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    Emotion-First Practice: Why Emotional Intelligence Is the Missing Infrastructure in Public Defense

    Emotional intel-Webinar
    January 22, 2026 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm EST
    Virtual Event Virtual Event

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    2026-01-22-WB-Emotion-PUBLIC
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    Public defenders operate in an emotional ecosystem shaped by scarcity, hierarchy, racism, and chronic trauma. These conditions make self-protectionism adaptive and cause even promising reforms to wither. Yet unlike other helping fields, we rarely recognize how critical emotional intelligence (EI) is in countering these dynamics and sustaining meaningful change.

    Join Dr. Cherise Fanno Burdeen and Alison Bloomquist for a webinar introducing their new book, Emotion-First Theory & Practice, where they break down why EI is the missing infrastructure in public defense and how rebuilding our emotional ecosystem makes liberatory, client-centered advocacy possible.

     

    Dr. Cherise Fanno Burdeen is a community psychology and justice systems reform expert whose career spans pretrial justice, public defense, government leadership, and applied research on equity and well-being. She has led complex organizations, shaped national reform strategies, and guided systemic transformation efforts to advance fairness, accountability, and community safety. Her experience bridges the federal government, national nonprofits, and state and local jurisdictions, where she has collaborated with policymakers, defenders, and advocates to drive justice innovation.

     

    Alison Bloomquist, Esq. is a racial justice educator, strategic leader, and public defender with two decades of experience advancing equity in the criminal legal system. A Certified Racial Justice Trainer and faculty member at the National Criminal Defense College, she has led national initiatives on anti-racist practice and systems reform at NLADA and in Connecticut’s public defense system. She continues to serve as a Special Public Defender and a scholar on race and merit in legal practice