Our Staff

Samantha Valentin received her J.D. from Touro Law Center. During law school, she was a part of the Criminal Defense Clinic at Touro, interned at Brooklyn Defender Services and externed for the Honorable Matthew J. D’Emic, Administrative Judge for Criminal Matters in Kings County Supreme Court. In law school, Samantha served as a student representative for the Student Bar Association, on the executive board of the Women’s Bar Association, and as a member of the Black Law Student Bar Association. She also served as a competition team member for the Trial Advocacy and Practice Society. Prior to law school, Samantha worked at a boutique immigration law firm where she helped clients file individual petitions for citizenship and asylum. She is a graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she received a B.A. in Humanities and Justice with a minor in Philosophy.

Julie (she/her/hers) received her law degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was a David Berg Public Interest Fellow, a staff editor for the Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender, and a member of the Cardozo Trial Team. During her second year of law school, she was a clinical student with The Bronx Defenders in the Family Defense Practice and spent the following summer as an intern in the Family Defense Practice at Brooklyn Defender Services. In her final year of law school, Julie was a student attorney with the Cardozo Criminal Defense Clinic, where she represented indigent clients in Manhattan Criminal Court from case inception to final disposition. Prior to joining The Bronx Defenders, she served as a judicial law clerk to a Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey on both the trial and appellate levels. Julie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Lafayette College.

Ariana Brill (she/her/hers)  earned her B.A. from New York University and her J.D. from Penn Law, where she was a Levy Scholar and graduated magna cum laude. During law school, she completed internships at the Federal Community Defender for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice, Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project, and Juvenile Law Center. Prior to joining the Bronx Defenders, she worked at the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS) where she worked as an Equal Justice Works fellow in the Criminal Defense Practice, and then worked as an Education Attorney across all practices.

Aurora Maoz (she/her/hers) graduated magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a student attorney in the Michigan Innocence Clinic, a member of the editorial board of the Michigan Law Review, and a recipient of the Freeman Scholarship for demonstrated true excellence in criminal law and criminal procedure. Before joining The Bronx Defenders as Director of the Forensic Practice Group, she was a public defender in Manhattan, where she developed an expertise in, and passion for, challenging complex forensic technologies as a member of The Legal Aid Society’s DNA Unit. She lectures frequently at conferences and trainings, is on the faculty of the National Forensic College, and is an adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law, where she has taught both criminal procedure and an evidence class focused on forensic DNA. After law school, she served as a judicial clerk for two years, first for the Honorable Gary Feinerman on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and then for the Honorable Julio Fuentes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She holds a B.A. with honors from Wesleyan University, where she majored in Women’s Studies and took many classes in advanced math and physics.

Austin (he/him/his) is from Oxnard, CA, and has a B.A. in Political Economy from UC Berkeley. Prior to attending law school, Austin worked for four years as a paralegal at a law firm in San Francisco, CA where he assisted immigrants pursuing various forms of relief from deportation. At NYU Law, Austin was a student advocate in the Immigrant Rights Clinic and interned with the Orleans and Brooklyn Public Defenders Offices. During his last semester in law school, Austin interned with the Bronx Defenders Immigration Practice through the Pro Bono Scholars Program.

Emma Connolly (she/her/hers) comes to Bronx Defenders from Project Guardianship, where she worked on behalf of incapacitated New Yorkers. She previously worked as a staff attorney in the Family Defense Practice of Bronx Defenders. She is a graduate of UC-Berkeley School of Law.

Juliet (she/her/hers) is committed to human rights, public service, and reproductive justice. She has worked for New York based institutions like Planned Parenthood Federation of America, The Center for Reproductive Rights, National Network for Safe Communities, Parole Preparation Project, and the City Commission on Human Rights. She is a proud member of the Family Defense Practice where she works to support her home community of The Bronx.

Keiana (she/her/hers) was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY by a blended family of New Yorkers and Jamaican immigrants. She graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Political Science, French, and International Relations from Amherst College, finishing her studies by writing a French thesis entitled “Living in the Imaginary: An Exploration of Liminality Within Cahier d’un retour au pays natal and L’Énigme du retour.” This allowed her to infuse her own experience as a first-generation American living in various communities into a literary analysis of texts at the intersections of Blackness, home, and belonging. At NYU, she brought these experiences into her work as a student advocate in the Immigrant Rights Clinic and as a Pro Bono Scholar. Keiana is thrilled to be joining the immigration practice here at BxD; she is looking forward to continuing to foster an intersectional lens of the carceral systems in the United States and supporting abolitionist movements.

