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SPEAKER INFORMATION
Derek Bush
Derek Bush was born in Summerville, South Carolina and grew up in North Charleston, South Carolina. He attended the University of South Carolina, where he graduated magna cum laude in 2011 with a B.A. in Sociology with a Minor in Religious Studies. After graduating from the University of South Carolina he attended the Charleston School of Law where he received his Juris Doctor in 2014. After graduating from law school, he worked at Cain & Williams, LLC in Seneca, South Carolina practicing workers compensation, car accident, medical malpractice, and probate matters. In June of 2016 he left private practice and moved to Aiken, SC to pursue his calling as a Public Defender in the Second Judicial Circuit (Aiken, Barnwell, and Bamberg Counties). He serves the office and Circuit as the defense lawyer for the Aiken County Adult Drug Court, the Aiken County Mental Health Court, and the Aiken County Veteran’s Treatment Court – every diversionary court in the Second Circuit while maintaining a full caseload. Derek was introduced to Treatment Courts in 2019 when he became the defense lawyer for Aiken County’s Adult Drug Court. Since that day, he has immersed himself in all things Treatment Court and Aiken County established two additional treatment courts: Mental Health Court established in 2022 and Veteran’s Treatment Court established in 2023. Now, having the privilege to serve on all three Treatment Courts in Aiken County, Derek educates Public Defenders, Solicitors, and Circuit Court Judges on how Treatment Courts operate and their Best Practices. He has a real passion for mentally ill defendants and laid the foundation upon which the Aiken Jail Based Restoration Program has been built – the first restoration program of its kind in South Carolina which has served as the pilot program for the rest of South Carolina. He has been instrumental in the continuing success of the Jail Based Restoration program in the Aiken County Detention Center and is the point-of-contact for all things South Carolina Office of Mental Health in his office. He created the first collaborative tracking system in the state for tracking mentally ill defendants in the Aiken jail between the South Carolina Office of Mental Health, Solicitor’s Office, Aiken Barnwell Mental Health, Judges, and his office. He has led the pilot programs for the South Carolina Office of Mental Health’s prescreenings and Jail Based Restorations – all of which were piloted in Aiken. He speaks and coordinates with other judicial circuits who are trying to model their mental health treatment of incarcerated defendants after Aiken County.
Rochelle Caton
Rochelle Romosca Caton, J.D., has been the Director of the Office of Patient Advocacy, in the Office of General Counsel at SC Department of Mental Health (SCDMH) since 2006. She was also the legislative liaison for SCDMH until November of 2022. She received a B.S. degree in finance, summa cum laude, from the University of South Carolina in 1989 and her Juris Doctorate, cum laude, from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1993. Beginning her practice with Nelson, Mullins, and Riley & Scarborough she was assigned to work on a class action federal civil rights lawsuit brought by incarcerated juveniles against the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). In 1994, she began working with Fairey, Parise & Mills, P.A in the area of civil rights, with particular emphasis on the DJJ lawsuit and children’s issues. In 1999, Rochelle became a staff attorney at Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc. As team leader of the Conditions in Facilities team, she advocated on behalf of incarcerated children and adults, including clients in mental health facilities and facilities for people with developmental disabilities.
Kelly Gothard
Kelly Gothard, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and the Director of Forensic Services at the SC Department of Mental Health. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Auburn University and her M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Auburn University. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Auburn University where she focused her clinical training and research experiences on juvenile delinquency and sex offender evaluation and treatment. She completed her pre-doctoral internship in 2007 at William S. Hall Psychiatric Institute/ USC Department of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science. She has previously worked as a psychologist for the SC Department of Juvenile Justice, in the South Carolina Sexually Violent Predator Treatment Program as the Clinical Director, and as Clinical Director of Forensic Evaluation and Outpatient Services. Since 2012, while at the Department of Mental Health, she has both performed and provided oversight for SVP evaluations. In 2017, Dr. Gothard become the Director for the Forensic Evaluation and Outpatient Services (providing oversight for all SVP, Competency to Stand Trial/Criminal Responsibility Evaluations and the Forensic Outreach Clinic), and subsequently launched the Forensic Psychology Postdoctoral Fellowship training program. In addition to these roles, in 2020, she assumed the role of Director of Forensic Services for Bryan Psychiatric Hospital. Dr. Gothard is also serving as the Chief of Oversight for the Division of Inpatient Services-Forensics and Long-Term Care Contract Monitoring Services.
