MDefenders Alum
Name
Christopher Harper, ’21.
Where are you from originally?
College Park, Maryland.
Where did you attend college for your undergraduate degree?
University of Maryland, College Park.
Where are you working now and what is your position there?
I’m a senior trial attorney at the Office of the Public Defender for Montgomery County, Alabama.
What other defender offices have you worked at?
Before law school, I interned at PDS in Washington, DC, as well as at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender in Prince George’s County. During law school, I interned at the Orleans Public Defenders, the King County Department of Public Defense, and the office where I currently work.
How did MDefenders play a role in your law school experience?
MDefenders helped me find a community of like-minded people who supported me to become a public defender right after graduation, talked with me about the job application process, and were also some of my closest friends while I was in law school.
How has MDefenders made a difference in your career development?
I doubt I’d have been as prepared to sustain myself in this job if I hadn’t been involved in MDefenders. I’ve drawn from not only PDTI’s skills training but also the conversations we had about how to effectively represent clients while maintaining my own physical, emotional, and mental well-being. It’s because of that I’ve stayed a public defender long enough to effectively represent clients four years in, receive promotions to handle more serious felonies, and become one of the attorneys newer lawyers at our office go to for advice.
It also helps I can turn to my classmates from MDefenders for guidance when things get tough.
Why did you enroll in the Public Defender Training Institute?
I wanted to learn as much as I could about best practices and common public defense dilemmas before I was on the record with clients’ outcomes in my hands.
How has the Public Defender Training Institute helped you in your career?
PDTI’s skills trainings eased the learning curve at the beginning of my career. Because of that, I think I provided better representation to my clients as a new public defender than I would have without PDTI.