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Just Juries – Balancing the Scales of the Jury Box
Price
Join The Juror Project’s Director, William C. Snowden, Esq. and Deputy Director, Porsha-Shaf’on Venable, Esq., as they educate our people about jury service and jury nullification. Through their work, these amazing advocates “aim to change the makeup of juries to better represent the American population and the communities most commonly accused.” They do “this through community and public education about jury eligibility and the jury selection process and the power jurors hold in America’s high stakes criminal justice system.”
Come learn how to better advocate for balancing the scales in the jury box for true justice for all. REGISTER TODAY! Registration is FREE for NAPD members.
William C. Snowden (he/him/his) is the Director of The Juror Project and a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law. His work is grounded in a simple truth: exclusion is not accidental.
As a former public defender in New Orleans, he represented people forced to stand trial in courtrooms designed to convict them. He later served as Executive Director of the Vera Institute of Justice in Louisiana, where he advanced efforts to eliminate money bail, reduce jail populations, and shift power toward communities.
Through public education, legal scholarship, and grassroots organizing, Will challenges the myths of fairness that surround the jury system. He exposes how civic participation has been weaponized to protect institutions rather than people. His work does not ask for faith in the system. It calls for clear vision, informed resistance, and collective presence in the places where decisions are made about our lives.
A licensed attorney and social worker based in the Bronx, she brings a background in public defense, forensic social work, and legal education. She previously served with The Bronx Defenders and the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, where she held roles as a staff attorney, forensic social worker, and team leader. Porsha holds a J.D. from California Western School of Law and an M.S.W. from NYU. She has trained public defenders and legal advocates across the country on jury selection, jury nullification, and trial strategy through platforms like the Black Public Defender Association and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Her work is rooted in building community power through legal knowledge and public access to justice while simultaneously co-creating a world that prioritizes accountability over punishment.
Learn more about Porsha-Shaf’on and the Juror Project here.