Major Nick Gallam
Major Nick Gallam is the Jail Administrator with the Aiken County Sheriff’s Office Detention Division, where he has been employed for 23 years. Major Gallam is a graduate of Aiken Technical College where he earned an Associate Degree in Applied Science / Criminal Justice. Nick obtained his Certified Jail Management Certification, through the American Jail Association, in 2012 and is a graduate of the 18th class of the National Jail Leadership Command Academy. He is the past president of the South Carolina Jail Administrators’ Association and was appointed by the Governor to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Training Council. Nick served for eleven years in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as an infantryman and is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Joanna Delany
Joanna Delany grew up in rural Georgia and came to South Carolina in 2004 (the same year as Steve Spurrier!) to attend the University of South Carolina School of Law. During law school, she was a member of the Mock Trial Team and was a law clerk at the Richland County Public Defender’s Office in Columbia. Joanna was admitted to the South Carolina Bar in 2007. She was an Assistant Public Defender in Richland County from 2007 – 2015. About half of her time was spent representing juveniles charged with offenses in family court, and the other half representing defendants charged with crimes in general sessions court. From 2015 – 2017, Joanna was a Juvenile Justice Resource Attorney at the University of South Carolina School of Law’s Children’s Law Center where she provided training and resources for professionals working with justice-involved youth. In 2017, she became an Appellate Defender at the Appellate Division of the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, where she represents adult and juvenile defendants in their direct appeals and post-conviction relief appeals before the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court.
Jessica Saxon
Jessica M. Saxon was raised in the South Carolina Lowcountry. After obtaining her undergraduate degree from the University of South Carolina in 2004, Ms. Saxon relocated to New York City to pursue a career in advertising. Following a few years in the “real world” work force, Ms. Saxon decided to realize her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer. She obtained her JD from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2010. Ms. Saxon has primarily focused her practice on indigent criminal defense. She began her criminal law career as a public defender in Beaufort, SC in 2013, where she represented clients in magistrate/municipal, family, and general sessions court. In 2019, she joined Appellate Defense as an assistant appellate defender where she has successfully advocated for clients in written briefs and during oral arguments in front of the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court of South Carolina. Ms. Saxon is a member of the Law Related Education Committee of the SC Bar, a member of SCACDL, and is also licensed to practice in Texas.
Erin Bailey
Erin graduated from the University of South Carolina and the USC Law School. She then became Judge Larry Hyman’s first law clerk in 2008. After her clerkship, she worked as an Assistant Solicitor and Senior Assistant Solicitor in Georgetown, SC. In 2016, Erin founded Erin Bailey Law, a criminal defense and personal injury firm. She was named one of the Top 100 Criminal Defense Lawyers in South Carolina and was included in the 2025 Super Lawyers list.
William Blitch
William is currently Disciplinary Counsel for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. Previously, he spent over 15 years with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office where he was a Senior Assistant Deputy Attorney General with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office and the supervisor of the State Collateral and Appellate Litigation Section. After graduating from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1998, he began his career in private practice handling real estate and similar matters. After coming to his senses, he left private practice and joined the South Carolina Court of Appeals as a staff attorney.
In May 1999, he began clerking for the Honorable Ralph King Anderson, Jr. of the Court of Appeals. When his clerkship ended, he became a staff attorney with the South Carolina Supreme Court in 2000. After two years with the Supreme Court, he returned to the Court of Appeals to become the Deputy Chief Staff Attorney, and later he served as the Interim Chief Staff Attorney.
William joined the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office in 2007, where he handled criminal appeals before both the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court and worked with the South Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He participated in nearly 200 oral arguments at the two appellate courts and wrote countless briefs.
