Herschella Conyers Honored as an FDLA 20 for 20

Herschella Conyers Honored as an FDLA 20 for 20

Professor Herschella Conyers is a committed advocate fighting to protect the rights of juveniles. She was an early volunteer and trainer for FDLA. In 1993, Ms. Conyers was appointed to the University of Chicago’s Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic to help develop the Criminal and Juvenile Justice Project.

Ms. Conyers has been focused on the defense of youth charged as adults and an overhaul of the system that routinely fails them.  She dedicated years as an assistant public defender, supervisor and deputy chief in the Cook County Public Defender Office.A board member of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, Ms. Conyers has worked to highlight the connection between youth violence and the need for increased fairness in the juvenile justice system since the early 1990’s when the myth of young, so called, “superpredators” advanced harsher treatment of youth of color accused of crime.

On being named as one of FDLA’s 20 for 20:  “I am honored to be one of “the 20”.  I am more honored to be part of the FDLA family that has stood for the past twenty years as a working symbol of the best that lawyers give to their community.”

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