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Chronological August 27, 2020

Six Tips On Effectively Representing Trans and Non-Binary Clients

Written by connor.barusch

Before I start to give you advice about representing trans and non-binary clients, let me introduce you to myself. My name is Connor Barusch (he/they). I am a visibly trans person. I am also a public defender coming up on the end of my first decade of practice and I interact with court systems every day. Before I walk in the door alongside a client who is trans or non-binary, I already have a good idea which judges, clerks and court officers are committed to supporting (or hurting) trans and non-binary people. 

I regularly consult with attorneys about the legal issues facing their trans and non-binary clients and from this communication keep my ear to the ground about what our trans and non-binary clients are facing in the criminal legal system.

Seeing the benefit of educating attorneys about effectively representing trans and non-binary clients, I set up a course through the National Association for Public Defense (NAPD) that any public defender can take September 28, 2020 thru November 13, 2020 that addresses working with trans or non-binary clients in detail.

If you prefer, I can come to you (or as the case is now Zoom to you) since I do consulting aimed at educating the public defenders and legal services attorneys on working with trans and non-binary clients.  While you anxiously await for your firm, bar association, or public defender agency to invite me to present, I wanted to help get you started with six tips on effectively representing trans ans non-binary clients.

Read them here: https://gideonssoldiers.com/effectively-representing-trans-non-bianary-clients/

Here's a bit more about my course with NAPD:

Join Connor Barusch for a 6 week online course with the NAPD Academy.  

Do you have transgender or non-binary clients and want to be better at interacting with and advocating for them? Do you not have clients you know to be trans or non-binary but wonder if you could do a better job communicating with them and advocating for them in a client-centered way? This course will help you gain hands-on experience with key skills that will help you have deeper, more comfortable and more client-centered conversations with your transgender or non-binary clients. You will have the opportunity to participate in a small group learning session that will help you turn the skills you hear about during video lectures into practice.