In August 2023, William had the honor of becoming Disciplinary Counsel for the Supreme Court where he is tasked with overseeing the office responsible for screening and investigating complaints of misconduct against lawyers and judges as well as prosecuting formal charges when necessary. He has had the pleasure of speaking at numerous trainings throughout South Carolina on ethics, appellate issues, and prosecutorial issues, including at the South Carolina Judicial Conference, South Carolina Summary Court Judge’s Conference, the South Carolina Solicitor’s Conference, and numerous CLE trainings throughout the state.
Jim Huff
Jim Huff is a graduate of the USC School of Law. He began his practice as a solicitor and town attorney, before entering private practice in 1988. He is a founding and current member of SCACDL and the National College for DUI Defense (NCDD). He has authored numerous publications, including Handling Traffic Cases in South Carolina (1st-6th editions).
Boyd Young
Boyd Young is the Director of the Capital Trial Division of the South Carolina Commission of Indigent Defense where he has practiced since 2008. He and his office, have successfully resolved over 125 capital cases through plea and trial. Based on his devotion to his clients and his efforts in starting and leading statewide training, he was selected as the inaugural “Andrew David Grimes Public Defender of the Year” for 2015. From 2005-2008, Boyd was a trial attorney with the Georgia Capital Defender Office in Atlanta, Ga. where he defended people accused of capital murder throughout the State of Georgia. While at the Georgia Capital Defender Office he was featured in a series of articles published by the McClatchy Newspapers written by Steven Henderson. This series was later turned into a PBS documentary titled “Death is Different.” Prior to joining the Georgia Capital Defender Office, Boyd was a public defender in Charleston, SC. Boyd got his law degree in 1999 from South Carolina and his undergraduate degree in Biology from The Citadel in Charleston, SC.
Robert Banks
Robert Louis Bank, Jr. began his legal career at the Richland County Public Defender’s Office in 2013. Prior to that, he graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice in 2010. Subsequently, he graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2013. He currently is the Deputy Chief Attorney with the Capital Trial Division within the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense.
Jean Popowski
Jean is the Deputy Public Defender in Lexington County. She has been an attorney with the Lexington County Public Defender Office since 2019. Prior to that, she was the development coordinator for Justice 360 and is currently a Board member. Jean will share her personal recovery story and share some of the tools and strategies to combat burnout and compassion fatigue.
Samantha Luck
Samantha Luck is a Juvenile Defender Advocate with the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense (SCCID). Prior to joining the SCCID in 2023, she served as a staff attorney at the SC Human Affairs Commission. Ms. Luck worked for six years as a Juvenile Public Defender for both Richland and Lexington Counties where she became well-versed in the area of juvenile defense and advocacy. In addition to her work as a juvenile defender, she was as an attorney for Richland County Court Appointed Special (CASA), representing court-appointed Guardians ad Litem for children in the foster care system. Having started out her legal career as a youth advocate, Ms. Luck also has extensive knowledge in the area of special education law and worked at Disability Rights South Carolina (formerly Protection and Advocacy for People with Disabilities, Inc.) for several years. There, she represented students with disabilities in public primary and secondary education, ensuring the protection and enforcement of students’ rights under the IDEA, Section 504, and the ADA.
Ms. Luck obtained both her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and J.D (2009) from the University of South Carolina. During law school, she clerked in the family court division for the Richland County Public Defender Office and during that time, also became a court-appointed Guardian ad Litem. She is a Certified Juvenile Training Immersion Program (JTIP) Trainer and was a participant in the 2017 JTIP Summer Academy. Throughout her legal career, Ms. Luck has been a strong advocate for youth in S.C. and believes wholeheartedly in fighting for the rights of children. She believes that by investing in community services and programs aimed at addressing the needs of youth, rather than incarceration, youth will have greater success at rehabilitation and better future outcomes.
Ms. Luck serves on the Board of Directors for Roses in Concrete South Carolina, Advisory Board for the Southern Youth Defender Center, and the J.T. Farmer Advisory Board for the Law Offices of S. Chris Davis.
In her spare time, Ms. Luck enjoys cooking and travelling. She is the proud mother of one son, a 2025 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law.
Aleksandra Chauhan, Ph.D., J.D.
