Webinar: Restorative Justice and the practice of Law

When: -

Guest: Brenda Waugh

Host: Howard Zehr

Many attorneys are seeking ways to implement restorative principles and/or practices within their law practice. Over the past few years, some of these havie been gathering to share ideas and support one another -they include a wide range of law practice i.e. criminal defense, prosecution, personal injury, family law, and others.

In this webinar, several of these lawyers will share ideas from their practice and the practice of others. One of the guests will be attorney Brenda Waugh who is currently co-writing a book on this subject with Marshall Yoder.

Guest Bios

brenda-waughBrenda Waugh is an attorney with over twenty-five years of experience. A native of Princeton, West Virginia, she graduated with honors from the University of Virginia in 1982. She graduated from West Virginia University Law School in 1987 and in 2009 earned a Masters Degree in Conflict Resolution from Eastern Mennonite University.

As a young lawyer, Ms. Waugh worked with the Legal Aid Society of Charleston, as an advocate for victims of family violence and for consumers. She then accepted a position with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals where she served as the clerk to the committee that developed the first set of procedural rules for Family Courts. Following that, Ms. Waugh spent several years working as counsel to the West Virginia Legislature with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Recognizing that abused children in the region needed a strong advocate, Brenda Waugh accepted a position as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Kanawha County. During that period she worked with the West Virginia State Bar and served as the first chairperson of the West Virginia State Bar Commission on Children and the Law. She was also appointed by the West Virginia Supreme Court to serve on the Supreme Court Oversight Committee and the Juvenile Justice Committee.

In 1997, Ms. Waugh relocated to the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia and accepted a position as Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Berkeley County. She continued in that position until entering the private practice of law in 1999.

Ms. Waugh has litigated cases in over a dozen West Virginia Counties and has argued and won many cases before the West Virginia Supreme Court. She has published articles in law journals including those published by Yale University and the Journal of Legal Education. She has conducted dozens of seminars on legal issues through groups such as West Virginia Continuing Legal Education, Association Conflict Resolution and the Virginia Mediation Network.

Ms. Waugh is married with three children. She enjoys being active and has completed three marathons, a metric century bicycle event and six triathlons.

Susan Marcus is a criminal defense attorney in private practice in New York. She specializes in capital litigation and restorative lawyering, working primarily with violent cases involved trauma, mental illness and brain damage.

Her focus: working with clients, families and communities to find restorative solutions to arrest and punishment, to resolve conflict, and to address the underlying causes of crime.

  • 2001-2004: Public defender with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem (NDS), a community-based holistic defender office.
  • 2006, she returned to NDS to develop a model for community-based responses to violent crime.
  • Prior to becoming a defense lawyer, she was a mitigation investigator for death penalty cases.
  • Bar memberships: New York, New Jersey, Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Eastern District of New York, Southern District of New York, District of New Jersey