Elaine Alexander

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Elaine Alexander is a California attorney and the Executive Director of Appellate Defenders, Inc., a San Diego law firm responsible for providing and overseeing legal representation in appeals from felony convictions and from child custody decisions in several southern California counties. Her design of the firm and its operations was copied throughout California and, along with the leadership she has provided, has been the basis of her receiving numerous awards and honors locally, statewide, and nationally.

Early Life

Elaine Alexander was born Elaine Augustine in St. Louis, Missouri on October 4, 1943. Her father, George Augustine, was a civilian accountant with the G.A.O. and the U.S. Army. Her mother, Edith Alpiser Augustine, was a department store clerk. The family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana when Elaine was in elementary school, and she attended public schools there until she went to college.

Education

Elaine attended Washington University in St. Louis, where she graduated in 1965 near the top of her class, majoring in the College of Liberal Arts. She won the Arnold J. Lien prize in political science. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Sigma Alpha (political science honorary society), and she received the Arthur J. Lien Award as the outstanding senior in political science. She was also a member of the women's sorority Pi Beta Phi.

After college Elaine attended Yale Law School and received her LL.B (J.D.) degree in 1968. She was awarded membership in Order of the Coif for graduating in the top ten percent of the class. While at Yale she served as Co-Director of the Yale Legal Services Organization.

Professional Career

After law school, Elaine served two years as a research attorney for two judges on the California Court of Appeal in Los Angeles. She then moved to San Diego, and after a brief stint in private practice was hired by the California Attorney General's San Diego office as a Deputy Attorney General. There, she argued on behalf of the state in criminal appellate cases.

In 1974 she switched to the defense side of criminal appeals and joined Appellate Defenders, Inc., a small, private nonprofit firm. In 1979, she became the executive director. A few years later the firm was absorbed into the California Public Defender, a state agency that represented convicted felons on appeal and directly opposed the California Attorney General.

When George Deukmejian became California's governor after having been the state's attorney general, he made good on a vow to cut the state's public defender's budget. The result was that the San Diego office was slated to be closed. In the short time that remained before that happened, Elaine revived Appellate Defenders and lobbied the judiciary to support a new design for the delivery of defense representation in felony appeals cases. The design entailed an organization—the revived Appellate Defenders—with a modest number of staff attorneys who would handle some cases themselves and also supervise private attorneys outside the organization appointed by the appellate courts to handle the appeals of indigent convicted felons. The organization would recommend which of those non-staff attorneys should handle which cases, oversee and assist those attorneys, and make compensation recommendations to the courts once the attorneys' cases were completed. The organization would be funded through a contract with the California judiciary.

In 1983, the courts approved Elaine's design for Appellate Defenders, and her design quickly became very popular with the appellate judges. The quality of defense representation on appeal greatly improved, and the judges now had an independent body screening the appointed attorneys, their work product, and their claims for compensation. And Elaine's design of Appellate Defenders was subsequently copied in every appellate district in California, so that there are now organizations modeled on Appellate Defenders handling all indigent felony appeals in California.

Elaine is entering her fortieth year as head of Appellate Defenders. She has served on several statewide committees dealing with such matters as jury instructions, appellate rules, and death penalty representation. She co-authored two law review articles, taught law school courses, wrote numerous legal analyses for appellate attorneys, authored the Compensation Claims Manual, and co-authored and edited the California Appellate Practice Manual.

Awards and Honors

Elaine has received numerous awards.

In 1985 she received the Defenders Services Award for Outstanding Performance and Accomplishments from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.

In 1986 she received the War Horse Award for Exemplary Professionalism in the Practice of Criminal Defense from the San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association.

In 1989 she received the Loren Miller Award for improving legal services to the poor from the California State Bar.

In 1990 she received the Public Attorney of the Year Award from the San Diego County Bar Association.

In 1992 she received the E. Stanley Conant Award for outstanding work on behalf of the indigent accused from the Defender Organizations of San Diego.

In 2008 she received the Award for Contributions to the Administration of Justice and the Needs of the Legal Profession from the San Diego County Bar Association.

In 2008 she received the Paul Bell Award for excellence in and dedication to appellate defense from the Defenders Organization of San Diego.

In 2009 she received the Kathleen McCree Lewis Award for exceptional impact on the delivery of appellate justice from the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers.

In 2013 she received the Belva Lockwood Award for contributions to the legal profession and standing in the legal community from the Lawyers Club of San Diego.

And in 2016 she received the Fay Stender Award for commitment to the advancement of minorities and women from the California Women Lawyers.

On April 8, 2009 Elaine was honored by resolutions of the California legislature, the San Diego Board of Supervisors, and the San Diego City Council and Mayor for her 30 years of service to the system of justice as executive director of Appellate Defenders. And the latter two declared April 8, 2009, to be Elaine Alexander Day.

Personal Life

Elaine is married to Larry Alexander, the Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego, who was a classmate at Yale Law School. They married in 1966 after their first year. They have three children—Jennifer Shah, an attorney in Buffalo, New York; David Alexander, a physician in Sammamish, Washington; and Jonathan Alexander, a neuroscientist in Boston, Massachusetts. And they have four grandchildren—Simran and Sejal Shah, and Kai and Luka Alexander—and one deceased grandchild, Tej Shah. Elaine has a sister, Gayle Olson of Poplarville, Mississippi, who was a psychology professor at the University of New Orleans for 30 years before retiring.

References

This article "Elaine Alexander" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Elaine Alexander. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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