Dr. Aleksandra Chauhan is an attorney, a University of South Carolina adjunct faculty, a writer and a public servant. Prior to opening her law firm, Dr. Aleksandra Chauhan was a Visting Assistant Professor at the Jospeh R. School of Law. She directed the Criminal Practice Clinic where second- and third-year law students represented clients on criminal charges, provided parole representation and assisted clients with elimination of barriers to successful reentry.Before joining the faculty at the law school, Dr. Chauhan was the Juvenile Defender Advocate at the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, a position she was instrumental in creating. There she supported the work of public defenders and other lawyers in representing youth in the state’s courts. Before then, she was an assistant public defender in Richland County representing youth in the family and criminal courts. While there, she received grants and pioneered the agency’s youth reentry program, providing holistic representation of young people with the assistance of civil counsel and a social worker to aid young people in returning to their communities.
Dr. Chauhan is a certified trainer for the Gault Center’s Youth Defender Advocacy Training Immersion Program, and is one of its Ambassadors for Racial Justice, a program in partnership with the Georgetown Law Juvenile Justice Initiative commissioning lawyers to create training and programming to reduce race disparities in the criminal system. In 2019, Dr. Chauhan graduated from SC BAR Leadership Academy and in 2017, she was recognized as a Juvenile Public Defender of the Year. In May 2023, Dr. Chauhan was recognized by the American Bar Association for her work with youth in the state’s courts, when she received its Livingston Hall Award, which recognizes lawyers who have made significant contributions in that field.
Dr. Chauhan has a wide range of expertise on issues related to client representation, including topics of youth transfer to adult court, school-to-prison pipeline, reentry, trauma, and racial justice. She has written amicus briefs and presented keynotes and workshops on these issues at local, national, and international conferences.
Dr. Chauhan is on the Board of Directors for Every Black Girl, Inc. and Lawyers’ Committee on Children’s Rights. She serves on the Advisory Counsel for the Gault Center South and the Advisory Board for the State Crisis Intervention Program. She chairs the Legal Innovations Subcommittee for the SC Human Trafficking Task Force and is a member of the SC Bar House of Delegates. She also served on the Board of Directors for Columbia’s Nickelodeon Theater, and helped create East Point Academy, a Mandarin immersion charter school where her twin sons attended.
Steven S. McKenzie
Steven S. McKenzie was born in Kingstree, South Carolina. He is the son of Richard D. and Barbara R. McKenzie. Steve attended High School in Kingstree and furthered his education at the Citadel, graduating in 1986. After graduating from the Citadel, Steve served his Country and State in the United States Army, United States Army Reserves, and South Carolina Army National Guard. Steve is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War and was honorably discharged from the United States Army Ready Reserves in 1996 as a Captain. Steve attended the University Of South Carolina School Of Law after his military service and graduated in 1994. Admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1994, Steve is admitted to practice in all South Carolina Courts, United States District Court, and United States Court of Appeals. Steve has argued many cases before the South Carolina Court of Appeals and the South Carolina Supreme Court. Steve was the lead attorney in a reversal of the criminal conviction of George Stinney, Jr. The Stinney case gained national attention because it resulted in the reversal of a guilty conviction of a 14-year-old wrongfully accused juvenile 70 years after his murder conviction.
Steve has extensive experience in South Carolina Courts and Federal Courts. Steve's practice is centered on domestic, criminal, and civil litigation.
Chelsea McNeill
Chelsea McNeill is a 2005 graduate of Coastal Carolina University and a 2010 graduate of the Charleston School of Law. Prior to law school, Chelsea was a Clinical Addictions Counselor for 3 years at the Charleston County Jail. Chelsea went to law school to be a Public Defender, starting out in the Charleston PD Office and then worked in the 4th Judicial Circuit PD Office which is Dillon, Darlington, Marlboro, and Chesterfield Counties. She then moved to the 8th Judicial Circuit PD Office, working in the Laurens County Office, in September of 2012. She became the 8th Circuit Public Defender in August of 2020 and is currently in her 2nd term. Chelsea specializes in complex criminal cases which mostly include child sexual assault cases, murders, and she handles the death penalty cases for her circuit and has unfortunately handled 3 of those. Chelsea is a very active member of her community and is on several boards. Her passion is helping animals and her favorite board she serves on is the Greenwood Humane Society. She is also a member of both SCACDL and NACDL. Chelsea is also a 2015 alumni of the National Criminal Defense College and a founding faculty member for the Scott Reece Joy SCACDL trial college. She is a 2021 graduate of Furman university’s equity, diversion, and inclusion class and regularly makes presentations around the state, mostly about defending child sexual assault cases.
