WASHINGTON, DC, January 25, 2005 — The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is pleased to announce the selection of Catherine Beane as the new director of the National Defender Leadership Institute (NDLI). In this capacity, Beane is responsible for overseeing all trainings and projects of NDLI, working closely with the NLADA president and CEO, board of directors and Policy Groups to ensure that the association’s mission is carried out.

Beane previously served as indigent defense counsel for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, where she directed the association’s indigent defense reform efforts, with a particular emphasis on litigation, coalition-building and communications/media strategies. In addition, she is the former associate director for the Program on Law and Government at American University Washington College of Law, where she taught as a member of the adjunct faculty. Beane began her legal career in 1994 as a trial lawyer representing indigent defendants in local and federal courts in Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia.

“NLADA is delighted to have Catherine as its new director of NDLI,” said Clint Lyons, NLADA president and CEO. “Her credentials, experience and expertise will prove to be a credit to the association and to NLADA members-at-large.”

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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating equal access to justice for all Americans. NLADA champions effective legal assistance for people who cannot afford counsel, serves as a collective voice for both civil legal services and public defense services throughout the nation and provides a wide range of services and benefits to its individual and organizational members.