Nina Patel is a Senior Policy Counsel and criminal defense attorney with fifteen years of expertise in public policy development and advocacy.  She recently served as legislative counsel for Congressman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott where she drafted policy positions into legislation around topics such as criminal justice reform, voting rights, and civil rights.  Prior to working on Capitol Hill, she worked for a decade as a public defender in Southern California defending clients in complex felony cases and worked to divert clients from prison into alternative court models which provided mental health services and substance use treatment programs.  She is a graduate of Tulane Law School in New Orleans and received her B.A. from the University of Virginia.