KEYNOTE SPEAKER Navigating Law School and Beyond: Tips for Success in the Legal Profession
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e are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker for Orientation 2022 is Rourke Stacy-Padilla ’00.
During the past 21 years, Rourke Stacy-Padilla has been an attorney with the County of Los Angeles in various legal and advisory roles. For over 18 years, she was a Deputy Public Defender with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office; then she served as Interim Justice Deputy for Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl; and since April 2020, she has been employed as Senior Deputy County Counsel in the Office of the Los Angeles County Counsel. During her time at the Public Defender’s Office, she represented both juveniles and adults and conducted numerous jury trials including murder, vehicular manslaughter, domestic violence, major narcotics, and gang cases. Additionally, she argued three matters in the California Supreme Court and litigated numerous other matters in the California Court of Appeal. As a recognized juvenile law expert, she has testified in the California State Capitol several times promoting juvenile justice reform legislation and has codrafted several significant pieces of legislation including: SB 395 (juvenile Miranda protections) and SB 1391 (ending transfer of youth 14 and 15 years old to adult court). In addition to this legislation, Ms. Stacy-Padilla co-drafted the juvenile justice portion of Proposition 57 and served on the advisory committee for this ballot measure, which was enacted by the electorate November 2016. Ms. Stacy-Padilla is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, and the SCALE program at Southwestern Law School.
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