Juvenile Defenders Association of Pennsylvania (JDAP): Faculty - Northeast Pennsylvania Juvenile Defender Training March 7, 2007

Faculty - Northeast Pennsylvania Juvenile Defender Training March 7, 2007

Carrie M. Bowmaster
Carrie M. Bowmaster is currently an associate at Trgovac Law Offices. She serves as a conflict attorney for juveniles. From 2002 until recently, she was the Specialized Juvenile Justice Public Defender in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Besides handling juvenile delinquency matters, she represents juveniles as their guardian-ad-litem in dependency cases. She also handles a variety of other family law matters, bankruptcy and landlord/tenant cases. She is a 1993 graduate of Widener University School of Law, Harrisburg Campus. Carrie serves on the board of directors of Women In Need, a local domestic violence program and New Visions, a local program that provides housing to consumers with mental health issues in Franklin, Fulton, Cumberland and Perry Counties.

Sara Jacobson
Sara Jacobson has worked as a public defender for over seven years in both Philadelphia and Berks Counties. She has tried thousands of criminal cases from complex rapes, assaults, and robberies to simple misdemeanor cases. At the Defender Association of Philadelphia, she supervised attorneys in both the Municipal Court and Juvenile units and worked as a trial advocacy trainer for new lawyers to the office. Miss Jacobson completed her Juris Doctorate from Temple in 1997 and went on to earn an L.L.M. in Trial Advocacy from Temple in 2002. She attended the National Criminal Defense Collegeâ€™s Trial Practice Institute in 2004. Miss Jacobson has conducted training and has frequently served as a judge for the L.L.M. program in trial advocacy at Temple and for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy. Between 2004 and 2006 she served as adjunct faculty for the University of Pennsylvania Law School, teaching their Criminal Defense Clinic. In 2006 she became the Assistant Chief of the Juvenile Unit at the Defender Association.

Judge William S. Kieser
Judge Bill Kieser is serving in his 16th year as Judge. He has acted as Juvenile Court Administrative Judge since 1996. In addition to juvenile cases he primarily deals with criminal litigation. He feels a strong commitment to both attorney and judicial education. He is the husband of Ginny. They have four adult children, one granddaughter, and one grandson. His personal interests include walking with Ginny and their dog, Stormy; hunting, fishing, seasonal outdoor activities, youth sporting, music and theater events. Outside of the time spent with his family and work he devotes himself to church related and community activities. These include being a member of the Pine Street United Methodist Church, currently serving as a teacher of adult sunday school. He is a certified lay speaker in the United Methodist Church. He is a member of the Lycoming Creek Lions Club, member of the Williamsport Kiwanis and Trustee of Kiwanis Foundation. He also serves on the Williamsport Salvation Army Advisory Board. He is President of the Steam Valley Cemetery Association.

Robert L. Listenbee
Robert Listenbee has been a trial lawyer at the Defender Association of Philadelphia since 1986, and Chief of the Juvenile Unit since 1997. The Juvenile Unit is appointed to over 6,000 delinquency cases each year. Mr. Listenbee received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Harvard University and a Degree of Juris Doctor from the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on several major juvenile justice committees in Pennsylvania. In 2003, he served on the Subcommittee for Juvenile Justice for the Supreme Court Committee on Racial and Gender Bias in the Justice System. In addition, in 2000, he served as Co-Chair of Mayor John F. Streetâ€™s Transition Committee for Children and as a member of the Mayorâ€™s Philadelphia 21st Century Review Forum as he started his second term. He currently serves on several boards and committees that advocate for the rights and interests of children.

David C. Rosen
Mr. Rosen has been an attorney with the Defender Association of Philadelphia since his graduation from Temple University School of Law in 1973. He has been Chief of the Juvenile Special Defense Unit since 1987. Since 1996, this Unit has been responsible for handling all Defender clients charged as Direct File Juveniles. In this capacity, he has been called upon by Defender offices throughout the nation to provide expertise in the representation of juveniles charged in the Adult Criminal System. From 1980-84, Mr. Rosen was a lecturer-in-law at Temple Law School and was in charge of its Criminal Defense Clinical Program at the Defender Office. He has taught Juvenile Justice Courses at Montgomery County College, and, from 1968-72, was an English instructor at Spring Garden College in Chestnut Hill. Mr. Rosen spent the summer of 1991 in residence at the East China Institute of Politics and Law in Shanghai, P.R.C., where he earned a certificate in Chinese Criminal Law.

Susan Shachter
Susan Shachter has been a social worker at the Defender Association of Philadelphia for the past 12 years. She worked for five years in the Defenderâ€™s Child Advocate Unit with attorneys who represent children in dependency court hearings. Since starting in the Juvenile Special Defense Unit in October of 1999, she has been a mitigation specialist. She has written numerous psycho-social summaries which have been used as a factor in getting juveniles remanded from adult to juvenile court at de-certification hearings. Susan has taken a particular interest in working with juvenile females who are entering the adult system in increasing numbers. In addition, Susan has worked in other social service organizations and brings the sensitivity and training she has acquired to her role of social worker/mitigation specialist.

Riya S. Shah
Riya S. Shah is the fourth Sol and Helen Zubrow Fellow in Childrenâ€™s Advocacy at Juvenile Law Center. While at JLC, Riyaâ€™s work has focused, in part, on minorsâ€™ rights to consent and confidentiality of medical and behavioral health information and confidentiality of juvenile records. Before she joined JLC in 2005, Riya graduated from Loyola University Chicago School of Law where she was a Civitas ChildLaw Fellow and Editor-in-Chief of the Childrenâ€™s Legal Rights Journal. She received her B.A. in Psychology and American Culture from University of Michigan Ann Arbor. After college, Riya was a Teach for America Corps member in Jersey City, New Jersey where she taught second grade. She then taught in a bilingual third-grade classroom in Detroit, Michigan.

Mark D. Waitlevertch
Mark D. Waitlevertch Esq. has served as the Chief of the Juvenile Division of the office of the Public Defender of Allegheny County, Pittsburgh, Pa since August of 2000. Mr. Waitlevertch is a 1987 graduate of Duquesne University (Political Science/Business) and a 1990 graduate of the Duquesne University School of Law. He began his legal career as an Assistant Public Defender in Meadville, Crawford County, PA. Mr. Waitlevertch next served as an Assistant District Attorney from 1992 until he was elected as the District Attorney of Crawford County. He served as the District Attorney from 1996 until 2000. Mr. Waitlevertch has been an instructor at Mercyhurst College Northeast Municipal Police Training Academy, is a certified instructor for Act 120 and 180 training, and is a certified instructor for the Criminal Justice Program for the University of Phoenix. He currently serves on numerous committees and organizations dealing with Juvenile Justice issues and systems.

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Faculty - Northeast Pennsylvania Juvenile Defender Training March 7, 2007