Nanzella ‘Nan’ Whitfield is a Managing Director, for the Committee of Public Counsel Services, Public Defender Division. She currently oversees both Middlesex and Essex Counties. Those offices include: Framingham, Lawrence, Lowell, Malden/Somerville and Salem. Her office is based in Malden. Although relatively new to the management team, Ms. Whitfield served as a veteran trial lawyer with the Los Angeles County Public Defender for nearly 32 years. She has been the lead trial counsel in over 150 jury trials, ranging from petty theft to capital murder, and has engaged in approximately 40 first degree murder jury trials, including 5 in which the potential penalty was death.
In addition, Ms. Whitfield was recently elected to the position of Secretary for the nation’s preeminent bar association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, based in Washington, D.C. She is also the Chair of the Public Defense Committee with NACDL, and is a frequent lecturer at criminal defense conferences and trainings.
She received her J.D. from Northern Illinois University College of Law and graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
She is admitted and licensed to practice law in the states of California, District of Columbia, and now, the state of Massachusetts.