Central District Gets New Federal Public Defender

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Page 3

Central District Gets New Federal Public Defender

By a MetNews Staff Writer

Hilary Lee Potashner has been named federal public defender for the Central District of California, Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski said yesterday in a statement.

Potashner has been the acting federal public defender since Sept. 15, when Sean Kennedy retired to take a faculty position at Loyola Law School. Upon “completion of a background review by the Office of Professional Management, a process that typically takes several months,” she will be appointed public defender, Kozinski said.

The term of the federal public defender is four years.

“Hilary Potashner has more than 20 years of experience serving indigent defendants in both the federal and state courts,” Kozinski said. “She is well known and respected by both the bench and bar in the Central District.”

Potashner, 47, was hired as a deputy federal public defender in 2001, was promoted to a supervising defender position in 2007, and became the office’s chief deputy in 2012. She also serves on a committee which advises the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Criminal Justice Act matters and as liaison to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Central District, and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Federal Bar Association.

In addition to her administrative responsibilities, she has continued to represent clients, including Paul Ciancia, charged with the murder of a Transportation Security Administration officer and other crimes in a shooting spree at Los Angeles International Airport last November, and former baseball star Lenny Dykstra, convicted of bankruptcy fraud nearly two years ago.

Prior to her federal service, Potashner worked as a deputy public defender in San Diego County from 1993 to 2000. A native of Redbank, N.J. she is a graduate of Duke University and Hastings College of the Law.