Tristan Shaffer
Tristan Shaffer is an experienced trial attorney with more than 15 years of practice. He has a diverse background in criminal defense, appellate litigation, and civil matters. Tristan brings this extensive courtroom and appellate experience to the firm’s clients, focusing on complex criminal matters.
Tristan began his career with the Richland County Public Defender’s Office, later serving with the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense as an Appellate defender where he argued multiple cases to state’s highest courts. He has also served as the Director of Litigation for the Eighth Circuit Public Defender’s Office. Tristan gained valuable experience working for a boutique criminal defense firm. He also previously owned and operated his own law practice, handling a wide range of cases including criminal defense, post-conviction relief, and personal injury. Tristan currently works for Axelrod & Associates and is a contract public defender in the Eighth Judicial Circuit.
Tristan was named the 2021 Defender of the Year by the South Carolina Public Defender Association. He has also been elected to serve on the board of directors for the South Carolina Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Additionally, Tristan is a graduate of the prestigious National Criminal Defense College Trial Practice Institute. Furthermore, since 2021 Tristan has taught trial advocacy skills to young attorneys through the South Carolina Indigent Defense Academy.
Over the course of his career, Tristan has successfully litigated numerous notable cases, securing reversals of convictions and new trials. His work reflects a deep commitment to protecting the rights of his clients and achieving justice in every case.
Tristan earned his Juris Doctor from the Charleston School of Law and his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Clemson University. He is admitted to practice in South Carolina, the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
Emily Kuchar
Emily began her legal career at the Richland County Public Defender Office before moving to the Capital Trial Division at the S.C. Commission on Indigent Defense. She is a graduate of Washington and Lee University School of Law.
John Kozelski
After graduating from Furman University and the Charleston School of Law, John went to work for the Charleston Public Defender’s Office. As the Director of Training for the Charleston and Berkeley County offices, he prepares public defenders for work in the courtroom through case law updates and training sessions around the state in coordination with SCCID.
Karen Thompson
Karen (KT) Thompson is the Litigation Director of Pregnancy Justice, where she leads a team of attorneys in advocating for women who are criminalized and prosecuted because of their pregnancies or pregnancy outcomes, whether that be a birth, a miscarriage or stillbirth, or an abortion. Prior to joining Pregnancy Justice in January 2024, KT was a Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU of New Jersey, where she participated in several high-impact civil rights and civil liberties cases, from jury selection reform to prosecutorial misconduct, to illegal search and seizure issues. Before joining the ACLU, she was a senior staff attorney at the Innocence Project where she litigated wrongful conviction clients in South Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Following law school, she was an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLC and Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe LLC where, in addition to her international arbitration docket, she maintained a rigorous criminal defense pro bono practice.
Ali Ponder
Ali Ponder is an Assistant Public Defender in the Second Judicial Circuit of South Carolina, where she represents clients facing a wide range of criminal charges in General Sessions Court. She is licensed in South Carolina and Georgia. A graduate of Mercer University’s Walter F. George School of Law and the National Criminal Defense College’s Deryl Dantzler Trial Practice Institute, she also holds an MBA and BA in Political Science from the College of Charleston.
Matthew Buchanan
Matthew worked as an attorney for both the Public Defender and Solicitor’s Offices in Lexington, SC before joining the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services as General Counsel in 2013. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Christina Bigelow
Christina Bigelow graduated with a B.A. in Experimental Psychology from the University of South Carolina and from USC School of Law. She was a Law Clerk for the Richland County Public Defender’s Office and The Finney Law Firm in Columbia, South Carolina. She also clerked for the Honorable Alexander S. Macaulay, Anderson, South Carolina before becoming an Assistant Attorney General, and Deputy General Counsel for the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
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