Stone MacBeth (he/him/his) received his J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School. While at Colorado Law, Stone was a student attorney in the Criminal and Immigration Defense Clinic, worked as a team leader with the Korey Wise Innocence Project, competed in multiple national mock trial competitions, and was inducted into the National Order of Barristers. Throughout his time as a law student, Stone completed internships with the ACLU’s National Criminal Law Reform Project, the Colorado State Public Defender, the Colorado Supreme Court, and a boutique civil rights litigation firm. Prior to joining The Bronx Defenders, Stone worked as a Staff Attorney in the trial division at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS), where he represented children and adults charged with serious felonies in D.C. Superior Court. Stone received his Bachelor’s Degree from New York University and is a first-generation college and law school graduate.

Lisa (she/her/hers) received her law degree from Suffolk University Law School in Boston. During her time at Suffolk, Lisa was the Editor-in-Chief of the Suffolk Transnational Law Review. During her third year of law school, she was a student attorney for the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Boston where she represented indigent clients from case inception to final disposition. Upon graduation, Lisa served as a judicial law clerk for the Maine District court in mid-coast Maine. For the past two years, Lisa represented indigent clients in Fairbanks, Alaska. Lisa is also a Returned Peace Corps volunteer, having served in the Kingdom of Thailand working with rural youth. Lisa holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science from The University of California, San Diego.

Samantha Espada (she/her) earned her J.D. from Indiana University Maurer School of Law with a certificate in the rule of law and constitutional design. There, she was recognized by Indiana University with the Terry and Judy Albright Pro Bono and Public Interest Award and the John T. Edwards Fellowship for her public service, exemplary character, and academic ability that “promises dividends for society.” While at Maurer, she was the Student Director of the Incarcerated Individuals’ Legal Assistance Project, President of the Latinx Law Student Association, and Attorney General for the National Latina/o Law Student Association. She also participated in the New York Pro Bono Scholars Program, where she took and passed the New York Bar Examination prior to graduation and spent a semester working as a full-time extern with the Bronx Defenders. Samantha spent her summers interning with the Criminal Appeals Bureau at the Legal Aid Society of New York City and the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). Prior to law school, Samantha worked in the U.S. Senate for Senators Warren and Gillibrand and served as a New York Coro Fellow in Public Affairs. She holds a B.A. in Women and Gender Studies and Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Weronika Bzura (she/her/hers) is Staff Attorney with The Bronx Defenders Criminal Defense Practice. She received her BA in Political Science and Sociology minor from SUNY Albany and her JD from New York Law School. During law school, Weronika focused on public interest law and graduated with a distinguished award for civil rights and social justice. She was a member of the Pro Bono Scholars Program, allowing her to take the bar exam early and work pro bono with her placement at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest. Prior to joining The Bronx Defenders, Weronika was a Staff Attorney at Suffolk County Legal Aid Society.

Kaitlin received her J.D. from Michigan Law. After graduation she worked as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society of Nassau County, where she represented clients in misdemeanor court, felony screening court, mental health court and human trafficking court. After leaving the Legal Aid Society, she spent two years as a Research Fellow for the National Registry of Exonerations, an organization that aims to provide accessible and comprehensive information about wrongful convictions. Her main research focus at the Registry was police & prosecutor misconduct. She presented her research findings at the Innocence Network Conference in both 2015 and 2016, and has contributed to numerous reports about wrongful convictions.

Prior to graduation, Kaitlin worked in the juvenile justice clinic at Michigan Law. She also interned at the Georgia Capital Defenders, the Federal Defenders of San Diego and the Washtenaw County Office of the Public Defender. She holds a B.A. in Communication from the University of Oklahoma.

Janae Hunte (she/her/hers) received her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was the recipient of the David Berg Public Interest Fellowship and the Jacob Burns Medal for outstanding academic and professional achievements. While at Cardozo, she was the Editor-in-Chief of the Cardozo Journal of Law & Gender and the Treasurer for the Black Law Students Association. Additionally, Janae participated in the Mainzer Family Defense Clinic at The Bronx Defenders. Janae spent her summer internships at The Bronx Defenders Family Defense Practice and Manhattan Legal Services. Upon graduating from law school, she worked as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Bruce J. Kaplan, J.S.C. at the Middlesex County Superior Court-Family Division, where her work focused on child abuse and neglect, juvenile detention, guardianship, and children-in-crisis cases. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Community Action and Social Change.