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A Conversation Between Lori James and Cessie Alfonso
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Free
Lori James is the Executive Director of the National Association for Public Defense, a social worker and mitigation specialist, who started her career as a social work intern under Cessie Alfonso’s supervision. Lori has served as mitigation specialist in many high profile cases where her work resulted in a positive outcome for her clients. Cessie Alfonso is a forensic social worker and long-time advocate opposing the death penalty who has had her papers archived at Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. These two amazing powerhouses of public defense will have a conversation that is a do not miss event!
Lori James, LCSW-C is a dynamic leader, educator, and clinician with over 25 years of experience in clinical practice, training, organizational development, and leadership. She earned her Master’s Degree in Clinical Social Work from the University of Maryland School of Social Work and her B.A. in Social Work from Morgan State University. Lori is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Social Work at Tulane University School of Social Work, deepening her lifelong commitment to transformative leadership and justice-centered practice.
Lori’s expansive career includes program development, program management, collegiate instruction, and leadership and management training. She has served as faculty at several universities and has been a sought-after trainer and consultant in national and regional leadership, communication, and team-building programs. Previously, she was a part-time Clinical Professor in the Department of Family Studies and Community Development at Towson University.
Lori formerly served as the Director of Leadership and Program Development at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, an agency with over 800 employees statewide. In that role, she led the agency’s social work division—including staff, consultants, and interns—and was instrumental in developing internal leadership and team development initiatives that fostered growth, collaboration, and mission-alignment across the organization. Lori is also a certified John Maxwell Coach, Speaker, Trainer, and Facilitator, bringing a values-based approach to her work in both justice and nonprofit systems.
A published author and respected thought leader, Lori has received numerous accolades, including being named one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by The Daily Record—first in 2015 and again in May 2025, in recognition of her continued excellence and impact.
Cessie Alfonso is a forensic social worker, domestic violence prevention and responder, and organizational development consultant and activist. The founder and president of Alfonso Consultants, Inc. which provides psychosocial assessments to clients of civil and criminal attorneys throughout the United States and abroad, she trained and worked as a social worker and has collaborated with civil and criminal defense attorneys nationally and internationally for more than three decades to provide psychosocial assessments and other social work support to their clients. During the course of her work, she and her colleagues have undertaken more than one thousand mitigation investigations.
Since 1986 Cessie has consulted on over 700 capital cases, often testifying as an expert in the penalty phase of those cases. A first-generation Caribbean American, Alfonso has conducted mitigation investigations in Cuba, Columbia, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico, and regularly leads training sessions on domestic violence, cultural competency, among other topics. Alfonso attended Montefiore School of Practical Nursing (LPN 1965), Hood College (BA 1973), and Rutgers Graduate School of Social Work (MSW 1977). A member of the Combahee River Collective, she is an activist who marched against the Vietnam War, for civil rights, and women, lesbian, and gay rights. In 2008 she was recognized by Governor Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey as a leading mitigation specialist who significantly contributed to the abolition of the death penalty in the state. In 2017 she was part of the Truth Commission on Poverty in New York State, organized by the Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State.