Unit of Community Legal Services, Philadelphia, since 1987. She became CLS’ Managing Attorney for Public Benefits and Employment in 1997, and its Litigation Director in 2014. A focus of Ms. Dietrich’s work has been issues involving the employment of people with criminal records. Ms. Dietrich was one of the architects of Pennsylvania’s innovative Clean Slate law (Act 56 of 2018), which has sealed more than 46 million minor criminal cases by automation. She also was an advocate for the bill expanding Clean Slate to felonies (Act 36 of 2023). In 2019, Ms. Dietrich received numerous awards for her work on Clean Slate, including from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network. She also has received awards from the Pennsylvania Prison Society (2002), the Philadelphia Bar Association (2005), the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (2011); and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (2016).
Elizabeth A. Delosa, Esq.
Ms. DeLosa is the Managing Attorney for the Pittsburgh office of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. Before joining the Project’s staff, Ms. DeLosa was employed as a Research and Writing Attorney and Assistant Federal Defender for the Federal Defender’s Office in the District of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Ms. DeLosa is a University of Pittsburgh (B.A.) and Duquesne University School of Law (J.D.) graduate.
Mary Defusco, Esq.
Mary DeFusco, Esq., serves as Director of Attorney Training for the Defender Association of Philadelphia. She is responsible for the training of all new attorneys, as well as the continuing legal education of experienced public defenders. Since joining the Defender Association of Philadelphia, DeFusco served as deputy chief in the Municipal Court Unit for eight years and as a trial attorney for five years. She received her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania, and her J.D. from Temple University School of Law. DeFusco serves as a Lecturer in Law at both Temple University School of Law and Villanova University School of Law. She also teaches for the National Institute for Trial Advocacy, the National Defender Training Project in Dayton OH, and the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania’s Trial School in Carlisle, PA. DeFusco, who resides in the Philadelphia area with her family, was honored by the City of Philadelphia, and the Criminal Justice Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association for contributions to the cause of justice and the advancement of legal education; and, by the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania for service to the cause of indigent defense.
Nilam A. Sanghvi, Esq.
Ms. Sanghvi is the Legal Director at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. Before her employment at the Project, she taught in the Appellate Litigation Program at the Georgetown University Law Center and worked at law firms in New York, Washington DC, and Philadelphia, with a practice focus on appellate litigation. Ms. Sanghvi holds a B.A. from Columbia University and J.D. and LLM degrees from the Georgetown University Law Center. She clerked for Judge William B. Shubb in the Eastern District of California and Judge Thomas L. Ambro of the Third Circuit. In addition, Ms. Sanghvi serves on the board of the Third Circuit Bar Association.
Daniel Silverman, J.D., M.Ed., Esq.
Mr. Silverman has 34 years’ experience as a criminal defense attorney. Since 1994, he has concentrated his practice on representing inmates convicted of homicide who are pursuing their post-conviction remedies in state and federal court. Mr. Silverman is also an associate professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University. He has been happily teaching at Temple for 20 years and enjoys exposing his students to the dirty underside of the criminal justice system in the hopes that they may help to improve it.
Peter J. Thompson, Esq.
Mr. Thompson manages Thompson Law Advocates, P.C., an Immigration Law and Criminal Defense firm located in Philadelphia (www.tlapc.org). Mr. Thompson’s practice includes providing criminal defense attorneys timely, practical and accurate Padilla advice for noncitizen clients, and direct representation in family, employment and business-based immigration matters, and for persons in Immigration Court and on appeal. Before entering private practice, Mr. Thompson founded an Immigration Law Clinic, served as Director of the Defender Immigration Project of the Defenders Association of Philadelphia, and was an Assistant Defender for over a decade. He serves as a NITA faculty member, and regularly conducts CLEs focusing on the representation of noncitizen clients. Among other publications, he has recently co-authored the LexisNexis Practice Guide: New Jersey Collateral Consequences, 2018 Ed. (Immigration Consequences Flowing from Specific Criminal Convictions). Mr. Thompson received his LL.M. in Trial Advocacy from Temple Law, his J.D. from Villanova Law and his B.A. from Villanova University. He also earned a Masters in Education from Widener University.
Frank C. Walker II, Esq.
Mr. Walker is a Pittsburgh Criminal Defense – Personal Injury Attorney and the owner of Frank Walker Law. He has a B.S. degree in Criminal Justice from West Virginia State College; an M.A. degree in Education/Leadership Studies from Marshall University, and a J.D. degree from West Virginia University. Mr. Walker previously worked as a trial attorney for Strassburger, McKenna, Gutnick and Gefsky (SMGG) where he focused on criminal defense, personal injury and medical malpractice cases. Prior to joining SMGG, Mr. Walker served as senior counsel for the Allegheny County Office of Conflict Counsel, where he successfully defended clients in numerous jury and non-jury trials against various charges, some of which include sex crimes, possession of firearms, criminal homicide, drug crimes, theft crimes, DUI and violent crimes. He also developed a successful track record for transfer of jurisdiction/Act 33 juvenile cases, appeals, PCRA’s and has argued before The Superior Court of Pennsylvania and The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. While in law school, Mr. Walker earned a position on the National Moot Court Team, volunteered for Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program initiated by the Internal Revenue Service, elected president of the Black Law Students Association, received the CALI award of excellence for trial advocacy and was selected to the Order of the Barristers.
Elizabeth A. Wood-Bennett, Esq.
Elizabeth Wood-Bennett is PDAP’s Assistant Training Director for Eastern Pennsylvania. She formerly served as the Chief Defender in Columbia County. She is death penalty certified, and previously served as Columbia County’s First Assistant. She has tried criminal cases in Columbia County as either an Assistant Defender or Conflict Counsel since 2010 and also ran her own private practice. She frequently serves as faculty at PDAP trainings, most recently at our 2023 Leadership Conference and our Bring Your Own Case Defending Sex Offense Cases Conference.
Brian V. Manchester, Esq.
Brian Manchester is a seasoned attorney with over two decades of legal experience, admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania since 2000. He is also licensed to practice before the United States Federal District Courts for both the Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania. As the current owner of Manchester and Associates, he leads the firm with a focus on providing dedicated and effective legal representation. His commitment to excellence has earned the firm a reputation for integrity, personalized client advocacy, and successful case outcomes across a range of legal matters. Mr. Manchester holds a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan, earned in 2000. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Pennsylvania State University, obtained in 1995. Further showcasing his specialized expertise, he is certified as a Lawyer-Scientist by the American Chemical Society, a distinction reflecting his advanced knowledge in the intersection of law and science, particularly in complex forensic evidence cases. With his extensive education, professional certifications, and years of courtroom experience, Brian Manchester remains committed to protecting the rights of his clients and delivering outstanding legal counsel.

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