Donald K. Sherman, Chair
Tiffany R. Benjamin, Vice Chair
Marya Torrez, Secretary
Jesse Winograd, Treasurer
Crystal Barnes
Michelle Tupper Butler
Daniel Engelberg
Molly Gaston
Dylan Nicole de Kervor
Paul Lee
Regina Leslie
Laurren Walker

Donald K. Sherman was a founding member of the Board of DC Lawyers for Youth and has been a board member since its inception. He is currently an attorney on Capitol Hill. Prior to working on the Hill, from 2007-2009, Donald worked as an associate in Crowell & Moring’s Litigation and Healthcare groups in Washington, DC. From 2006-2007, Donald served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Neal E. Kravitz on the DC Superior Court. Donald graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2005, where he founded Georgetown Law Students for DC and served as an Articles Editor on the Georgetown Journal of Gender and the Law. During law school, he represented juvenile clients in the DC Superior Court as part of the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic. Donald is also an alumnus of the college preparatory program Prep for Prep in New York City, where he later served as a mentor to low income students making the transition from public to private schools. Donald can be reached at dsherman@dcly.org.

Tiffany R. Benjamin joined the Board of DC Lawyers for Youth in 2008. She is currently an attorney on Capitol Hill. Prior to working on the Hill, from 2005-2009, Tiffany worked as an associate with King & Spalding’s Special Matters/Government Investigations Group in Washington, D.C. Tiffany’s practice at King & Spalding included representing corporations and individuals under investigation by the Department of Justice, the U.S. House and Senate, and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tiffany graduated from Harvard Law School in 2005, where she served as a Class Marshal and Managing Editor of the BlackLetter Law Journal. During law school, she represented adult and juvenile clients in Boston local courts. Tiffany can be reached at tbenjamin@dcly.org.

Marya Torrez was a founding member of the Board of DC Lawyers for Youth and has been a board member since its inception. She is currently the Associate Director of Adolescent Health Programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families. Prior to working there, Marya was a Women’s Law & Public Policy Fellow at Planned Parenthood Federation of America from 2007-2008, and a Dorot Judicial Selection Project Fellow at Alliance for Justice from 2006-2007. In 2006, she graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she represented juvenile defendants through Georgetown’s Juvenile Justice Clinic, served as a Senior Line & Article Editor of the Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, and completed more than 175 pro bono hours at DC non-profit organizations. Prior to law school, Marya ran a social service agency serving runaway, homeless, abused and otherwise at-risk youth in Santa Barbara, CA. She is the Secretary of the DCLY board and the intern coordinator. Marya can be reached at mtorrez@dcly.org.

Jesse Winograd joined the Board of DC Lawyers for Youth in 2008. He is currently an associate at Trout Cacheris. Prior to working at Trout Cacheris, Jesse served as an attorney in the felony unit of the Miami-Dade Public Defender's office. During Jesse’s years in Miami, he acted as lead or co-counsel in over thirty criminal trials. Jesse graduated cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2005. He served as an Article and Notes Editor for the American Criminal Law Review and as a student attorney with the Georgetown Criminal Justice Clinic. Jesse can be reached at jwinograd@dcly.org.

Crystal Barnes was a founding member of DC Lawyers for Youth and has been a board member since its inception. She currently works as an associate in the Washington, DC office of Ogletree Deakins. Before joining Ogletree Deakins, Crystal was an associate at Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. Crystal’s practice includes counseling and representing management in labor and employment matters. Crystal represents clients in federal and state courts, and before various state and federal agencies on a wide range of matters, including employment discrimination, wage and hour, and wrongful discharge. Crystal is a 2003 graduate of Princeton University, where she majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 2006, Crystal graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she served as Notes Editor for the American Criminal Law Review and was a member of the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic. Crystal can be reached at cbarnes@dcly.org.

Michelle Tupper Butler was a founding member of DC Lawyers for Youth in 2007. She currently works as a litigation associate at Dickstein Shapiro, where she maintains an active pro bono practice and volunteers in the D.C. Family Court Self-Help Center. Prior to joining Dickstein Shapiro, Michelle clerked for the Honorable John M. Facciola at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and she worked as a litigation associate at Bracewell Giuliani. Michelle graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2005 and from the George Washington University in 1996. During law school, she served as a student attorney at the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic, and she taught incarcerated and homeless individuals through Georgetown's Street Law Clinic. She also served as an Executive Articles Editor for the Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law & Policy. Michelle has interned with the juvenile division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia, D.C. Prisoners' Legal Services Re-Entry Project, and the Rebecca Project for Human Rights.  She has also volunteered as a pen pal and mentor to juveniles incarcerated as adults though Free Minds Book Club, a tutor at the Maya Angelou Public Charter School, and a docent at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Michelle can be reached at mtupper@dcly.org.

