Ubong E. Akpan, Attorney Advisor, Defender Services Office, Training Division
Ubong E. Akpan is an Attorney Advisor at the Administrative Office of the United States Courts Defender Services Office Training Division in Washington D.C. Her work focuses on criminal defense, immigration consequences of crimes, and trial and appellate advocacy. Prior to joining the Training Division, Ubong served as an Assistant Deputy Public Defender at the New Jersey Public Defender’s Office Camden Region, one of the busiest criminal trial courts in New Jersey. Ubong also served as a Research and Writing Attorney for the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and was the immigration resource attorney for the office, providing in-depth immigration analysis and research in the defense of noncitizen clients. In that position, Ubong challenged illegal reentry prosecutions through motions to dismiss and on appeal to the Third Circuit. Prior to government service, Ubong was a trial and appellate attorney, practicing criminal and immigration law, representing clients before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS), Executive of Immigration Review (EOIR), and Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). Ubong began her legal career as a litigation associate at two large law firms and as a judicial law clerk at the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Tamara Mulembo, Assistant Federal Public Defender, District of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Tamara Mulembo is an Assistant Federal Public Defender practicing in Tucson, Arizona. She has defended high profile criminal cases in state and federal court. Ms. Mulembo began her career as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Philip G. Espinosa of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division Two. After her clerkship, she practiced criminal defense in the Offices of the Pima County Public Defender in the Spanish Felony Trial Unit. Ms. Mulembo left the County Public Defender's Office to join State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company's Corporate Law Department as Claim Litigation Counsel. She returned to indigent criminal defense in 2010. Ms. Mulembo specializes in defense of federal juvenile matters, and her practice includes trial and appellate advocacy. She also trains new attorneys and those recently appointed to Criminal Justice Act Panel in federal juvenile matters. Ms. Mulembo has served as president of the Arizona Minority Bar Association and is currently on the Board of Directors for Southern Arizona Legal Aid. Ms. Mulembo is admitted to practice before the State Bars of Arizona and California, District Court in Arizona, and Ninth Circuit. She received her Bachelors of Arts Degrees from the Honors College at the University of Arizona and her Juris Doctorate from the James E. Rogers College of Law.
Joan Politeo, Deputy Federal Public Attorney, Central District of California
Joan Politeo is a Deputy Federal Public Defender from the Central District of California. She has been with the Office of the Federal Public Defender since 1990, assigned to the branch offices located in Santa Ana and Riverside, California. Joan has been assigned to the trial unit, has also handled matters before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and has represented non-capital habeas clients before the district court. As part of her responsibilities since 2012, Joan has served as one of the defender representatives for the Convictions and Sentence Alternatives Program (CASA), an innovative post-guilty plea diversion program. After successful completion of the CASA program, either a participant’s case is dismissed or a probationary sentence is imposed. CASA was one of the first collaborative court programs in the federal courts and has been a model to others throughout the nation interested in establishing programs which present alternatives to incarceration. Before she joined the Office of the Federal Public Defender, Joan was a staff attorney for the Neighborhood Legal Services Program in Washington D.C. where she represented indigent clients in housing litigation before the courts and administrative agencies. Joan was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.