Daniel Engelberg was a founding member of DC Lawyers for Youth and has been a board member since its inception. He currently works as a supervising attorney at the Orleans Public Defenders. Before working at the Orleans Public Defenders, Daniel worked for the Equal Justice Initiative of Alabama, the Public Defender Service of DC, and the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program at the Georgetown University Law Center. As a Prettyman Fellow, Daniel represented hundreds of indigent clients accused of crimes in the District of Columbia and served as a teaching fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic. During law school, Daniel was a participant in the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic and represented numerous juveniles accused of crimes. Prior to becoming an attorney, Daniel worked with youth in the juvenile justice system as an instructor at the Maya Angelou Public Charter School in the District of Columbia and as coordinator of the youth employment and training program at Berkeley Youth Alternatives in Berkeley, California. He is a 1995 graduate of the University of Michigan, a 2005 graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, and is currently pursuing an L.L.M. Daniel can be reached at dengelberg@dcly.org.

Molly Gulland Gaston joined the board of DC Lawyers for Youth in 2010. She is currently an attorney on Capitol Hill. Molly graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2009, where she was Notes Editor for the American Criminal Law Review (ACLR). At Georgetown, she wrote a note for the ACLR about the unfair application of juvenile adjudications in later adult sentencing and defended the indigent in DC Superior Court through the Georgetown Criminal Justice Clinic. Prior to law school, Molly worked on congressional campaign and Capitol Hill after graduating from Princeton in 2004. Molly can be reached at mgaston@dcly.org.

Dylan Nicole de Kervor joined the Board of DC Lawyers for Youth in 2010. Dylan is currently in federal public service in the area of civil rights. Dylan received a law degree and a masters in social welfare from the University of California, Berkeley in 2009. While a law student, she served as co-director for the Student Advisory Board of the Center for Social Justice and co-director of Advocates for Youth Justice, a student organization responsible for oversight of three student-run clinics: a “know your rights” course in juvenile hall; an education surrogate program for youth in the local foster care system; and an expulsion representation clinic for young people facing expulsion. She also served as a founding Board Member and Production Editor of the Berkeley Journal for Middle Eastern and Islamic Law, Executive Articles Editor and Supervising Editor of the Berkeley Journal of Gender, Law and Justice, and Executive Articles Editor of IMPACT, a multidisciplinary journal addressing the issues of urban youth. Dylan is originally from the California Bay Area and received her bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies & Planning from the University of California, San Diego in 2002. Dylan can be reached at ddekervor@dcly.org.

Paul S. Lee was a founding member of the Board of DC Lawyers for Youth in 2007. Paul is currently the DC Pro-Bono Coordinator for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a national legal services organization that secures pro-bono representation for unaccompanied minors in the immigration system. At KIND, Paul conducts client screenings, attorney trainings, case mentoring, and community outreach. Upon graduating from the Georgetown University Law Center in 2006, Paul served for two years as the Howrey/Georgetown Pro-Bono Fellow at Howrey LLP in Washington, DC. Paul worked full-time on a variety of pro bono matters in areas including immigration, family law, landlord-tenant, public benefits, and criminal appeals. He also assisted the firm’s Pro Bono Partner in administering the firm-wide pro bono program. While at Howrey, Paul established a citywide veterans benefits pro-bono program. Paul has worked for the Archdiocesan Legal Network of Catholic Charities DC and the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and served as a defense attorney in the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic. He originally hails from North Carolina and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Paul can be reached at plee@dcly.org.

Regina Leslie joined the Board of DC Lawyers for Youth in 2010. She currently works as the Director of Education Programs for Capital Partners for Education (CPE) in Washington, DC. As Director of Education Programs for CPE, Regina supervises Student-Mentor Coordinators working directly with families and volunteers in the program, implements the academic programming curriculum, and develops and oversees CPE’s best practice case management tools and strategies. Prior to that, Regina was a teacher for six years, four at an area private high school and two at a local public middle school. Regina is an alumna of the college preparatory program Prep for Prep in New York City, where she later served as a mentor to low income students making the transition from public to private schools. Regina is bi-lingual and graduated with a B.A. in both Political Science and Spanish from Wellesley College. Regina can be reached at rleslie@dcly.org.

Laurren Walker joined the Board of DC Lawyers for Youth in 2010. She is currently a special education teacher at Anacostia Senior High School in South East, Washington, DC. In 2007, Laurren began teaching at Anacostia High School as part of the Teach for America Program. In addition to classroom instruction time, Laurren also tracks and assesses students Individual Education Plans (IEP) and formulates transition plans for students based on research and community connections. Laurren currently serves as a leader of the College for Every Student (CFES) mentoring program and has completed Child Abuse and Neglect training provided by the Virginia Institute for Social Services Training activity (VCU VISSTA). Laurren earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Clark Atlanta University in 2007 and will receive her Masters of Special Education (ED and LD, K-12) from the George Mason University, College of Education and Human Development, in 2011. Laurren can be reached at lwalker@dcly.org.